GOOGLE HOME REVIEW: HOME IS WHERE THE SMART IS: VIDEO
GOOGLE HOME REVIEW: HOME IS WHERE THE SMART IS
by Dan Seifert@dcseifert Nov 3, 2016,
over a decade, Google search has been indispensable. It’s the first place we go whenever we need to find information on virtually anything. It’s used countless times a day on our computers, our phones, sometimes even in our cars and on our wrists. Using Google search, whether it’s to win an argument, self-diagnose an injury, or just to look up what other people are saying about you, has become second nature.
Our interactions with Google have always revolved around screens. But if you ask futurists what the next platform for interaction is, chances are they’ll say there’s no screen involved. In the future, we’ll be able to access information without having to type on keyboards, tap on screens, or even hold anything in our hands. So it’s not surprising that Google is making a massive effort to make its services accessible via voice, for all those times when you don’t have a screen in front of you.
And the most obvious way it’s doing that is with the Google Home, a $129 voice-controlled, connected speaker.
The Home is a squat little device that’s intended to sit in your house or apartment, providing an access point to all of Google’s services whenever you need them, even if your hands are full or you’re not in front of a phone or computer. It can play music, answer questions, tell you the weather, wake you up in the morning, control smart home gadgets, and do other tricks.
At this point, you’re probably thinking that this sounds awfully familiar. That’s because everything the Google Home is designed to do can also be done with Amazon’s wildly popular Echo, which launched two years ago. The similarities between the two are near-endless: like Google Home, the Echo is a screenless, connected speaker that’s always listening for a voice command and can play music, answer questions, turn your smart lights on or off, and more. There’s a lot of overlap between these products, and for most intents and purposes, they are all but identical in use.
But the Home has something that the Echo doesn’t: a wealth of knowledge about the world, my personal preferences, and my habits. In other words, it has Google.
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