Technology is developing really fast and with this growth, it is also changing our daily lives rapidly. First, it was the telephones, then the smartphones, wearables etc. And the next thing on the line that has the potential to change our future is the smart home speakers. Staring from managing our day to taking full control of your smart house, their possibilities are unlimited. And the very best two products in this category is the Home by Google and the Echo by Amazon. But which one of them should you buy? Let’s find out.

Essentially both the Google home and the Amazon Echo does a pretty similar job and there are more similarities between them than actual differences.

Price Range

The Google Home comes with a price tag of Rs. 9999 but the Amazon Echo is now available for only 7999 Indian Rupees. So, certainly for those who have a budget in mind, the Amazon Echo is the best choice. And those of you who would like to get it for an even lesser price, be sure to check out these amazing electronics offers.

Design

Google Home uses a minimalistic yet beautiful design. The top half is made of plastic and the lower half is made of metal covered with a beautifully textured fabric. But even the top half is made of plastic, that does not make the device look any less premium. The rounded edges, the beautiful white makes it a piece of art. There is no physical button apart from one, which lets you disable the microphone in case you are worried about privacy. There is an inbuilt touch panel on the top and it is used to change volume.

The new Amazon Echo is also got a fabric cover which we severely missed in its predecessor. This design also makes it blend perfectly with your interiors. The base of the device is also made wider and the radius is almost same as the Google Home. There are 4 physical buttons on the top. I am personally a great fan of physical buttons, but some people do actually prefer physical buttons over touchpanels. There is also a bright LED ring on top of the cylinder which turns blue when you interact with it. It looks way cooler and futuristic than the Google Home and certainly a designing masterclass.

So, who wins this round? The answer is none. Both the devices are brilliantly designed and both of them look equally impressive. So, this is a close tie.

Features

Now we enter the main territory where a smart speaker must excel. Both the speakers are able to answer simple questions and simple tasks. But when it comes to the number of questions it can answer, Alexa is no match for Google assistant. While we have noticed occasional trips by Alexa, it is highly unlikely that The Google Home fails to answer you ( Unless you are looking for philosophy! ). The Google Home is also capable to understand the context of a question.For example, if you ask it Who’s Matt Damon and follow it up with the question where does he live, Google Home can understand that you are talking about Matt Damon only. So, Google home has the edge.

Google is a search engine and no wonder that their smart speaker is an outstanding one in searching. Similarly where Amazon Echo shines is shopping online. You can ask Echo to find you specific as well as generic products and it can search that up for you. You can also buy it directly without even touching your phone or computer by just asking Alexa and choosing COD or Amazon Pay as a payment method. But if you don’t wanna go for COD or Amazon Pay, you can ask Alexa put it in your Amazon shopping cart. No such feature is available in the Google Home.

But if you are looking for some local business like an outlet of Mainland China, Amazon Echo won’t be of much help. But Google Home will not only find you the nearest outlet but will also detailed send instructions right into your mobile on request. This is a super handy feature and makes the Google Home really useful. Also, Google Home is able to sync with Google Maps and can tell you how much it will take you to reach your destination. But unfortunately, the Amazon Echo can only tell you how far is your destination but not how long will it take.

The best thing about the Amazon Echo is that you can use it to book cabs, flights and even hotels. But unfortunately, those features are not available in the Google Home. Also, despite having the ‘home’ name Google Home is not exactly the most compatible device out there. Only a few devices can connect with it as of now. On the other hand, the Amazon Echo is supported by most of the smart appliances making it a perfect choice for those who are planning to set up a smart home.

Audio quality and output

Though the Amazon Echo and Google home are not designed to be your primary music player, they somehow manage to offer some brilliant performances. But do not expect them to replace your home stereo system as none of them is capable of producing such quality. And this average performance by both of the devices makes it a tie.

Amazon Echo lets you play songs from the amazon prime music. But it does not feature any support for Apple music or iTunes. But Google Home can integrate with iTunes and play Apple music apart from its native support to the Google Play Music.

However, if you wanna stream the music directly from these smart speakers to your stereo, the Amazon Echo comes up trumps. It has 3.5 mm audio output which can connect to any of your regular music players. There is also an option to stream the music over Bluetooth. On the other hand, there is no audio output in the Google Home. The only way you can play music in an external player is by connecting a Google Chromecast audio ( you got it right, a desperate attempt to keep the Chromecast audio alive )on the external device which is super annoying.

Conclusion

From what we have studied so far, we can conclude that the Amazon Echo has a slight advantage over the Google Home. But do keep in mind that the choice is relative. None of them is perfect and apart from one or two features, they are basically the same. So, when you go out there to buy a smart speaker, do make sure that you know exactly what feature you need and make a smart choice accordingly.