Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

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Sun Mar 19, 2017 12:02 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

My SO and I never touch light switches in the kitchen any more. I check the news while making breakfast and listen to music (via a dot connected to bluetooth on my Onkyo receiver) while puttering around the house. We have one in the bathroom that we use to listen to news, music, audio books, every day.

We're pretty dependent. Alexa does still stumble on things - sometimes it doesn't hear the wake word. Last night I asked it "what's in a blue whale cocktale" and it didn't understand. Siri shows relevant search results when asked that question. Not sure what Google Home would have done. I'm sure this will get better, but even in it's current state we're pleased with it.

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Posted on
Sun Mar 19, 2017 8:32 pm
RogueProeliator offline
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Re: Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

We're pretty dependent. Alexa does still stumble on things - sometimes it doesn't hear the wake word. Last night I asked it "what's in a blue whale cocktale" and it didn't understand. Siri shows relevant search results when asked that question. Not sure what Google Home would have done. I'm sure this will get better, but even in it's current state we're pleased with it.

Alexa just stumbles quite a bit on us - especially for my 9 year old - where in Google Home rarely does.

I do have one significant complaint about Google Home that I will leave here for others (I realize that doesn't apply to you)... The Google Assistant on your phone and Home both will work together so that you don't get two answers, which is neat. But sometimes it seems that the Home is too eager to grab the answer - it may be out of ear shot (or close to it) and pick up on the question and answer despite the fact that you were talking to your phone. Other times it reacts as expected and the phone answers for you. Related, if both are in the room and there is a function that the phone can do that home can't, it would seem that the phone should answer... but sometimes Home will say that she can't handle that request at this time (e.g. "Call XYZ"). Supposedly Google is aware of these issues and working on them, but you know how that goes... we'll see.

Posted on
Wed Apr 12, 2017 12:34 pm
RogueProeliator offline
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Re: Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

SO here is an interesting one - and it is not tied to any particular device. Burger King just released a (regular) advertisement that, in the end, says "Ok Google, what is the Whopper burger?". This, of course, triggers Google Home to search for information about the Whopper. It isn't restricted to Home, of course, as it could just as easily been "Alexa, what is the Whopper burger?"

I can see that this could cause some annoyances if other brands start it up... But of course, it could be someone calling on your answering machine, voice message on phone, etc. Potentially some embarrassing results if done correctly since it would show up in the Google Home App or the Alexa App in history.

We may have mentioned this before, I feel like we have, but the old answering machine message of "Alexa, unlock the front door" would be dangerous. This particular case isn't dangerous but rather annoying by a known brand!

Adam

Posted on
Wed Apr 12, 2017 3:55 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

Well, hadn't thought of that - that could be annoying and dangerous. I personally don't use a local answering machine so that's not a problem for me, but I can definitely see how that could be a problem for those that do. I can, however, see an overzealous advertiser trying to get my Alexa to talk to me. Fortunately, that won't really work either for me because the one room where there's a TV and an Echo uses the same amplifier for both, so when the TV is on I don't hear anything the Echo is saying (it's a dot connected via bluetooth). Still a bit dangerous if I were to enable voice control of critical things (lock for instance).

I firmly believe that enabling voice control of something in your house should be a deliberate, conscious decision (vs automatically enabling it) just for this reason. This is the primary reason why I took the approach I did in the original Alexa plugin - you had to explicitly enable voice control of any given device (nothing automatic) and I think that's a good pattern moving forward for all plugins.

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Posted on
Wed Apr 12, 2017 8:21 pm
DaveL17 offline
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Re: Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

I also think that changing the wake word should probably be considered as important (or more important) as changing default username/password combinations.

I don't have one of these things (not sure I ever will) but if I ever do, my wake word -- for obvious reasons -- would have to be HAL.

I came here to drink milk and kick ass....and I've just finished my milk.

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Posted on
Thu Apr 13, 2017 5:35 am
johnpolasek offline
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Re: Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

DaveL17 wrote:
I also think that changing the wake word should probably be considered as important (or more important) as changing default username/password combinations.

I don't have one of these things (not sure I ever will) but if I ever do, my wake word -- for obvious reasons -- would have to be HAL.


Not SARAH? I'd say the Eureka house (except for the fusion reactor) was a much better prototype than a spaceship...

