PieFacE Posted October 28, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted October 28, 2016 So, who is interested in one of these? For someone like myself who's used only android phones and subscribes to Google Music, has loads of Hue bulbs, going to be purchasing a Nest, got a Samsung TV which will hopefully be SmartThings enables within a few months, it seems like a bit of a no brainer. What are your thoughts on this? Gimmick, or something worth having? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NurembergVillan Posted October 28, 2016 Moderator Share Posted October 28, 2016 I'm thinking about getting one, or an Amazon Echo. I'd ordinarily be buying something like this based purely on sound quality, but I like the idea of trying out the AI aspect of it. I don't live in a smart home though (renting at the moment) and am an Apple prisoner, so don't know if the Google one makes as much sense as Amazon where we've got a Prime account. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 I was very interested in Google Home, as I have Hue Lights, a Nest Thermostat and Smartthings and most importantly use Google Music, however I cannot see it being released here in 2016 and if the Echo or Dot are reduced in the Black Friday deals I will be going that way instead and cancel Google Music and have Spotify instead. Home has the potentially to be really great but I suspect the reviews of it which come out after its release in the US will not be glowing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted November 2, 2016 Author VT Supporter Share Posted November 2, 2016 Yeah I'm thinking if I can get an Echo plus Harmony Hub in the black Friday deals I may do that rather than Google Home, even though Google Home is cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 I'm waiting for the Brummie version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 So if you get an Echo you cannot play Google Music through it but you can use Spotify which will also work with Google Home in the future....... guess I am cancelling GMusic and moving to Spotify Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted November 25, 2016 Share Posted November 25, 2016 I have a Google Home on order at the moment which is winging its way from the US of A. When it finally arrives I will let you know if its any good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 So Google Home arrived today. First thoughts are that it's much smaller than I expected. Not surpringly it's no Sonos replacement. Works well with Nest, Hue and SmartThings which is what I expected. You cannot choose a UK news source, BBC World service is as close as it gets. Might get a Dot to compare it with 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 If you do get a dot I'd be interested in a comparison 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Well Amazon has put them back up to £49.00 as I was going to order one so that not happening now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Not sure how this compares to the Amazon Echo but with Google Home you have to use the exact phrase for it to do things so "hey google turn the lounge lights on" gets the very useful I cannot help with that but "hey google turn on the lounge lights" works. This as you can imagine is driving my wife round the bend...................thank you google. You cannot ask it to play music on a different speaker yet but you can get it to play youtube on the chromecast plugged into your TV. At this point I would hold off paying money for it unless its a bargain. Google will get it right they just need to do it alot quicker than they are at the moment as Amazon are really capitalising on their early to market dominance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted January 16, 2017 Author VT Supporter Share Posted January 16, 2017 Yeah when creating this thread I was torn between the Echo and Home. However, I currently have an Echo and a Dot and am liking it very much. Even my GF uses it without issue which is handy. Currently got it controlling my lights, TV equipment. Nest is getting installed next week. Google have just taken too long getting this out there and getting third party devs to create compatible apps for it. I'm sure in the long run the Home will be smarter than the Echo as Google will create the better AI, but right now Amazon are quite far ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 I agree that the delay in taking it out if the US might cost them but I am not sure that is even 70% ready for primetime just yet. Google need their version of the Dot, something similar to the Nvidia thing announced at CES. If you have Amazon Prime then it really is a no brainier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted January 18, 2017 Author VT Supporter Share Posted January 18, 2017 23 hours ago, mykeyb said: I agree that the delay in taking it out if the US might cost them but I am not sure that is even 70% ready for primetime just yet. Google need their version of the Dot, something similar to the Nvidia thing announced at CES. If you have Amazon Prime then it really is a no brainier. Well here's the thing, I didn't have Amazon Prime, and I didn't use Amazon Music. I used to subscribe to Google Music but since getting an Echo that's all changed. Google seemingly taking their time could affect them more than they realise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 So next week Google Home goes on sale in the UK and undercuts the Echo by £20.00. It will be interesting at to what UK centric offering google include as currently the closest you can get is BBC world service or something similar. I will be looking to change the language on mine to UK next week to see whats available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted May 16, 2017 Author VT Supporter Share Posted May 16, 2017 Anyone given this a go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 Yep, what do you want to know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted May 19, 2017 Author VT Supporter Share Posted May 19, 2017 How does it compare with Alexa? How often does it not understand what you're trying to ask it? How are you finding the 3rd party app support? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted May 19, 2017 Share Posted May 19, 2017 I havent got an Echo so thats hard to say. It understand what I say 99 times out of 100, my wife however it oftens doesnt understand (I have sympathy on that). I have Hue lights and a Nest thermostat so that works great, I have a Yale door lock and Samsung smartthings so I can ask it to unlock the front door for someone if I am in the house and cant be arsed to get up. The speaker is OK, not at Sonos standard but I am sure at some point you will be able to cast to a sonos speaker. You can ask it to play a film trailer on your Chromecast attached to a TV and it will swith to that input and start playing. If they role out the feature mentioned at Google I/O of being able to make telephone calls to your contacts through it then that will be cool. How much stuff do you want to do with voice actions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts