Google Home Reviews: Handsome Design Not Enough to Outweigh 'Rough Around the Edges' Feel

[62tele]

I use my Echo for all the normal things, music, shopping lists, weather, alarm clock, sleep timer, to do lists, my flash morning briefing, cooking conversions, multiple timers, and a hundred more by just speaking, while I use my phone for other things. Another benefit is skills. The one I use the most is simply controlling my harmony hub. Amazon has pretty good web information. Another note, new Amazon Dot, Echo without the speaker. Used with your speaker and or stereo system. Best part, the Dot costs $50.

Thanks. It sounds very convenient. Like the Apple Watch, it would probably be more useful to me if I was still working but I am retired and I have less need for some of those features. At some point I am going to automate my home so something like Echo would be more useful when I do. Also the "to do" list would be handy. I also wonder whether it could be helpful in Emergency situations.
It seems like Apple has dropped the ball or were asleep at the wheel on AI and the personal assistant. The one thing that impresses me about the Echo is that users feel it is very responsive and accurate. I have lost a lot of faith in Apple to deliver a smooth, accurate and dependable service from it's cloud.

 

[Romy90210]

But will this work with optical audio/TB3 devices??? That is the real question here....

 

[pally]

But will it read?

So i am paying for the experience of fatherhood without the sex?

Consider it fatherhood without the risk of child abuse.
[doublepost=1478267329][/doublepost]

I remember they said the same thing about Furbies when those came out...

Maybe you should buy a furby on ebay, rip out the stuffing, and dress up your own google home. Perhaps this would fulfill your void left by the "promise of furby"?

 

[mdatwood]

Holy €rap! Is anyone actually going to plug this in their homes and allow google to link your google account to your home address to your voice and your kids voices and all your conversations and all of your "searches" and then let google data mine the €rap out of it all for free?!? Hmmmmm..... this is priceless.

Have you ever used Google at home? Other than the voice, they already have that data. You might as well get something out of it.

 

[Metalcase]

I personally find Alexa really useful. It's far from perfect, but it's pretty good at what it does, within its limitations. I have Google Home on order and expect it to be even better (and I find Google Play Music to be the best music streaming service (together with Pandora), so it will work with that, while Alexa works only with Spotify and Amazon Music).

The Echo works great with Pandora. Its what I use 98% of the time.

 

[BruiserB]

Spread out purchases over time.

But the standards are evolving so quickly now....then you end up replacing things 3 times to stay compatible. So far it's not too much trouble for me to get to my light switches! ;-)

 

[ryanwarsaw]

Consider it fatherhood without the risk of child abuse.
[doublepost=1478267329][/doublepost]
Maybe you should buy a furby on ebay, rip out the stuffing, and dress up your own google home. Perhaps this would fulfill your void left by the "promise of furby"?

As a responsbile parent I will not intervene. 2 go in 1 comes out.

 

[thatfrenchman]

Love how this article starts out describing it as the "newest entry in the wireless Bluetooth speaker category" when 1. none of these devices are wireless and 2. Google Home doesn't support Bluetooth. Never stop never stopping, MacRumors.

 

[macUser2007]

The Echo works great with Pandora. Its what I use 98% of the time.

You are correct, I use my Alexa/Echos with Pandora mostly, too.

I meant that I like Google Play Music better than Amazon Music or Spotify (or Apple Music), so that's why I am looking forward to Google Home (which was just shipped to me

 

[bpeeps]

But the standards are evolving so quickly now....then you end up replacing things 3 times to stay compatible. So far it's not too much trouble for me to get to my light switches! ;-)

Standards have not increased dramatically enough to warrant updating devices over the last 5 years. Compatibility is only added, not taken away. Home automation is not just about being "too lazy" to turn lights on but creating a series of activities that work congruent with each other. Your location based sensor detects you are home, unlocks your door, disables your alarm, turns the living room lamp on, plays Enya, and lowers your Nest thermostat. I'm not sure if you're the original person I was replying to, but that is what these smart devices are for. It may appear gimmicky to those who don't understand where the future is headed and to those that think purchasing an Amazon Echo is just about asking it what the weather is outside.

 

[nsayer]

These so-called assistants are all way, way too worthless to throw purpose-built hardware at.

