While in LA I picked up a Google Home Mini and a pair of Amazon Echo Dots. They’re voice-controlled devices which I’ve now placed around my apartment so I could write up a comparison review for the blog. A few days in and I’ve already started developing an opinion on them but I wanted to know if there was anything specific you guys wanted me to try or if there was anything you wanted to find out in regards to both these devices. Traffic updates for Kuwait work with the Google Home device for example but doesn’t work on the Echo.
34 replies on “Google Home Mini vs Amazon Echo Dot – Have Any Questions?”
The google home can find and read you a recipe while you’re cooking. Can echo do that? If so which is better at It?
Will check and see. Google Home also has a virtual doctor and you can play games with it. But, I know with Alexa you can install a ton of skills so I think anything google home can do alexa should be able to do.
weather kuwait.
time kuwait.
play an arabic song.
read the first post of mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com
Weather works in Kuwait although with Alexa this morning it wouldn’t work with “is it gonna rain today?” but instead had to ask it “is it gonna rain in kuwait today?”. Its something in the settings I need to fix.
Time works
Play an arabic song should work, Alexa is connected to both Spotify and Amazon Music and I can tell it play jazz and it would play so will try play an arabic track and see. Google Home is connected to spotify, will try it as well and see.
In regards to reading the first post on the blog, I’m not sure they can do that. Maybe there is an RSS reader plugin/skill I can install and that might work, will experiment and see.
Apple Home Pod is the only choice for an audiophile. Sadly Siri is retarded, but that can and will change with future updates.
Google is the most functional in Kuwait (and anywhere outside of USA).
Amazon is limited internationally and laughs like Hillary Clinton randomly. I wouldn’t get it.
I’ve got one Echo connected to my B&O BeoLit 12 and the other to the BeoPlay A2 so they both sound pretty great when playing music. Home Pod would definitely be a better option if I didn’t have a speaker already in every room, but it also costs 5 times what an echo dot or google home mini does.
The only function so far Google Home has an edge over Alexa is with traffic. But if you know of any other function that might be limited let me know and I’ll try it out and see. I’ve got random issues with both which is making it hard to decide which I prefer. For example I can’t even get Google Home to read my calendar while Alexa has no problem reading my Google Calendar. Doesn’t make sense!
Well I don’t own an echo. But I’ve read that Amazon is not friendly to using your echo in a place it doesn’t sell it. People are complaining that you can no longer set your address outside of the USA, and that messes with local search and weather etc… The workaround is simple (ex: weather, you just have to ask ‘what’s the weather in Kuwait’, instead of simply ‘weather’.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/amazonecho/comments/65erst/using_alexa_abroad/
PLUS IT LAUGHS LIKE A CRAZY CLOWN!
https://fortune.com/2018/03/07/amazon-echo-alexa-laughing/
I’ve set my location to Kuwait. The echo in my bedroom I can ask it “if its gonna rain” and it would respond with the weather for Kuwait. the one in the kitchen i realized i didn’t have my address set properly so I had to ask it “is it gonna rain in kuwait”. other than that traffic updates are really the only thing i haven’t been able to do with the echo but there might be other things that don’t work but things i don’t really use. this is why i wanted to see if you guys had anything u wanted me to check so I could try it out.
That’s strange. My home reads my calender perfectly.
I can’t figure out how to get it working. I have my calendar split up on various accounts, with Alexa I can link all my accounts with google I can’t even connect to one. I have really weird issues with google home. For example i can’t set spotify as my default music player, so when i ask it to play music it says i need to set a default player from the app. but the google home app doesn’t allow me to choose spotify as my player even though i have it linked to my account. but if i tell google home play music from spotify it works.
Hi Mark I am having trouble pair my Bose 300 soundbar and my soundtrack 30 all on the same wifi to Google home! Tried adding a new device and it says go-to your WiFi and you might see a hotspot created by your device but I can’t !do you know how to do it! Although while setting up Google home it displayed a message saying it might not work work properly ok no your area or country coz it’s not meant for Kuwait! Need your thoughts
should have picked up a nest thermostat and a digital door lock also 😀
Nest won’t work with my AC or would have picked one up years ago. My central AC is from the 80s and I can’t even control the temp on it, its either on or off.
@Quintin, the dude has a device that tells him he’s run out of eggs ha ha ha
hahaha yeah I do! https://248am.com/mark/food/egg-minder/
I too have both.
