Essential voice commands for Asisstant and Alexa

01 Check the weather

Probably the first question most of us ask when we buy a smart speaker is, ‘ What’s the weather forecast for today?’ Speak your device’s wake word then ask about conditions for tonight, tomorrow or next week.

02 Get the news

Smart displays (and smart speakers) are brilliant at giving you up to date news reports. Just ask for the news to get a response from a selection of sources (these can be configured via your phone).

03 Make a call

Your smart display (or smart speaker) can make calls for you, just say ‘Call’ followed by the person you want to reach. You can use an app like Google Duo or Alexa, or call actual phone numbers – set it up on your phone.

04 Play some music

Set your default music apps (such as Spotify or Amazon Music – Apple Music is likely to be supported in the future) in your assistant’s app on your phone, then your smart display will respond to requests to play songs, artists, or genres. Of course, a screen enables you to control playback more easily.

05 SET CUSTOM Alarms and timers

One of the simplest but most useful ways to employ the services of your smart display or smart speaker is to set an alarm or timer – ‘Set a timer for twelve minutes’, say – especially if your hands are busy cooking in the kitchen.

06 Get sports updates

Find out when your team is next playing, or just how badly (or well) they did in the last match, by asking Alexa or Google Assistant for the results. In the accompanying phone apps, you can tell it who your favourite teams are, streamlining the entire process for future sporting updates.