First, you have to eliminate the ones that don't pass the "cui bono" sniff test. What you're left with is Cortana (and I'm not 100% sure about the cui bono result there) and Siri, and they're less useful than Forest Gump.

 

[deany]

mine arrives tomorrow! can't wait to try it out.

Hi

Hope you are enjoying your new "Google Home"?

Can I ask:

If you said "Hey Google, remind me to phone Mrs Jones at 4.00pm today"

I guess at 4.00pm the device would say "Dont forget to phone Mrs Jones".

But if you were out of the office at that exact minute and missed the important message would you get "Dont forget to phone Mrs Jones" ad infinitum until you say "okay Google thanks for reminding me"

or would that reminder be lost.

thanks in advance

review
http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/11/04/google-home-first-impressions-and-thoughts/

 

[BruiserB]

Standards have not increased dramatically enough to warrant updating devices over the last 5 years. Compatibility is only added, not taken away. Home automation is not just about being "too lazy" to turn lights on but creating a series of activities that work congruent with each other. Your location based sensor detects you are home, unlocks your door, disables your alarm, turns the living room lamp on, plays Enya, and lowers your Nest thermostat. I'm not sure if you're the original person I was replying to, but that is what these smart devices are for. It may appear gimmicky to those who don't understand where the future is headed and to those that think purchasing an Amazon Echo is just about asking it what the weather is outside.

I totally understand that but I've personally found it frustrating. I was all excited about being able to unlock my door with my phone...until I found that none of the solutions are compatible with the lock-sets in my condo building. My AC is controlled with a thermostat, but my heat has a separate controller on the baseboard heating elements. In the summer I pretty much run the AC continuously. I would probably like to manage the heat remotely but the controllers aren't compatible with traditional thermostats. I really don't have any lights that I can imagine I'd want to turn on or off with a remote or by proximity. My situation would be different perhaps if I lived in a single family home again, but even then I think it would be best to incorporate into a full comprehensive design at construction rather than retrofitting later.

Don't get me wrong, I do think this is the future. And I do think the technology is finally getting close to a tipping point (and HomeKit definitely helps with this). I just haven't personally been able to find uses that fit my situation. I would buy an automated door lock tomorrow if I could find one that works with my door/lock.

 

[Piggie]

Hi

Hope you are enjoying your new "Google Home"?

Can I ask:

If you said "Hey Google, remind me to phone Mrs Jones at 4.00pm today"

I guess at 4.00pm the device would say "Dont forget to phone Mrs Jones".

But if you were out of the office at that exact minute and missed the important message would you get "Dont forget to phone Mrs Jones" ad infinitum until you say "okay Google thanks for reminding me"

or would that reminder be lost.

thanks in advance

review
http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/11/04/google-home-first-impressions-and-thoughts/

The Amazon Echo does not do what you want, and I believe neither does the Google Home.

The example you give is exactly what I want these devices to be able to do.

As I understand it, these are referred to as "Push Notifications" which neither device currently supports.
But I believe amazon have said the Echo is going to be able to do "Push Notifications" very soon.

The best you can do right now is Ask what is on your calendar or reminder list, and it will read them out.
On the Echo you can NOW speak to add reminders to your google calendar, which works, and, as I say it will then read them back when asked.
The Google Home, amazingly can't even add itself to the Google Calendar yet, which I find very odd, though I'd sure this is coming very very soon.

Here is the news about the Echo: http://www.theverge.com/circuitbrea...n-alexa-echo-speaker-push-notifications-rumor

 

[smoledman]

Seriously Echo can't create reminders? That sucks. I bet the only reason Apple is waiting to make a Siri Home Hub is to nail all the prime use cases that matter to people.
[doublepost=1478497754][/doublepost]

The Amazon Echo does not do what you want, and I believe neither does the Google Home.

The example you give is exactly what I want these devices to be able to do.

As I understand it, these are referred to as "Push Notifications" which neither device currently supports.
But I believe amazon have said the Echo is going to be able to do "Push Notifications" very soon.

The best you can do right now is Ask what is on your calendar or reminder list, and it will read them out.
On the Echo you can NOW speak to add reminders to your google calendar, which works, and, as I say it will then read them back when asked.
The Google Home, amazingly can't even add itself to the Google Calendar yet, which I find very odd, though I'd sure this is coming very very soon.

