Amazon Echo vs Google Home

The Amazon Echo has an extensive library of 'skills', simple commands that you can use to control all sorts of different apps. Ordering a pizza from Domino's or requesting an Uber ride is just a couple of words away. Amazon constantly updates Alexa's skills and developers can easily integrate them into their apps.

The Alexa Voice Service found on the Amazon Echo is also used on the Fire TV set-top-box from Amazon, and in other products such as the portable Echo Tap and smaller Echo Dot as well. The Alexa integration in different products allows for a greater ecosystem with shared features and skills. The Alexa Remote extends to this ecosystem as well.

Alexa will work a lot better after a couple of weeks of use, because the assistant adapts to your speech patterns and personal preferences. Commands are also stored in the Cloud and are analysed by Amazon. That means Alexa - the voice-assistant service and ecosystem of Echo - essentially constantly gets smarter.

The Amazon Echo features a 360* omnidirectional speaker. Users have reported great sound quality and speaker sounds, which make the Echo a perfect fit as a music player.

Amazon Echo has seven microphones built-in to listen to your voice in any direction. The microphones work great and perform perfectly even with longer distances. It also works while playing music.

Amazon Echo works well with other smart home devices and Internet of Things products, such as Nest, Ecobee, SmartThings, Wink, Insteon, Belking WeMo, Philips Hue, Lifx, Big Ass Fans and even IFTTT. In short, Echo is very open to use for third party devices.

Echo is an Amazon product and offers great integration with the rest of Amazon's services, especially Amazon Prime. The Echo family is currently the only virtual assistant that is compatible with Amazon Prime Music. You can also stream music via Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio and TuneIn. The ecosystem is fairly open, as developers can easily integrate Alexa's voice commands into their apps.

The Amazon Echo personal assistant will always listen to your voice and will be activated whenever you say the words "Alexa", "Echo" or "Amazon" for immediate and hands-free control.

Google Home doesn't require a button to be pressed in order to use it, it always listens to your voice. Just say the words "OK Google" to get started. It is possible that Google will add more of these 'action words' in the future. OK Google can also be found on mobile Google Devices and integrates well with Google Now. Users of the Google Now will find the Google Home ecosystem very familiar.

Google Assistant will be the voice-assistant software running on Home and Google has already shown tremendous improvements compared to competitors such as Alexa and Siri. In a demo that was shown by Google, Assistant can manage to understand and respond to conversational voice commands. That means that Home will be able to follow up on previous questions which will make voice commands more natural and smooth.

The bottom half of Google Home can be replaced by a different shell, with a different texture or different color. This allows the Google Home to be personalized to an extent and fit better design-wise with specific interiors.

Google Home works well with extra devices or any speaker that is connected via Google Cast. Home syncs the audio between all devices for a smooth, multi-room audio experience. This essentially allows Google Home to play music from any speaker you'd like.

Google has implemented a quality speaker system that should make Google Home a powerful speaker for music with reportedly strong bass and clear highs. You can also connect your own speaker or stereo system via Bluetooth or an audiojack: the choice is entirely up to you.

Google Home will offer native support with smart home system Nest, but will also support other third party products that have yet to be announced. Is is unclear so far how easy it is for developers to integrate Google Home into their apps, but Google has announced support for it.

According to Google, Home will feature far-field microphones that will allow you to be heard from a far distance.

As Home is a Google product, integration with Play Music isn't that surprising. However, it makes Home the only home-assistant to offer support for the online streaming service which is definitely a plus. However, other smart home devices could possibly add Google Play Music in an update.