Gadgetory

what's up prize fighters it's time to get down and dirty with one of the hottest products right now the smart speaker it's a prize fight punch-out between the Google home and Amazon's echo now we've waited a year for the home to grow up a little bit so let's get it out round one is design the Amazon echo is $179 and brings a simple cylinder speaker it's twice the height of the home and it comes in black or white it has a blue LED and a physical volume control dial at the top it's pretty basic and it won't turn anyone off now the Google home is 129 and it might look like an air freshener actually you know what it does look like one like this Renuzit one but it's still a more elegant modern design with touch controls on top and the ability to customize it with different colored bases is a nice touch beauty is in the eye of the beholder always but we're giving round one to the home next round is personal assistant these are primary voice assistants how smart are they now most people are using smart speakers to set timers adding items to a shopping list asking for the weather and playing music and they both do this the Google home has a treasure trove of data with the brains of Google behind it and it's only getting better the home has added support for up to six different users with the ability to recognize different voices and it will even customize responses like traffic updates depending on who's asking you know what echo can't do that now the power of the Google assistant brings a more context aware system that allows you to ask follow-up questions to the first question the echo can do that with weather but Google home can do it with more types of follow-ups who plays Katniss Everdeen Katniss Everdeen was played by Jennifer Lawrence okay Google what other movies is she in her movies include silver linings playbook joy and 25 others and everyone knows cooking with a smart speaker is one of its four tastes the echo can find recipes through the all recipes skill but the home takes it to the next level with offering more detailed true step by step instructions from start to finish okay Google what was that last beat the three eggs in a separate Bowl and measure the flour into another separate dish now the echo counters with device-to-device calling so it's basically a speakerphone now while the home can call other homes landlines or mobile phones for free that's rad and we cannot ignore alexis massive library of over 10,000 skills that takes this personal assistant to the next level think of them as apps I can do everything from ordering pizza or calling in uber or even asking for sleep sounds to help you go to bed I like oceans or jungle nights now by the time you watch this things might have already changed the Google home is technically smarter but the echo skills make it the most versatile assistant you'll find today Amazon takes round 2 next up is a smart home if you've been around since 2014 you're going to make friends and that's what the echo is done with the most hardware partners you can find now you can see here Google's started with just four platforms but has been catching up and they both have the big boys like nest Phillips U and Logitech Harmony now some of the echo skills add even more smart device compatibility the Google assistant is more flexible than Alexa with brazing and how you word your commands but if the smart home is your top priority the echo can't be beat the Amazon warrior takes round three next up entertainment this might not be a priority for you right now but the smart speaker is going to evolve even more and entertainment is one of those places you can play audio from any source to both the echo and the home and treat them like a Bluetooth speaker neither of these will blow you away with their sound the echo sounds good but with its size you'd expect something more and yes you could just buy an echo dot for 49 bucks and plug it into a speaker which a lot of people do now the home is smaller but it brings a fuller and deeper sound but again you're better off connecting them to better sounding systems both support the Logitech Harmony remote which is a dream if you have a home theater system and about 149 bucks to get started but it can take some time for setup and troubleshooting but what about quickly watching or listening to something the Google home can control any google cast enabled speaker or any speaker that's connected to a chromecast Audio streamer now the home can also group multiple speakers to play a song simultaneously in multiple rooms of your home yeah they got me there the echo can't do that now you can also control your TV watch Netflix or pull up a video on YouTube with the chromecast video streamer that starts at 35 bucks or a TV with chromecast built in and you can now see visual cues on your TV for things like your personal calendar or weather or YouTube selections when you're using the home and TV at the same time Amazons fire TV has alexa built into it but the echo can't deal directly with the fire TV at the moment and that's a big miss now they both play games and tell jokes and the echo has a lot more Easter eggs because it's been around longer but when it comes down to the fastest and better yet the cheapest way to play with media the Google home shines and takes round four so let's break down this back and forth battle Google scores in design Amazon punches back as a personal assistant and the brains for your smart home but home comes back as the better and tur tainer believe it or not we're going to call this price fight at eyes now smart control is your priority the Amazon echo is a no brainer both are great personal assistants that are only getting better but Google's brains give it more potential in the future and if you're a family that's plugged into the Google ecosystem that might be the better choice but all too the choice always comes down to you I'm Brian Tong thanks for watching and we'll catch you guys next time for another prizefight