Alexa or that Google speaker thing

Dibzy123

Hiya everyone.
Newbie here so I am hoping that I have posted in the right place.

Has anyone got or had something like Alexa or that google home thing. The one where you talk to the speaker and it does what you tell it.

''Alexa play that song'' ''google whats the time''

that kind of thing. Does anyone have any recommendations and are they actually any good?

thanks for your help

rousetafarian

Welcome to the forums

noiseboy72

Yep, we have both an Alexa and Google Home Mini.

Both do very similar things at a basic level and it's only really if you want it to control specific things that only work with one platform or the other that you need to worry. An example would be some TV brands etc.

Other than setting timers, playing music and asking it questions, was there anything specific you wanted it to do?

ristac

Hi Dizby

We have had an Amazon Echo for a few years, we were in Curry’s a month back and they had a Google Home Hub on offer. Usually I’d never listen to a Curry’s salesperson but they had a tech guy from Google training the staff on hand.

He gave us a personal demo of what the Google could do, I dare say the Amazon Show has its own merits but we liked what we saw so we purchased the Google Home Hub.

Comparing the hub (with screen) to the Echo (no screen) is unfair but the Google recognises commands much better. Google Home has Youtube the Echo Show doesn’t as far as I’m aware, it might get it but Google and Amazon are always falling out so it could be here one minute gone the next.

What I love about Amazon Echo - Linking to Prime Music

What I love about Google Hub;
“Show Me......” for a YouTube clip
“What’s my commute to work like” links to Google Maps & Live Traffic

I also prefer Nest Cams over Blink and others available, Google’s purchase of Nest was another reason for me to go for the Hub over the Show.

Like I said though, I’m comparing the Google Hub to an Amazon Echo not an Amazon Show so it’s not a fair comparison but so far I’m happy with switching over from one platform to the other

next010

Google's AI assistant is considered much better than Amazons for interpreting questions and so forth but Alexa has much wider industry support built into home devices.

Applepiee

They're pretty good for basic things. I especially like to use it to start music (you can connect it to multiple Bluetooth speakers). It's also great for the weather, reminders, and even recipes.

Whether you should buy Alexa or Google home is up to you.
Alexa seems to be getting a little high review scores compared to Google Home (Alexa 87% and Google Home 84%)