This meter last year , I was about to move into a new star sign , and I made the decision to say goodbye to Google Assistant and hello to Amazon Alexa for all my smart home responsibility .
Now , almost a year afterward , I ’m absolutely convinced it was the right affair to do , as it showed me how overprotect - free smart homes can be — and how Assistant ’s undependability had been book me back .
What made me want to change?
My smart home requirements are comparatively dewy-eyed , and age ago , I chose Google to take forethought of everything , mostly due to take in aGoogle Homespeaker as a talent . I expanded this over meter to let in aLenovo Smart Display , aGoogle Nest Hubscreen , and eventually aPixel Tablet . For the most part , Google Assistant plainly need care of my Philips Hue ignition , various timer , some medicine , and general search duties .
Well , I say “ took care of , ” but itneverperformed faultlessly . Perhaps my most frustrating on-going problem was ask the Google Home loudspeaker system in my office to play the Classic FM receiving set post , which I did every single twenty-four hour period . At least once a week it would not hear me aright and play a classic rock music playlist from YouTube . More than once , it merely stopped work entirely due to waiter - side result . I palpate it was such a canonical request , it really should n’t ever get it incorrect , but it was a shockingly regular happening .
The Google Pixel Tablet should have been ashowcase for Assistant ’s overbold menage power , but it never really did anything better than my years - old Nest Hub , and it sure enough never seemed to sympathize my requests more faithfully . When I tried to add devices and do more with Assistant , the Home app on my phone never made thing very loose , and I always felt like I was missing out on functionality .
As I compact for my sign move , I found an oldAmazon Echo Show 5(a first - generation model ) I ’d never used , and made the contiguous decision it would be the center of my unexampled home ’s smart menage .
Adding devices
After I moved , more overbold home merchandise were added to the Echo Show , and I made sure everything was compatible with Alexa . I buy aRing Video doorbell , aPhillips Hue Being ceiling light source , and anEcho Pop . I also had an agingNetatmo Presenceoutdoor security photographic camera meet , Sometime later on , I had a Hive smart thermostat fit , I was asked to test out theAmazon Echo Hub , and I also exchange an sometime Eufy robot vacuum dry cleaner with a new Shark PowerDetect robot vacuum cleansing agent .
All are plug into to Alexa . The Echo Hub sits in my billet , the Echo Pop in my bedroom , and the Echo Show in my keep room , and I have n’t really wanted to add any more devices to the organisation . I have n’t left Assistant behind entirely , though , and the Pixel Tablet works well in my kitchen , show mental picture and setting timer . It ’s good at that . But for everything else , it ’s Alexa on obligation . It has been faultless , and even though many of the products I ’ve used are n’t the late and come from different manufacturers , I have n’t had any compatibility or functionality problems either . Here are some of the other room it has been a genuine improvement over Assistant .
What’s better with Alexa?
play the wireless : This is the most canonical , yet my most repeated command . Play Classic FM . That ’s it , and it ’s where Google Assistant repeatedly failed over the years . Alexa has flirt it without fail for the last 12 months and what ’s more , it sounds good on the Echo Hub ’s verbaliser . And because I ’ve linked Alexa to Global Player — which Classic uses as its source app — I get gamey - tone audio , too .
I ’ve also set up a Routine ( more on them in a bit ) where I can tell Alexa to “ take care after the computed tomography , ” and it ’ll spiel the radio on the machine I ’ve verbalise to , so my still - young kitty is n’t left all in secrecy when I ’m out . Does it avail ? I have no idea , but it ’s cunning and play . The fact that I ’ve gone from a smart home assistant often mess up what I think is the most introductory of command to this shows how Google Assistant rag me . It can believably do all this , too , but I had no wish to try andmakeit do so .
modus operandi : Alexa ’s procedure are very helpful , and in my experience , they form extremely well . I mentioned already the simple Routine to play the radio set for the cat , which I use when I leave the house . I have another for when I get home , and I have a simple Routine to switch off all the lights when I go to seam . I ’ve experiment with Routines for the vacuum cleaner and outside photographic camera , but I rarely use them . I like that I can just utilize an easy - to - commemorate phrase to do thing with Alexa ’s procedure .
They are also really well-fixed to set up up in the Alexa app , and unless you want something really complicated , there ’s no pauperism to mess up around with apps like IFTTT . Plus , there are various premade act for aspiration or to assay out . I ’m certain there are people who employ complex Routines , but I do n’t demand that level of automation . I just want the system to work when I call for and not take much endeavor to set up . Alexa ’s Routines deliver .
rustle : I utterly love that when I whisper to Alexa , it whisper back . When I use Alexa to turn off my bedside light , I do n’t need it replying “ OK ” at the top of its vocalisation , and provided my tone is depleted , it keep up my lead .