Alexa – really only works well if you are in the US; it can’t, for example, track weather today.
Google – much better experience since it has much better coverage. Try “Good Morning Google” or “Good Night Google”, for example. “Play some Jazz”, or “Play my favorites”, “Play Ready Player One Trailer on my Living Room TV” – all these work as you would expect.
Google you can also control from your mobile device, Alexa is a bit of a pain in that area.
For the local ecosystem, I recommend Google Home over Alexa. If you can take advantage of the many third party integrations of Alexa, it might be better for you. Many smart devices are compatible with Alexa and not Google.
Hey, so everything u mentioned you can do with google I can do with Alexa. Alexa play some jazz will get Alexa to play jazz music from my Spotify account. I can also have amazon music as my default app and it can play from there. Alexa also has kuwaits weather and also has routines like good morning or goodnight night. I can also tell Alexa to play music in my kitchen or in my bedroom or all on Alexa’s.
Really the only thing Alexa can’t seem to do is let me know the traffic. I like how with google I can ask it if there is any traffic on my way to work and it will let me know.
Here is a video of me asking Alexa if it will rain (without mentioning Kuwait). I set the location to Kuwait within the app. https://youtu.be/f4JsOC130Qc
I have my street “Salem Mubarek Street” city as “Kuwait”, country as “Kuwait” and zip code as 00000
We use our Google home in collaboration with the Nest, lights, door locks, etc. But, we also have all of our accounts set up to it so we can say, “Hey Google, play Jay-Z’s new video on YouTube in the living room” and it will. Or, to play a specific movie using Netflix on the den television. She’ll tell you jokes, plays games, and will even tell you that you’re her best friend. I find her to be more personable than Echo. You can even change her to a male’s voice if you prefer.
The appropriate questions are:
1) Is there going to be a dust storm
2) What is the “real” temperature outside!
Jokes apart, they’re both great devices. I upgraded for the sound to the UE Blast with Alexa (The dot and Echo suck – but the 2nd gen you got is better)
You need to use this effectively. Try these out – https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/5321571/best-alexa-skills-tips-tricks-amazon-echo-questions-ask/
Turns out Google Home doesn’t support G-Suite which is why I am having issues setting up my calendar and other stuff with Google Home. Ironically, Alexa supports G-Suite.
So Alexa works with Google Gmail and G-Suite, Microsoft Outlook.com and Office 365, iCloud and Microsoft Exchange. Google Home just works with Google Gmail.
This doesn’t make sense.
I’m tempted to tell you Google must be working on an upgrade and this will be delivered as a firmware upgrade. Truth is with competition ramping up, these guys are more focused on getting the next physical product out rather than fixing existing ones. Good luck with it though.
https://support.google.com/googlehome/answer/7571892?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en
Already did that
Okay, then this is just strange that Google Home doesn’t support G Suite.
yup, super strange, loads of complaints about it online so i’m sure its in the pipeline
u can synch your calander to what is working and check .. maybe in gsuite there is some way to export or a provate feed for calender
Point is.. this shouldn’t be so hard and this is Google we are talking about and THEIR ecosystem. How I’m sad that 1) The Microsoft ecosystem went under and 2) the only viable ecosystem where all is an non-issue when it comes to integrating with their own eco-system (talking about Apple) is $hit expensive!
You should definitely get Philips hue lights and connect them to Alexa. If you install IFTTT on your phone you can add even more functionality and automation. For example, you can say Alexa start the party and your lights will start to switch colours. You can set it up to turn on\off when you leave your home, blink for different notifications and so on.
I have my Alexa speaker in my bathroom where it functions both as a daily alarm and music source while I get ready, with both Spotify and TuneIn radio app set up
I also just added the daily Flash Briefings… they’re a fun way to start the day
Obviously I’m not using it to its full potential, but I’m fine with it for now
So whats the final verdict? Mini or Echo??
Great to see u guys enjoying the device.
I have a third gen echo. Bought it from india. I m not able to get the app for my new phone. It shows “this item is not available in your country”. I m going crazy.
Hey Mark,
I know this is an old conversation thread. But, I need to know why Alexa cannot be used on my Bose Sound bar 700.The Bose outlet tells me that they will work soon in a couple of months. Is this true? Does it not work on the soundbar?
Is there any other way to go about activating Alexa? Please advise!
Thanks in advance and kind regards,