Hello and welcome to the show!
My name is Alex and this is TechFlow.
Today, we've got a very highly requested video to do that you guys told us to do over on
Twitter, TechFlow Tweets.
And that was the, well; Alexa, how are you doing?
ALEXA: I'm fine, thanks.
ALEX: Versus the: OK Google, Home.
How are you doing?
GOOGLE HOME: Great, thanks.
I love having a chin wag with you.
What can I do for you?
ALEX: Let's do this.
ALEX: So, first off, let's start out with the price.
Seeing as these are two items that you're going to be buying and spending your hard
earned cash on.
So, the Amazon Alexa comes in on the market place at the moment at $180.
Whereas over here on the Google Home, we're coming in at $130.
So, if cash is your issue, I'd be going for the Google Home.
But if you've got the buck to spend on both of these and you're wondering which one to
go for, let's dive in.
So, let's jump in to the first base, the aesthetics.
How these things look.
You're going to be placing these things in your home, in your bedroom, in your kitchen,
in your lounge - they need to look the part.
Now, my personal pick here goes with the Google Home.
We need a Google Home versus Alexa counter.
Err, we'll put that up here.
And I'm going to give the Google Home a second point here, just because I like the
way it looks more.
It's a lot smaller, it has a smaller footprint, I love the fact that it has a nice speaker
grille around here instead of the Amazon Alexa which just has a load of holes drilled in
to a plastic body.
It's a bit smaller and, as you can see, here I've actually got a Slick Wrap on here but Google
do actually offer customisation options for the Home.
Nothing that you can find about that is on the Echo.
It's just white or black.
Next, you're going to be interacting with these devices.
Obviously by speaking to them, waking them up, by using their names - either: OK Google,
how are you doing?
GOOGLE HOME: Great, thanks.
What can I do for you?
ALEX: Nothing.
GOOGLE HOME: Oh, OK.
Or, on Team Alexa; How are you doing?
ALEXA: I'm great.
I hope you are too.
ALEX: So, you're going to be speaking to them, but first, they do have some physical buttons
on them.
Now, a third point to Google here.
3-0 - Alexa, come on.
ALEXA: Sorry, I'm always trying to improve.
ALEX: Aah!
Simply because the Google Home has a capacitive touch button at the top, you simply run your
finger around it to change the volume.
With this, it's a hardware, plastic switch.
Now, you can go ahead and mute both of the microphones.
Both of them indicate that the microphone is muted.
On the Echo, it's...
You get a red light to indicate and then on the Google, it's...
GOOGLE HOME: The microphone is muted.
ALEX: It lets you know verbally.
ALEX: OK, first off, both of these things are speakers.
So, what are they if the sound quality isn't very good?
Let's do a quick test and you guys can decide.
But I'm going to give you my verdict because I'm actually in the room.
I do have a nice microphone recording this though so go get your headphones, come back
and listen to them yourself.
Alexa, play some music.
ALEXA: Music on Spotify.
ALEX: Alexa, stop!
OK Google, play me some Spotify.
ALEX: OK Google, stop.
I'm giving one point to Alexa here, 3-1.
It sounds a little bit louder - three to four decibels to be exact - and the treble is a
little crisper.
So, for voices, it's going to sound amazing.
Both of these speakers, by the way, can be used as just a Bluetooth speaker.
Connect it to your phone and you can play your music.
But Alexa wins the sound quality.
You'd think that though because of the size.
For the sake of the next segment of the video, I'm going to go ahead and mute both of these
devices.
So, they're both pretty simple devices.
We've talked about how they look and how they sound but let's jump in to the actual interaction
with this device, using your voice, which is the primary function why you buy one of
these devices in the first place.
Let's start out with the basics.
So, to wake Amazon Echo, you say: Alexa.
In the settings, this can be changed to: "Computer," "Amazon," or "Echo."
With the Google Home, you can say: "Hey Google" or "OK Google."
You don't have to change that setting.
Now, both of these devices have to be woken up by you saying the wake word.
So, what I'm going to do is, to test out these microphones, I'm going to walk at numerous
intervals down the hallway and whichever one stops listening first loses.
Alexa, can you hear me?
ALEXA; Yes, I'm here.
ALEX: OK Google, can you hear me?
