Google Home or echo / echo plus

Blingy

I have researched this forum and ‘expert’ reviews online but still unsure of what to do. Buying an Xmas pressie of one of the above but really not sure which one. I have researched and still can’t decide. We have no other ‘smart’ tech in the home. This I think would be used mostly for music and asking questions...maybe a smart light or plug.
If I have music on my iPhone can I play it on either device using Bluetooth?
We do have a chrome cast too.
Any help appreciated. Thanks.

whomitconcerns

Google home all the way. Especially if you already have and use a chrome cast. You can't use Apple music with either device. Well you can probably Bluetooth to it but that's not the same. Spotify/Deezer/Google music all work great.

Blingy

whomitconcerns wrote: »

Google home all the way. Especially if you already have and use a chrome cast. You can't use Apple music with either device. Well you can probably Bluetooth to it but that's not the same. Spotify/Deezer/Google music all work great.

Thank you!

whomitconcerns

Blingy wrote: »

Thank you!

I use mine all the time! If it's only one device get the Google home, but mini is grand as a second device later on for a small room.

sioda

Have one.mini and one home find them excellent add few WiFi plugs and away you go no more switching on lights for you

mossym

whomitconcerns wrote: »

Google home all the way. Especially if you already have and use a chrome cast. You can't use Apple music with either device. Well you can probably Bluetooth to it but that's not the same. Spotify/Deezer/Google music all work great.

Nope, not the case. Apple music support launching on the echo this month. Announced a whole back

And having tried both id go echo all the way.

Invariably op you are going to get replies from people who have tried one or the other but will still claim it's better. But in reality there is very little difference between the two. More of a tailwind behind amazon on this stuff I think though

whomitconcerns

mossym wrote: »

Nope, not the case. Apple music support launching on the echo this month. Announced a whole back

And having tried both id go echo all the way.

Invariably op you are going to get replies from people who have tried one or the other but will still claim it's better. But in reality there is very little difference between the two. More of a tailwind behind amazon on this stuff I think though

Yes but he already has a Google Chrome and Apple music has no date for non us launch.

Blingy

Thanks everyone. I know it’s all personal preference anyway but good to get others opinions that actually have these gadgets

tusk

I got an Echo a few months back and was very tempted to go Google Home, but then black friday arrived and I picked up two dots for half price, so I'm stuck in amazon land now.

adox

Ive had both and find the Google devices so much better than the Amazon ones.

The high horse brigade

As someone who has had both at the same time I got shut of my Echo devices and went all in on Google Homes. Google are much better, have a better understanding, has better search and integrates with pretty much everything that comes available. If you have an Android phone or Chromecast definitely go with Google

captain_boycott

wheres the best price to pick up a google mini these days?

THE ALM

captain_boycott wrote: »

wheres the best price to pick up a google mini these days?

Currys currently have a deal on them at €35

ted1

they are 36 euro in currys at the moment

bk

The high horse brigade wrote: »

As someone who has had both at the same time I got shut of my Echo devices and went all in on Google Homes. Google are much better, have a better understanding, has better search and integrates with pretty much everything that comes available. If you have an Android phone or Chromecast definitely go with Google

Even as a big Apple/iOS user, I find Google Home excellent. I also find Google apps and services (search, maps, photos, etc.) work very well on iPhone's etc.

I also have both Echo (full size and dot) and multiple Google Home devices. GH is superior IMO. Google's AI, voice reignition and back end services are just much better IMO.

Not that Echo is bad, it certainly works, it just isn't as polished or slick.

Rew

Heres an up to date comparison of the smarts in each of the major players

https://loupventures.com/annual-smart-speaker-iq-test/

Blingy

Thanks everyone I ended up going with google Home. Carphone warehouse has it for 129.99. Pity I didn’t see that until after I had bought it in DID for 149.99!!

captain_boycott

I had an Echo (gen 2) so decided to give google home a try for a change this Christmas. The main reason for switching was that the reviews implied that google had better conversational support - you can ask follow-up questions, and it can understand the context so you don;t have to repeat the entire question. Unfortunately this does not work for me at all. Even after enabling the feature in the app settings, I still have to say "hey google" every time.


The other use-case I have for a speech device is to play media (spotify & radio) over a paired Logitech bluetooth speaker. This worked perfect on Echo, but with Google home, its very hit and miss.


I can pair the speaker, but every day it gets disconnected and you have to tell it to connect to bluetooth again. And even then, most times it will say it is connected, but the audio still comes from the Home speaker, and you have to say "disconnect from bluetooth" and "connect to bluetooth" again for it to work. Having the bluetooth speaker selected as the default speaker in settings does not help. Anyone else having this issue?

And another thing - the routines don't work very well either, or else I am doing something wrong, need to play with it some more before giving up, but my initial impressions are that the Amazon devices are more mature and reliable.

The high horse brigade

Continued conversation is only available if you set your language to English US. Works great for me

captain_boycott

thanks High Horse, I'll give that a shot tonight

MillField

My brother picked up a Google Home Mini recently. It's really impressive, almost never mishears what I'm saying unlike Siri. Having the intelligence of Google behind it sets it apart.

bk

captain_boycott wrote: »

I had an Echo (gen 2) so decided to give google home a try for a change this Christmas. The main reason for switching was that the reviews implied that google had better conversational support - you can ask follow-up questions, and it can understand the context so you don;t have to repeat the entire question. Unfortunately this does not work for me at all. Even after enabling the feature in the app settings, I still have to say "hey google" every time.

Works great for me too. As THHB says, you need to have it set to US English.

captain_boycott wrote: »

The other use-case I have for a speech device is to play media (spotify & radio) over a paired Logitech bluetooth speaker. This worked perfect on Echo, but with Google home, its very hit and miss.

Ha, I didn't realise they enabled connecting to Bluetooth speakers!!

I use Chromecast Audio instead to connect to another speaker, obviously more expensive, but works perfectly.

captain_boycott wrote: »

And another thing - the routines don't work very well either, or else I am doing something wrong, need to play with it some more before giving up, but my initial impressions are that the Amazon devices are more mature and reliable.

I use Yonomi for routines, it was supported before Google introduced routines and I haven't had the chance (or need really) to switch over yet. Works well for me. You could try that if you find the Google one lacking.