Amazon Echo vs Apple HomePod

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.

If you put two HomePods in the room, they will automatically synchronize and create an immersive sound. You could also get more and place them across the whole house. They will communicate through AirPlay 2 and let you listen to your music all around your home.

You can put the speaker in a large or a small room, in the corner or right in the center, the sound quality will be amazing nevertheless. The HomePod analyzes the layout of the room and adjusts the playback automatically to give you a great listening experience.

Siri recognizes commands that you give from across the room, with music blasting at top volumes.

You can teach the HomePod about the music you like and don't like, and it will try to give you recommendations. You can just say “Hey Siri, I like this song,” or "Hey Siri, play something different."

You can give the speaker commands to control your lights, the thermostat, the AC, etc. You can also ask Siri about the weather, traffic, news, and much more.