Which smart speaker; Google, Alexa or Siri?

 

As we are getting smarter, Google Assistant, Alexa and Siri have become our digital helpers which are living inside our devices and reacting to our spoken commands to play music, and teach the spelling of those difficult homework words

If the user want a voice assistance platform, the user'll have to pick a champ.This article will explain the various options to choose the one that best meets the needs, along with the right smart speaker for the home.

How to Command Smart Speaker

Every smart speaker is called with a particular word, like "Alexa" for Alexa, "Hey, Google" for Google, and "Siri" for Siri. After they listen to the user, the user are at liberty to ask for whatever the user want. The question is how to ask.

All three voice assistants are very easy to talk to, but they can misbehave if the user don't use the proper syntax. Alexa especially needs to be spoken to in certain ways to get the results which is required. Once user is used to talking to Alexa and understand how to best phrase the userr requests it is not  a problem, but too often the voice assistant can get confused if the user use an unfamiliar term or if it is phrased in an unfamiliar way.

Google Assistant and Siri are both very much better at recognizing natural language, and generally much less frustrating to talk to. Amazon has recently begun integrating its new A1Z neural processor to its range of Echo speakers to  improve machine learning, but for now, its better to go with Google and Apple.

Smart Home and its Management

Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri can control almost any smart home device nowadays. In Alexa and Google apps, and with the help of new Siri Shortcuts feature, the user can set up different rooms of multiple devices to control, and set up multi-step routines, like "I'm leaving the house."

Most newer smart home devices are based on Wi-Fi-and hubless, or otherwise work with Alexa and Google Assistant, so the user should be covered.

If the user're going to use Siri to control the smart home, the user want to make sure the smart home devices the user buy are HomeKit-compatible, and the user have a HomePod, the iPad, or Apple TV to use as a hub. The user will then be able to create rooms, groups, and multi-step routines, and control the user’s devices remotely, but only from iOS. Apple's Home app is gorgeous, but the user have to be completely with Apple for it to work well.

Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri can all be used to control a home entertainment center or television, with a compatible TV or appropriate hardware addition like an Amazon Fire TV for Alexa, a Chromecast for Android TV for Google Assistant.

 

Third-Party Skills

Amazon's ecosystem of voice assistant has been powered by large number of third-party skills and Amazon website has a directory of them. These skills do everything from giving the user the user local transit status, to checking the user credit card balance, to trivia about the user favourite college football team, to playing games and singing songs. However, the user have to seek out the skills the user want, and use the very specific syntax they want the user to use.

 

Google Assistant has very less skills, but those skills are steadily growing. It tends to accept and understand more free-form conversation rather than demanding specific word-by-word syntax, making it easier to use with these skills. The user can check out Google's skills (which it calls "actions") in its convenient web-based directory.

Telephone Calls

All of the voice assistants will let the user make phone calls from the user’s smart speaker. Alexa and Google make free phone calls directly. Google Assistant will call numbers in the US and Canada through Google Duo. Alexa will call anyone in the US, Canada, and Mexico, but not toll-free numbers. The HomePod can be used as a speakerphone for the user’s phone, but the user have to start the call on the user’s phone.

How Do Smart Speakers Sound?

All smart speakers can play music from the user’s phone and laptop, but if the user is relying only on voice commands, then the user will have to rely on cloud services. Alexa speakers will also play Amazon music. Google Assistant speakers will play from Google Play and The YouTube music, including tunes the user've uploaded to the user’s own Google account library. Siri on the HomePod and HomePod mini will play Apple Music and songs from the user’s Apple Music account. For any of these services, the user can just ask the smart speaker to start playing music from them.

Almost all the smart speakers also support Bluetooth connections so the user can stream audio directly from the user’s tablet, or computer. Several speakers also feature 3.5mm ports, though some are output-only.

The Nest Mini and Echo Dot have both made strong strides in sound quality, but they are not capable to really fill a room, and are not quite good enough to be primary music speakers. As mentioned, the user can use them to control better speakers.

The Perfect Smart Speaker for The user

At the current moment, Google Assistant seems the superior voice assistant for smart speakers. Amazon and its ecosystem has more third-party skills, but Google is built into Android phones which has the largest ecosystem now and has better natural-language query understanding, and that makes a big difference.

Whatever voice assistant the user go with, the size and the power and the price all have to be considered. The Echo Dot and Nest Mini are the cheapest entry points into Alexa and Google Assistant. The elder siblings Echo, HomePod mini, and Nest Audio are fairly powerful but still affordable smart speakers that can be sufficient to fill a room with sound. And if the user really want to get loud, the Echo Studio and HomePod are among the biggest, and priciest, of the bunch.

And if the user want video support as well, there are always smart displays, which are basically smart speakers with touch screens.

-Nilanjan Kala

Nagpur