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Thu Apr 13, 2017 5:50 am
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Re: Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

Oh, no. It's definitely HAL for me.

"HAL - Play Pandora."
"I'm afraid I can't do that Dave."

There may be a flaw in my plan.

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Posted on
Thu Apr 13, 2017 6:05 am
toille27 offline
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Re: Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

Not SARAH?


And don't forget K.i.t.t. I would love for Michael Knight/K.i.t.t. to be controlling my home automation system and keep the bad guys out.

Posted on
Fri May 12, 2017 7:41 am
Fxguy offline
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Re: Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

I'd think Jarvis would be a better choice.....although I can definitely see HAL.

For those who are having issues with being understood, have you performed the speech training with Alexa? Just read a review where someone mentioned doing that at least once if not twice and it drastically improved recognition.

The whole Ads thing is a huge turn-off. I'm pretty set on getting an Echo Dot. I already am tied into Amazon's ecosystem and the way it seems that Google sometimes comes up with something brilliant and then abandons it (Google Glass for instance) is a bit concerning. Will be purchasing a Dot soon and will report back.

Posted on
Sat Jun 24, 2017 3:11 pm
george99 offline
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Re: Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

What I would like to see, which Alexa does not have, and maybe the others do is 2-way communication or feedback.
Alexa is the living room light on?

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Sat Jun 24, 2017 4:50 pm
roussell offline
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Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

george99 wrote:
What I would like to see, which Alexa does not have, and maybe the others do is 2-way communication or feedback.
Alexa is the living room light on?


Siri (HomeKit/Homebridge) does this.
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Terry


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Posted on
Sun Jun 25, 2017 9:45 pm
RogueProeliator offline
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Re: Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

What I would like to see, which Alexa does not have, and maybe the others do is 2-way communication or feedback.
Alexa is the living room light on?

Google Home will with supported hubs - I am pretty sure the Hue hub is one that is supported... I hope to get my Home setup to control everything here shortly and then will experiment. It should work similar to Siri as Terry gave an example. Just a guess here, but if Alexa hasn't already added it I expect they will.

Adam

Posted on
Sat Aug 05, 2017 10:33 am
george99 offline
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Re: Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

Well I meant more via Indigo and not they the hubs.

Posted on
Sat Aug 05, 2017 12:29 pm
roussell offline
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Re: Amazon Echo vs Google Home - Upgrading my Smart Home

If you're ***just/primarily*** looking for HA-related control, it's gonna be hard to beat homebridge and Siri. I've tried Alexa, Siri and Google (returned the Google, because it wasn't sufficiently "better" than the Dot to justify the price delta). For general queries about various topics, Google is the winner, with Siri and Alexa tied for 2nd (sometimes a distant 2nd).

The problem is the lack of official integration with Indigo; until one or more of them are integrated officially, the solutions will be pieced-together attempts that depend on some existing opening/flaw/work-around. Jay and Autolog have done some very cool things with the Alexa-Hue bridge, and I don't want to discount their work --it's terribly appreciated-- but at the end of the day, Alexa thinks its just a bunch of lights and that hampers what you can do with it. Forget telling Alexa to set the temperature of the downstairs HVAC to 72 degrees, which is easy with Homebridge/Siri, or scripting a two way conversation (Alexa, Tell Indigo to make coffee. OK, How many cups? 4. OK, making 4 cups of coffee). That type of customization is only available with the integration that a skill provides.

To be fair, the Siri integration is a third-party effort as well, but the underlying exploits expose more features than do the Hue-bridge. I'm not sure if the two-way thing is scriptable yet with Homebridge either, but I'll let you know in early 2018 when my pre-ordered Spinn coffee maker arrives! Also, because of Apple's policy (which Jay has noted in previous posts), I don't know if we'll ever have official integration with Siri. Perhaps Apple will change their position after the Apple Marshmallow/Toilet paper roll/iHome is released. Other packages are doing that exact thing today however, with Alexa and a skill.

I maintain the stance that Homebridge/Siri has the best integration with Indigo today, but I think that Alexa holds the most potential, provided that an official skill is released at some point, or you develop your own. The price-point of the Dot is hard to beat, and the platform is the most open of the three, though I would expect Google to catch-up on the openness after they figure out all of the monetizing vectors.


Terry

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