Amazon Echo and Google Home

[Shanghaichica]

I've been able to purchase the echo dot for £30 but it won't arrive until Wednesday. I have an amazon prime subscription and a Bluetooth speaker so I'll give it ago. I'm still waiting for the home pod which I'll most likely buy but they need to say a bit more about it closer to the time. I'm hopping that the Siri features will be enhanced because I don't subscribe to Apple Music and I'm not that keen to do so. I've not even activated the 3 month free trial. I prefer to purchase my music outright rather than stream. I've also heard way too many stories about it messing up people's library to even try it. Maybe if they have more exclusive content it might force me to subscribe. I almost resigned myself to sign up because of the bad boy documentary but then Apple released it as a standalone purchase.
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Absolutely, in some cases. And again, this is only my personal use case, but I have a Google Home centrally located in our kitchen/family room/eating area (open floor plan) as it enables us to utilize it easily from many places in our home. I'd personally find it terribly inconvenient to have to stand in one specific location to be able to see the pertinent info vs. having it thrown up to my large TV screen which is viewable from anywhere in this common area, or to a tablet/phone that is easily used from where ever I happen to be standing.

To speak specifically to the directions request--more useful to have those sent to my phone which will presumably be coming which me to the desitation or on a static, small screen in my home?

Again, just my personal use case and how I prefer my home 'assistant' to function. I can easily see how having one with a display in the kitchen, where one's hands are usually unavailable, would be quite useful.

I like the idea of being able to cast information to my TV. I have a chromecast. I think I'll use the echo dot as an inexpensive way to see if I have use for a home assistant and then either buy the home or the home pod or even both if I can justify it. I don't have a google music subscription but I have all my music uploaded so the google home would be good for that. If they bring YouTube red to the UK I'd subscribe.

 

[Southern Dad]

I have 5 Echo Dots, 1 Echo Tap, and 1 Google Home. There are advantages to both GH and Alexa. Either one can play music. Either one can stream a podcast. Alexa can start my car and set the inside temp prior to my leaving work. They can talk to each other.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I just got an Echo Dot 2 gen. I had the Echo before, and ended up giving it to my mother once I got the Google Home. Never had an Echo Dot before.

Compared to the Echo, the internal speaker is crap and not made for music playback. Music playback also sounds very distorted at high volumes. It's also hard to hear at max volume in large rooms, but the volume is more than good enough for smaller rooms like a Bedroom or Office room. Speech media like news and etc, is okay at high volumes.

The good news is it connects to an external speaker very easily either using an aux cable or bluetooth. The mic on the Echo Dot is just as good as on the Echo.

Echo Dot is definitely worth every penny at $50. The only con is Google Music still can't be played by using voice commands.

Can't wait to see what Apple's Homepod can do.

 

[Southern Dad]

I added an Echo Tap to my toys when I found one at a Pawn Shop for $50. I like that it is able to be cordless.

 

[john-volvich]

You can try MusConv tool

 

[Shanghaichica]

I bought a home mini recently and I like it. Does some things that my HomePod and echo-dot can’t do like control my chromecast and make calls.

 

[SigEp265]

I added an Echo Tap to my toys when I found one at a Pawn Shop for $50. I like that it is able to be cordless.

Curious. What kind of functions can it do cordless besides be used as a wireless speaker when it is not around wifi? Can it use your phone for data?

 

[Southern Dad]

The Tap just does not need a power cord. It still needs the WiFi. We use it on the back deck when we are out there.

 

[bob13bob]

Amazon echo long term review - google home speaker is better because it can cast youtube music free

I use my smart speakers to play music and sometimes for timers. To check weather and less annoying to just use my phone.


The speakers can play music simultaneously across rooms which is an awesome feature. That alone makes it better than home stereo setups.


My echos have three flaws.

The volume control is not granular enough, it’s too soft or too loud many times. The increments are too large to get just right. This can get very annoying.


Echo doesn’t play youtube, it can’t cast from youtube unlike google home. For me, this reason alone makes the google home speaker worth triple the echo. I have amazon prime, but not prime music premium. Prime’s free selection of music can be very limited. They have many albums, but their playlists are severely lacking. This means when you tell to play, chill hop; it might have one good station playlist. They become stale very quickly with limited amount that starts to repeat itself.


Also, many times songs / playlists aren’t volume standardized unless you’re playing the same album. You’re playing a station, and all of a sudden the next song has it’s volume way too high. This means your constant calling alex to volume down or up.


Google home can stream from youtube free. If you’re like me with chrome add blockers, you know that youtube free has arguably the best selection of music of any service. Even many of spotify’s best playlists come from youtube playlists. You probably have to play from a computer to avoid draining your phone battery (screen must be on for hte vids to keep playing)