What does this give Apple again?Apple must love this and all the market share that goes along with it.
Yes Siri is way behind Alexa , it’s pretty hopeless understanding accents where Alexa works first time 99.9% of the time where Siri is slow for a start , so much for Apple bigging it up its not improved at all over the years . Home pod would be good if it had Alexa built in lol I’ve got Apple TV and it’s a waste of time unless your a American for voice control Utterly useless iam afraid still folk will buy the HomePod when it comes out I guessPart of Apple’s charm is in its ecosystem, I get what your saying about Siri tho it isn’t as good at the moment, that could be why the Homepod is delayed until early next year. The price is high but it’s suppose to have much better audio quality than Amazon’s eco, so a high end speaker with a Siri assistant is the appeal here, but they do need to get Siri done correctly!!
Its "better" because it has a several year head start on skills. Those are the things it can actually do, other than return random facts. I doubt I'd ever use it to shop, even though I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon. I also doubt I'll use Amazon Music even though I have Amazon Prime. I use Spotify, which works great with Echo. I can now control my lights, switches, home theatre, etc... and more. Google will probably catch up a bit, but they have a habit of doing some things kind of half a$$ and never getting out of beta. Amazon is much better at doing it right with things they choose to do. Echo is very important to them, and they will not squander their lead.
Crappy sound in every room. Yea!
Not.
Apple have said before they don’t aim to be the first they aim to be the best, they have done it before and could do so again, you don’t always have to race or win the race.
Crappy sound in every room. Yea!
Not.
Google home can do all that as well. It integrates with lights (Wink, SmartThings, Zwave, about the only missing thing is Insteon), music is Spotify, Pandora, Google/YouTube Music, iHeartRadio, and Apple Music on iOS. I can talk to my WiFi BBQ thermometer and have it tell me the meat and grill temps. It will add things to the OurGorceryList App, etc. https://store.google.com/us/product/google_home_partners?hl=en-US
Google Home has plenty of integrations and is better at natural language queries. Alexa was first but Google does it better, IMHO.
I trust Google not to drop the ball on this - they know the next big thing will be the smart home and the digital assistant. And they are at the forefront of it technologically.
I actually went for a $79 Google Home over Christmas and got my parents the $29 Home Mini. Amazon and Google to a lesser extent own this market. I know some here have argued that Apple will overtake those two quickly with HomePod because of the brand and Siri integration, but I’m not seeing it. Personally I think at $349 the HomePod is going to flop. Maybe if they introduce a Mini under $100 they will get some traction in the market, but by then everyone will have an Amazon or Google device.
I wanted the best search and voice assistant possible and in that case he recommended Google Home.
You think Gimped Alexa is good, you should try Google Home. At $29 it blows Amazon out of the water. And I'd rather have Google than Amazon any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
I don't do Amazon shopping except as an absolute LAST resort so Google's integrations are better for shopping, list management, and even day to day routines. Add to that Google Music is better than Amazon's offerings and I struggle to find out why Amazon is "better".
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I think Google may be late but they have the better offering and ecosystem. I can tell Google to play Netflix on my Chromecast enabled TV (Vizio) and the TV will change inputs and play. I've got rooms of Minis lined for a whole home audio experience. They have tons of manufacturers making Google Assistant products. They have the casting space and are integrating with tons of products.
Heck, I can shop from Google Home at stores that are NOT Amazon. That alone is Golden!
I can ask Google Home how long it will take to get to X or Y and she tells me and also says "I've sent directions to your phone". That's ***** Awesome!
Alexa did have the head start so it's only natural that it has more support. But Google is getting support left and right too.But you can ask Alexa to play what you want on the Fire TV, you can buy stuff off Amazon with it, and frankly I think that’s good enough considering they sell everything practically.
Not sure about the directions though? From what I’ve seen also more devices have integrated or support Alexa.
And still not optimized for the iPhone X.
After presents were unwrapped across the world on Christmas morning, Amazon's Alexa app [Direct Link] earned the #1 spot on the iOS App Store's Top Free chart, suggesting Echo and other Alexa devices were very popular this holiday season (via TechCrunch).
This marks the first time the Alexa app gained a #1 spot on Apple's App Store, and it remained there for over a day. Currently, Alexa sits at #2 on the Top Free chart in the App Store, having lost the top spot today to YouTube.
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Amazon yesterday said that the Echo Dot was the #1 selling Amazon Device this holiday season, as well as being "the best-selling product from any manufacturer in any category across all of Amazon," with millions of Echo Dots sold. With so many Echo products being purchased for Christmas and other holiday celebrations, users were led to download the Amazon Alexa app so they can set up their speaker, control it, integrate with other smart home products, and more.
Data gathered from Sensor Tower's App Store analytics shows the Alexa app climbing the Top Free United States iOS App Store charts in the days leading up to Christmas and then peaking at #1 on December 25 and December 26. On Christmas day, the Alexa app gained prominence on the Top Free App Store charts in other countries as well, including Great Britain (rising to #2), Germany (#5), and Austria (#5).
As Amazon's Alexa devices continue to dominate the smart speaker market, Apple has plans to release its own music-focused smart speaker device -- the HomePod -- in early 2018. HomePod will be controlled mainly through the user's voice using Siri, and include access to Apple Music and other expected smart speaker functionalities, like asking about the weather, traffic, setting reminders, timers, and more.
Article Link: Amazon's Alexa App Climbed to #1 on the iOS App Store's Top Free Chart After Christmas
This is from Amazon?Let's NOT forget the wonderful iOS Alexa app, REVERB, that puts Alexa functionality on any iOS device. Yes, it's made by Amazon and fully supported.
Crappy sound in every room. Yea!
Not.
I have both and the Amazon Echo has much better support of non-Homekit third party devices. For example, I can ask Alexa to open/close my garage door, control my lawn sprinklers, turn the TV on/off... all with my voice. My iPhone can do all those things with the respective apps, but none of those things can be controlled with "Hey Siri".I have a question for people who have used both Siri and Alexa. If you’ve got an echo with Alexa what kinds of things (other than ordering from Amazon) can you do with the echo and Alexa that you can’t with Siri.