It's affordable and offers all the Alexa skills and smart home integrations you'll need. If Alexa is your voice assistant of choice, you should go with the latest Echo Dot. Google Assistant can recognize multiple voices, so it'll give you and your spouse different answers if you each ask about your calendars, though Alexa can do this now, too. It responds more flexibly to voice commands if you can't remember the exact name of your smart home devices, and Google's grouped commands, called routines, work with more types of smart devices than Amazon's similar routines. Plus, per our tests, Google Assistant is slightly smarter than Alexa. Google Assistant now has almost as many capabilities as Alexa, making the $50 Google Nest Mini a solid alternative to the Amazon Echo Dot if Google Assistant is your preference. At this point, picking between the lowest-price smart speaker devices from the two companies comes down to splitting hairs. Google has done an admirable job of catching up to Amazon in the smart speaker race. We considered all of the important smart device features, from the inclusion of a smart display to the ease of installing multiple speakers. We here at CNET have been testing voice control devices and smart speakers since they first hit the scene. Meanwhile, here's a guide if you want a Google-equipped smart speaker.įor those who are platform-agnostic, the range of choices might seem intimidating at first. Head here for help picking a smart speaker from Amazon, which paved the way for other smart speakers with the original Echo and Alexa voice assistant. If you have an affinity for a particular brand, whether you're an Amazon acolyte, Apple obsessive or Google stan, picking a speaker is easy. It may simply come down to which brand you're already invested in. Pretty much every smart speaker allows you to control the lights, play music, ask questions set reminders and much more with simple voice commands. There are a number of options that vary in price, size and audio quality, and each one has its own voice assistant. Smart speakers have become mainstays in many people's home these days, and if you're looking to join them, it can be a bit intimidating.

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