Here is the news about the Echo: http://www.theverge.com/circuitbrea...n-alexa-echo-speaker-push-notifications-rumor

This is why I'm always suspicious of these big keynote unveils of new products. They always show you a few features and never tell you it's missing 10-15 important things that will come in 6-9 months MAYBE. I guess the average Joe might not care but I would hate to have bought this and then figured out I couldn't hook it up to Google Calendar straight out of the box.

 

[Piggie]

Seriously Echo can't create reminders? That sucks. I bet the only reason Apple is waiting to make a Siri Home Hub is to nail all the prime use cases that matter to people.
[doublepost=1478497754][/doublepost]

This is why I'm always suspicious of these big keynote unveils of new products. They always show you a few features and never tell you it's missing 10-15 important things that will come in 6-9 months MAYBE. I guess the average Joe might not care but I would hate to have bought this and then figured out I couldn't hook it up to Google Calendar straight out of the box.

No.
the Amazon Echo which you can link to your Google Calendar can create events that are placed in the Google Calendar, and if you ask it, it will read out the next 4 events, then prompt you if you wish to have more read out.
What the Amazon echo cannot do currently (though it is coming soon) is PUSH NOTIFICATIONS, which mean that it will say something out of the blue to you.
This is a tricky thing to get right. I mean, what does it say and when does it say it?
I want Push Notifications, but it needs to know you are there to hear them, which as you can understand, for a device which cannot see, and can only hear when YOU say it's keyword is hard to get right, so we shall have to see how it can be made to work.

As far as I'm aware the Google Home, like the Amazon can read out your Google Calendar events, but at this moment in time, just after launch, it cannot create them, which I agree is surprising.

But the Amazon Echo could do far far less when it launched and has had 2 years of development to get where it is today. The Google home has been out a few days.
You can be sure, the Google home will catch up very quick, and current 'things it can't do' will be added in.
A bit like Apple Maps, or Music or many other new services, you get to a point where you have to launch and get that out of the way, once that's done, then to focus can be put onto the software/usability side of things.

If you want the best usability out of the box, it's probably better to wait a while and not be a day 1 adopter of a brand new product. I'm sure none of us NOW would want an iPhone1 as that did very little compared to one now.

 

[co.ag.2005]

Hi

Hope you are enjoying your new "Google Home"?

Can I ask:

If you said "Hey Google, remind me to phone Mrs Jones at 4.00pm today"

I guess at 4.00pm the device would say "Dont forget to phone Mrs Jones".

But if you were out of the office at that exact minute and missed the important message would you get "Dont forget to phone Mrs Jones" ad infinitum until you say "okay Google thanks for reminding me"

or would that reminder be lost.

thanks in advance

review
http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/11/04/google-home-first-impressions-and-thoughts/

I'm not sure. I asked google home to remind me of something yesterday and it said "that feature isn't enabled yet" or something like that. so I need to dig around to see if it's a setting or if it's not implemented yet by Google.

EDIT: I will say, the new Pixel commercial that airs several times a night (the one in the train) always activates my Google Home. On the commercial, the guy asks: "ok, Google. Show me korean restaurants in Boulder, CO". my google home without fail always answers him

 

[smoledman]

No.
the Amazon Echo which you can link to your Google Calendar can create events that are placed in the Google Calendar, and if you ask it, it will read out the next 4 events, then prompt you if you wish to have more read out.
What the Amazon echo cannot do currently (though it is coming soon) is PUSH NOTIFICATIONS, which mean that it will say something out of the blue to you.
This is a tricky thing to get right. I mean, what does it say and when does it say it?
I want Push Notifications, but it needs to know you are there to hear them, which as you can understand, for a device which cannot see, and can only hear when YOU say it's keyword is hard to get right, so we shall have to see how it can be made to work.

As far as I'm aware the Google Home, like the Amazon can read out your Google Calendar events, but at this moment in time, just after launch, it cannot create them, which I agree is surprising.

But the Amazon Echo could do far far less when it launched and has had 2 years of development to get where it is today. The Google home has been out a few days.
You can be sure, the Google home will catch up very quick, and current 'things it can't do' will be added in.
A bit like Apple Maps, or Music or many other new services, you get to a point where you have to launch and get that out of the way, once that's done, then to focus can be put onto the software/usability side of things.

