Amazon might just have the edge in the smart speaker market for now, launching its Alexa-powered Echo device before rivals, along with the smaller Echo Tap and Dot.
But Google isn’t far behind with its Google Home alternative, which launched stateside last year and is made its way to the UK just this month.
And now, it seems the big G is adding a new feature which might just give it one up on Amazon’s rival device.
As reported by AndroidPolice, the Discover tab of the Google Home app now features a card that says ‘Multiple users now supported”.
That means we can expect to see the device supporting multiple accounts, allowing different users with separate music accounts and data to make use of the speaker.
However, it seems for the time being the actual feature isn’t live – but at least we know the launch of this much-needed functionality is imminent.
Below the headline, the new card says: “Now, you and others in your home can get a personalised experiece from your Assistant on Google home.”
Just how the feature will work remains unclear at this point, but we’re expecting to hear more very soon as the feature goes live and users start reporting their experiences.
Multiple user support is something the Amazon Echo is yet to feature, but we’re sure the company is working on bringing such functionality to the speaker soon.
We’ll keep you updated on Google Home’s multiple user support, so stay tuned for when it goes live.
Sоurсе: trustedreviews.com
Have zero clue why Google Home (GH) is even compared to the Echo. We had the Echo since it launched and now several GHs.
The Echo has commands that you memorize. The GH has no commands and you talk to it like you would a human.
So for example the Echo has the command “Song goes like …” so I would would do a quick Google search because I could rarely remember how it went but knew other stuff. Then with the song name ask Alexa. With the GH you skip the search step. You just ask with whatever you have and the Google inference is amazing. Well like search.
But it is the human touches with the GH that gets me. Started asking GH something and say “I forgot” and shes saids “no worries happens to me all the time”. But then another time I say “nevermind” and she saids “yes, lets move forward”. It is amazing and assume it learned how to do this by Google crawling the web all these years for their search engine.
The two devices are NOT alike and drives me crazy when people compared.
I invested in the Dot as an experiment – if it worked then I was going invest in a set of them around the house and if not then leave it be. The reason I went for it was mostly the music side of things (have a Bluetooth speaker) as I have a Prime account, Kindle HDx tablet and Fire TV so I’m invested in the Amazon ecosystem. Bearing in mind that all the CDs I’ve bought over the years are also available through my Prime account which is extremely useful.
What really lets it down is the search engine being anything but Google. It reminds me of the BASIC programs I made when I was 12 where it looked for key words and phrases in the input and wouldn’t recognise or respond to anything outside of these fixed phrases. Yeh you can do a lot on it but you have to memorise the EXACT commands and asking it questions is pointless as you’ll likely get an “I’m sorry” response. Asking it what is the meaning of life and getting “42” is only amusing so many times. If all you seem to be using is a load of “IF” “AND” and “OR” statements once you’ve done the voice recognition then you should be able to advance the system far quicker than is happening. You can just ask Google on your phone if you have any real questions. I also find it bizarre that they’ve taken so long to link the Fire TV to the Dot…. For ages I have been able to look for a TV program on my tablet, press a button and it’ll play it on the Fire TV which is great as it’s a much better interface for browsing on the tablet. So why did it take so long to get the Echo / Dot linked to the Fire TV?
I think Amazon is more useful for certain people in that it has more “skills” integrated into it but the oomph of Google as a company means it’ll probably get to where Amazon is in terms of third party integration in a few months and the capability ceiling is so much higher. I think the other issue is that to make real use of the Amazon system, you have to spend a fortune on smart thermostats, smart light bulbs, several Dots or Echos and so on. I think for many people the Google system will be much better but for me I’m quite happy using my Amazon stuff as it integrates several different devices, Prime TV and music and can easily change music or set the occasional timer whilst cooking with hands covered with raw chicken. I just pull my phone out when I want anything more than a timer or some music.
Would I buy a Dot again given what I know now? Probably not. the best part is for use whilst cooking and my phone can be left on the side playing music through a Bluetooth speaker and Google will respond to basic voice commands through that, changing music and setting timers. If I were a rich man and could invest in the whole system with a load of fancy smart home stuff I’d consider it more. As for being able to buy things through it, well that’s one of the first things I disabled – I don’t want someone on telly accidentally ordering things for me and I would never order something through Amazon without confirming the product is correct, the shipping address and billing method are all correct so this feature is far too haphazard for me.
I use multiple accounts on my Amazon Dot…. just tell it to “switch to [insert name] account” and it does it just fine.
One differentiation Mr. Roberts failed to mention is important—and that is the search engine. Amazon Echo features Microsoft’s Bing engine while the Google Home uses—wait for it!—Google. Most people I know dislike Bing because it doesn’t do as good a job returning relevant results. So this aspect should also be considered when choosing one over the other.