GOOGLE HOME: Yes, receiving, over.
ALEX: I'm going to stand half-way down the hallway.
So, I'm currently stood about ten metres away from both of the smart devices around the corner.
Alexa, can you hear me?
ALEXA: Yes, I can hear you.
ALEX: OK Google, can you hear me?
GOOGLE HOME: Yes, receiving, over.
ALEX: I'm going to go twenty metres away now.
Alexa, can you hear me?
ALEXA: Yes, I'm here.
I listen once I hear the wake word.
ALEX: OK Google, can you hear me?
GOOGLE HOME: Yes, receiving, over.
ALEX: Moving back to thirty metres.
Alexa, can you hear me?
ALEXA: Yes, I can hear you.
ALEX: Google, can you hear me?
Ohhhhhh, the winner.
Instantly, with that, we know that the Alexa can pick up your voice better.
It's catching up; 3-2.
Next, the response times.
When you're talking to one of your assistants, you need to know that it's going to be there
for you and there for you fast.
Alexa, set a timer for two minutes.
ALEXA: Two minutes, starting now.
ALEX: Quite fast.
OK Google, set a timer for two minutes.
GOOGLE HOME: OK, two minutes, starting now.
ALEX: Ooooh.
Alexa, stop the timer.
ALEXA: Two minute timer cancelled.
ALEX: OK Google, stop the timer.
GOOGLE HOME: Alright.
Consider it cancelled.
ALEX: It's very, very close.
Alexa, what's the time in Japan?
ALEXA: The time in Japan is 7:02 AM on Tuesday.
ALEX: 3.63 seconds.
OK Google, what's the time in Japan?
GOOGLE HOME: The time in Tokyo, Japan, is 7:03 AM on Tuesday.
ALEX: Google Home gets the edge.
4-2.
It's just a slight bit faster.
But we're talking milliseconds.
So, in essence, these are smart home devices.
They are smart in themselves but they get even smarter when linked to other smart home
devices i.e. a lighting system.
Asking Alexa to turn on the lights.
Or, OK Google, play some music on the kitchen speakers.
So, this is a very subjective thing.
It depends what you have in your house and what smart devices you already own.
But if, let's say in your house, in every single TV, you've got a Chrome Cast plugged
in, this is an obvious choice for you.
You're going to go for this, because with the Google Home, you can say: Play, insert
YouTube video title, on, insert Chrome Cast name, and it will just play that video on
that TV.
You can't do that with Alexa.
Or even if you had a Chrome Cast audio, you could tell your Google Home with your voice
to play a certain song from a certain streaming service to that speaker which is the name
of the Chrome Cast audio.
Do you get where I'm coming from here?
Unfortunately though, Google, you're losing out here.
Because you can install recipes on Alexa over here and she is going to be able to do a whole
lot more than you, Mister Google Home.
I'm just going to bring this up for you guys - I just brought it up online.
Both of these devices can interact with Wemo from Belkin, Logitech Harmony, Nest, Phillips,
Samsung, TP Link and Wink.
Obviously, the Alexa doesn't have Chrome Cast.
But then a report has surfaced that Alexa can actually interact with over 200 more smart
devices than the Google Home.
Just in case you have a weak WiFi network at home, I've found that the Google Home doesn't
work in places where the Amazon Alexa still worked but had a weak signal.
Just pointing that out there.
My personal favourite is the Echo.
What's yours?
Put it down there in the comments section down below.
Drop a like rating on the video and go to the Qutee and tell us why and what is your
favourite one to win one of these.
The winner is going to be picked in four weeks from now.
So make sure you do those three things - drop a like on the video, tell us what's your favourite
one and why in the comments section and on the Qutee link in the description and you're
entered.
It's as simple as that.
Oh, and, if you're feeling nice, and you're not subscribed, make sure you subscribe.
And if you are subscribed, turn on notifications.
There we go guys.
That is our Amazon Alexa versus Google Home review.
Or comparison or whatever you want to call it.
Hope you found some entertainment out of it.
If you did, a like rating would be awesome.
But for now...
ALEXA: Sorry, I don't know that one.
ALEX: My name's been Alex...
ALEXA: Sorry, I'm not sure how to help with that yet.
ALEX: ...This has been TechFlow and we'll catch you in the next one.