If you want the best usability out of the box, it's probably better to wait a while and not be a day 1 adopter of a brand new product. I'm sure none of us NOW would want an iPhone1 as that did very little compared to one now.

Apple historically does a better job at 'out of the box' experience compared to their competitors.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

But if it had an Apple logo it, I am sure so many would just pre-order it before they even knew what it could or couldn't do.

But if it had an Apple logo on it, it wouldn't look like a cheap plastic Airwik air-freshener.

Nor would it send your every utterance to the mothership to be held for all time...
[doublepost=1478551926][/doublepost]

I'm not sure. I asked google home to remind me of something yesterday and it said "that feature isn't enabled yet" or something like that. so I need to dig around to see if it's a setting or if it's not implemented yet by Google.

EDIT: I will say, the new Pixel commercial that airs several times a night (the one in the train) always activates my Google Home. On the commercial, the guy asks: "ok, Google. Show me korean restaurants in Boulder, CO". my google home without fail always answers him

You say that like it's a Good Thing; but I've always been impressed that I can dictate stuff into my iPhone with the TV on and the sound up well to the point that the "soundwaves" display definitely shows the TV audio, but unless it is up REALLY loud (to the point that I am amazed that it "hears" ANYTHING I say), it pretty much never inserts TV "dialog" into my dictation-stream.

 

[co.ag.2005]

But if it had an Apple logo on it, it wouldn't look like a cheap plastic Airwik air-freshener.

Nor would it send your every utterance to the mothership to be held for all time...
[doublepost=1478551926][/doublepost]
You say that like it's a Good Thing; but I've always been impressed that I can dictate stuff into my iPhone with the TV on and the sound up well to the point that the "soundwaves" display definitely shows the TV audio, but unless it is up REALLY loud (to the point that I am amazed that it "hears" ANYTHING I say), it pretty much never inserts TV "dialog" into my dictation-stream.

I didn't say it was a benefit. All that is happening is that the commercial is saying "Ok, Google" which is the activation phrase for Google Home. It's annoying but only has happened a few times since I've activated my Google Home. Otherwise, when watching tv in the living room, even with volume up quite high, Google Home recognizes my voice and requests just fine. The microphones are pretty good on it from what I can tell in my limited use so far.

 

[mdatwood]

I didn't say it was a benefit. All that is happening is that the commercial is saying "Ok, Google" which is the activation phrase for Google Home. It's annoying but only has happened a few times since I've activated my Google Home. Otherwise, when watching tv in the living room, even with volume up quite high, Google Home recognizes my voice and requests just fine. The microphones are pretty good on it from what I can tell in my limited use so far.

I have found the Google Home works fine over top of the a TV. The commercial does activate it sometimes, but if I activate then it ignores the TV. I have to say that I'm impressed with the voice recognition. It is significantly better than Siri, and keeps surprising me how close it is to just being conversational.

 

[LordVic]

I just don't want to be spied on or have my data be used/manipulated for elections. Thanks for the ad-hominem, though.

then it's time for you to unplug.

Apple does it too. In fact, Apple's CEO Tim Cook was allegedly in the short list for VP candidates.

So Apple, and Google both are fully behind the political process and are heavily involved.

I think what you really want is for business / Corporations to be removed from influence of government.

And I think thats an admirable ideal

 

[samcraig]

My quick review (24 hours with Google Home)

More inflection than Echo
Definitely more access to different types of information - although like the Echo, it's all in how you ask
Love the ability to request youtube videos and have them appear on the tv
Very responsive
Looks much better in person than what I've seen in pictures and videos. I love my echo - but it looks like something created by the same designers as the death star
Great sound quality

 

[A MacBook lover]

then it's time for you to unplug.

Apple does it too. In fact, Apple's CEO Tim Cook was allegedly in the short list for VP candidates.

So Apple, and Google both are fully behind the political process and are heavily involved.

I think what you really want is for business / Corporations to be removed from influence of government.

And I think thats an admirable ideal

Trying to group Apple with the likes of Google as far as spying and government collusion is like comparing Apples and Oranges

And it wasn't a short list, it was a long initial list of hundreds of possible picks.