I have been playing with Google Home and Alexa Dot and these are my initial impressions:
Google Home
- Get a Chromecast and it becomes an invaluable combo.
- The IA reactions feel more personal.
- The IOS App is annoyingly requesting the iPhone/iPad to be set in American English and localized in the US, otherwise it does not work properly.
- Games are fun.
Alexa Dot
- Voice recognition feels more precise.
- Music quality is decent but (expectedly) not the best without a separate speaker.
- Integrates seamlessly with Amazon services.
- The tiny size makes it a perfect travel companion.
Do you have any of them? Do you have any cool hack to suggest?
I haven’t tried out a Dot, but I have the Echo and Google Home. I think what you trade for portability with the Echo, you gain with a speaker that blows the Google Home away. It’s definitely not Sonos-quality, or even “sound system” quality, but the Echo easily fills a room for “background” music. I have the Google Home on my desk, and only ever play music loud enough for me, right there at the desk.