Amazon Echo vs. Google Home: Which Is the Better Smart Home Assistant
If you’re in the market for a home assistant, knowing which one is right for you can be a bit daunting. In this article, Claudia Jeffrey takes you through the highlights of the Amazon Echo and Google Home so you can decide which system best fits your needs.
- Do you feel that technological advancements can make life easier?
- Do you feel the need to incorporate technology into your daily life?
- Are you looking to upgrade to a smarter home?
If your answers were affirmative to the above-asked questions, then you are on the right track of deciding which home assistant will prove to be more useful as per your lifestyle.
According to eMarketer, as of 2019, it was estimated that more than 111 million people in the US alone used a voice assistant. It goes on to show that any people find a home assistant to be a smarter solution and an efficient tech upgrade to introduce in their lives.
Alexa vs. Google Assistant
Now, if we talk about what brands of smart home solutions are there to choose from, then only two names stand out, i.e., Amazon Echo and Google Home. These smart AI voice assistants have matured, upgraded, and become more useful with time and technology. They both have emerged as the leading voice-controlled smart home assistants for people from all walks of life. With constant upgrades and efficiency outbreaks, let’s see which of the two is a better choice for you.
Looks and Décor
As you can see, the latest model of Amazon Echo is much better looking than the model prior to it. A stubby little cylinder standing at a six-inch height, it makes its presence felt without being too obvious or standing out of the setting it’s placed in. It even comes with easily customizable and removable fabric and wood covers so it can be placed into a variety of home configurations and designs. With an affordable price range, it comes accompanied by great Bluetooth and WiFi features supported. It is an overall impressive kit that comes with its signature blue ring light Alexa activation indicator.
In comparison to it, Google Home stands a little shorter than six inches at an exact height of 5.6. However, as the looks of a candle have inspired the model aesthetics, it comes with an all-white background color and versatile fabric and metal bases in a good range of seven colors. Its top is made of clear hard plastic that is made smooth to look as close to the glass as it can. It lights up in four different colors when activated.
How Do They Sound?
Google Home provides a more rich and well-structured sound as compared to the Echo. It can get a bit louder, given that there is a 3-4dB difference in the maximum volume output of a one-foot distance. Not only does it deliver better sound quality but it also makes it a better choice for people who have music collections that are apparently not found on major streaming services online.
However, both devices provide support for streaming services like iHeartRadio, Spotify, SoundCloud, Pandora and TuneIn. Because Echo is an Amazon platform, therefore it has built-in default support for Amazon Music. While similarly, Google Home has default preferences for Google Play Music and YouTube Red.
Echo has the latest 3.5mm jack that allows you to easily connect to the latest powerful speaker system. However, Google Home is more on the modern side of having no speaker jacks. It does not have this feature, but both devices can connect to third-party Bluetooth speakers and multi-room radio.
Both devices can easily fit into two different needs of people. If you require a more cheap option that easily allows you connections with any speaker, then go for Amazon Echo. But if your choice is more high-end and you have already invested in a good Bose Bluetooth Speaker, then don’t think twice before buying Google Home.
Voice Control
As the devices are AI-powered smart home assistants, they are built to utilize voice recognition and activation to control activities like playback music, random searches as well as interconnected devices that allow the device support. Talking about the Echo first, it has multiple options when it comes to words that can be used to wake up the device. As it is a female-oriented voice, it gives you the choice of name to address the device with Alexa. But you can also choose from Amazon, Echo, or even Computer to activate it. For example you can structure your sentence in a way that you are commanding the device like, “Alexa, find me the best dissertation help service” or in a form of a question like, “Alexa, where can I buy essay online?”
Although Google Home gives you the option for both male as well as female voice orientation, it has only one type of waking word that is ‘Hey Google.’ Also, as Google backs up Google Assistant, it is better at comprehending free-speech, web-based questions, and queries as compared to Alexa. Alexa can be more stubborn for particular wordings and sequence of said words. It is heavily relied on Wikipedia for answering general knowledge questions where Google can be more comprehensive and easily generic, covering all bases.
Smart Features
Upgrading to smart home assistance means a complete smart roundup of everything from your living room lights to your thermostat. However, the brand gap between Alexa and Google is closing as soon as by the end of this month. Amazon owns Blink and Ring, so their devices only work with Alexa. On the other hand, Nest is owned by Google and according to the latest reports. Google will be cutting off the Echo access to its devices in the summer of this year.
Although, both Echo and Google Home allow you to combine your devices in a single room environment and support Routine that lets you connect several actions in a single command. However, there is no right or wrong approach towards the smart feature approach. To put it simply, Google is a more straightforward foundation, but Alexa encourages a quicker and more efficient development and support from third-party devices.
Pricing
Just like everything comes down to only one thing and that is how much it is for. This battle also has a significant resource for the price range of the two brands. However, the price range between the two products is so vast that in fairness, there is a model available for all types of lifestyle and wallet size. Therefore, it is more about what your needs are from your home assistant device and what expectations you keep according to the price you have paid.
Final Verdict
In conclusion, as I mentioned earlier, there is a wide range of product models that can fit all needs. From Amazon Echo Dot at the lower end of the spectrum and Echo Show at the higher end and Google Home Assistant models sitting somewhere in the middle, you have a variety to choose from that will adequately suit your needs.
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