Amazon Echo vs. Google Home: 5 Important Distinctions

It's official. We live in an era when we can speak commands to machines -- without the push of a button -- and, most of the time, they will acquiesce. On top of that, we have access to more than one type of such technology and our choice of devices. As my Dad might say, "What a time to be alive."

But like anything else that's in high demand, there's competition in the realm of personal home assistants.Take Amazon Echo and Google Home, for example. What makes them different? And is one really "better" than the other?

The answers to those questions depend largely on an individual's lifestyle, and what's most important to each user. We had a look at each device, and selected five key differentiators that can help you decide which one is best for you.

首先,每个设备

Amazon Echo

• Price:$179
• Requirements:Wi-Fi. Compatible with Fire OS, Android, and iOS devices and accessible via web browser.

Amazon describes Echo as a device that provides “hands-free convenience with voice-control”. It’s designed to play music from any number of streaming apps, like Spotify, Pandora, or iHeartRadio, among others. But its capabilities go beyond music -- while your tunes (or audiobooks, which it can also read aloud for you) are playing, you can interrupt it to ask a question, and should promptly receive an answer.

Amazon Echo can be used the same way you might use any other type of voice search, and ask for things like news, weather, and information about what’s nearby. It’s powered by Alexa, Amazon’s voice recognition technology, and it's built for the Internet of Things -- or smart home -- making it able to control things like room lighting.

Google Home

• Price:$129
• Requirements:Android 4.1及更高版本，iOS 8及更高（仅在英文中可用，在美国购买）

Google Home is described as “一个声控的年代peaker powered by the Google Assistant.” That’s the same technology used to answer questions in the search engine’s Allo app, which is configured to respond to search queries, set reminders, and engage in everyday chit chat. Here’s a look at how the app functions:

但谷歌设备更capabiliti回家es than Allo. First, you can ask the same questions that you might ask of the app, but in a hands-free, voice-activated manner. Like Alexa, it’s also built for smart home technology, and can control things like lighting or temperature.

然而，真正区分Google Home的真正事实是它是由Google构建的。这改变了其执行搜索的方式 - 毕竟，它是由一家以其搜索引擎而闻名的公司创建的 - 可以与您可能已经用于日常管理的技术集成。raybet电子竞技继续阅读 - 我们将解释。

Amazon Echo Vs. Google Home: 5 Important Distinctions

1) Google Integration

Raise your hand if you use Google Calendar. Or Google Maps. Or any of Google’s other apps. While we can’t seem to find the total number of users for each of them -- and by all means, please let us know if you’ve got ‘em -- there’s a good chance that you use them. After all, we use Google Calendar here at HubSpot, and we’re a company of over 1,500.

因此，人们可能会喜欢一个私人助理设备，该设备很容易地与他们已经使用的技术来管理他们的日程安排和日常工作是有道理的。

“The real benefit is how it integrates into my Google life -- my trips, my calendar, my shopping list,” says HubSpot’s Web Team Tech Lead, Dmitry Shamis. “All the things that I already used Google for, I can now tell Home to maintain.”

But that technology isn’t perfect. According Google Home support, the device can only support the main calendar of the Google account used to set it up. (Google Home only allows one user, which we’ll get to later.) It doesn’t support any other calendars, or those that are shared or to which the user might subscribe. That said, if you use Google for your day-to-day schedule and tasks -- and you live alone -- the technology is more than ideal.

2) Ability to Make Purchases

Shamis, for his part, admits that Google Home is not without its cons, even though it was a “no brainer” for him to switch from Amazon Echo. His biggest lament? With Google Home, “You can't buy things like you can with Alexa.”

该技术最近成为头条新闻when a news anchor uttered, “Alexa, order me a dollhouse.” It was rumored to have been recognized as a voice command by several Echo devices within earshot of any TV showing the news program, causing multiple unintended orders of dollhouses.

Again -- the technology isn’t without its cons. The story illustrates that Echo can’t exclusively recognize one voice or another, and can accept commands from pretty much anyone within its “far-field” range.

尽管如此，方便似乎胜过任何潜在的缺陷。Shamis说，可以无缝地重新订购常规必需品的能力，命令“ Alexa，购买更多的狗粮”非常有帮助。

3) Lighting Specificity

I imagine how my grandparents might respond to any grievances around this technology -- "Are you really complaining about a machine that can turn on the lights when you ask it to?" And maybe they’re right. But as long as we can be picky, let's discuss the distinctions between the smart lighting features of Amazon Echo and Google Home.

With the Echo, Shamis explains, you can create any combination of lights and assign a group name to it. His living room was one example -- coming home to a dark apartment, he says, was made more convenient when the command, “Alexa, turn on the lights,” was limited to the living room.

But now, “‘OK Google, turn on the lights,’ turns on every light in my apartment,” he explains.

这是因为Google Home需要将照明命令分配给各个房间 - 因此，除非用户指定，“打开客厅lights,” every light in the home is illuminated.

Instead of assigning lighting to each room, Amazon Echo allows users to combine any group of lights and give it whatever name you like. A combination of the front hallway and living room, for example, might be named, “Evening commute lights.” For that reason, it might be a more convenient option for people with larger homes, or unique home layouts.

4) Spotify Integration

Are you someone who can hum the tune of any song, but never remember the name of it? If so, Amazon Echo’s music-streaming features might be a better option, especially for Spotify users.

Shamis说，Echo与Spotify更加用户友好地集成。命令“ Alexa，Play Spotify”将在他的手机上关闭的应用程序中拾取该命令，而“ OK Google，Play Spotify”，随机播放一首歌。

That’s not to say Google Home is completely unresponsive when it comes to music. If you know the song and artist you’re looking for, Google responds and plays it immediately. Plus, some reviews --like this one from CNET-- say that it "responds more flexibly to language” than Echo does.

5) Number of Users

As we mentioned earlier, Google Home can only support the main calendar of the Google account used to set it up, and only one user is allowed per device. That makes it most convenient for people who live alone, or for families that have a single Google Calendar with everyone’s appointments and commitments. Even then, you'd have to specify who those appointments belong to -- for example, “Maggie’s birthday party,” or “Mike’s doctor appointment.”

Echo具有家庭简介，允许多个成年人使用和修改共享功能，例如购物清单。但是有一个很小的收获 - 这些单独的个人资料并不总是包含单独的付款信息。实际上，根据Amazon Device Support, “When you add a second adult to your Household, you are authorizing the other adult to use credit cards associated with your Amazon account for purchases on Amazon.”

可以选择需要四位数的密码来进行购买，但是如果您宁愿安全而不是后悔，请确保您的家庭资料属于您信任的人。

... But You Can't Have Both

“So,” I asked Shamis, “would you recommend that someone get both Echo and Google Home?”

“No,” he told me. “It’s one or the other -- there’s enough overlap that you don’t need both.”

He’s right. Both have smart home features. Both can play music. Both can answer questions on a whim. So when one outweighs the other, it’s typically limited to personal preference.

弄清楚您的优先事项是什么，以及为什么首先选择投资这样的数字助手。从那里，使用此列表来帮助确定哪一个更适合您的生活，以及如何使事情变得更轻松。

Which device do you prefer -- Amazon Echo, or Google Home -- and why? Let us know in the comments.