It ’s just one of the things that make Alexa fun . you’re able to ask it to tell you jape and do other ridiculous things , and while they ’re not for me , they do give it some personality . I also like Alexa ’s voice and note , and it feelsrightfor it to welcome you home or say skilful night . I require my virtual help to have a personality , but never be over - the - top in tone or verbiage , and Alexa has a good balance wheel .
hold the most of Phillips Hue : Many of my light use Philips Hue bulbs , plus I have the dedicated Philips Hue Being ceiling lighter , allowing me to make unlike Scenes in my living room . The Hue app colligate to Alexa , and I can tell it to change the lights to a different shot . Again , I ’m sure a lot of people will do this already , but with Google Assistant , it never seemed to work very well , and I ’d end up using the app alternatively of my vox .
indisputable , the program line phrase is a bit clunky — “ Alexa , call on on Adrift in the living room ” — but now I ’m used to it . It does n’t require quite so much think before I get it right . Alexa ’s simplicity and entire integration with Hue have help me search and use the saucy lighting system far more than when I used Assistant to ensure things . I ’ll add that the Philips Hue Being ceiling light was a top leverage . It looks really pernicious and modern and gets suitably brilliant when necessitate , with plenty of adjustment usable for dissimilar scenes . It was expensive , but worth it , and it really nail my range of Hue product .
Sounds basic
My smart home organization is n’t opening garage doors . It does n’t spot when I get home and does n’t change by reversal on various devices at unlike time or in very specific circumstances . I do n’t in person take any of this , which is why Google Assistant ’s failure to do things like play a radio post really irked me . What I want seemed canonical and should have been easy done .
Swapping to an Amazon Alexa system has eliminated all that frustration , and it suits my way of life far well than Assistant . It has just worked with the minimum of apparatus and no on-going squabble . Perhaps it ’s because of my relatively dewy-eyed requests and requirements that it does this , and if I wanted more , Assistant may be beneficial . I ’ve never had the impression that Alexa could n’t grow with me , though , and the Amazon Store makes detect compatible devices easy .
While I ’m felicitous with what it can do , I also recognize it ’s far from gross . The sure-enough Echo Show I ’m using is not an attractive twist and isveryslow to respond . If I needed to touch the screen and interact with it more often , I ’d need to update it to a new version .
The Echo Hub is n’t exactly lightning - tight to react either , and it is quite an unpaired intersection . I have n’t mount it on the wall , and I rather practice the separately purchased stand , which is ugly and not particularly upright at holding it in place . It ’s good at indicate feeds from all my cameras and playing music , but I am pretty certain the cheaper and better - looking Echo Show 8would be equally as goodconsidering my fairly basic requirement .
I ’m also aware that I ’ve leapt from one jumbo ecosystem to another , and Amazon is evenly as intrusive as Google , but in a unlike direction . Ads and recommendations appeared on the Echo Show 5 ’s CRT screen until I turn them off , but it ’s in general far less customizable than I ’d like . I do n’t want to upload photo to Amazon ’s cloud armed service to use the Echo Show as a exposure frame , andI love how seamless this feature iswhen using Google Photos on the Pixel Tablet .
Amazon periodically asks you to review previously purchased products or suggest when it ’s prison term to corrupt a product that may have run out . I do n’t wish see the scud notification ignitor secernate me I have to do something with it . gratefully , it is potential to turn all this off in the setting .
Would I go back?
I have n’t escape Google Assistant . While I ’ve no doubt it can do everything Alexa does for me , its overall dependableness was poor throughout the years I used it , and I was never encouraged to tailor-make it further . Because change to using Alexa was so easy and it did the bedrock right from the start , I ’ve happily add to it and built my impudent home up over the last yr .
Looking back , I ’ve been inquire whether it ’s something I ’d advocate others do if they ’re as disillusioned by Google Assistant , and it leads me to remember there is a fiscal impact to consider . Buying a host of core smart house products — speaker system and screens — and then put back them with alternatives is expensive , so you ’ve get to be certain it ’s deserving it for you .
For me , ithasbeen worth it . It ingest minimal effort to swop from Assistant to Alexa , and since doing so , it has been more consistent , more reliable , more friendly , more sport , and easier to apply . I ca n’t conceive of why I ’d want to go back .
