Amazon has reduced the price of its smart speaker series Amazon Echo in India. The move comes following the launch of Google’s smart speaker series Google Home
Amazon has reduced the price of its smart speaker series Amazon Echo in India. The move comes following the launch of Google’s smart speaker series Google Home here.
The move has not only resulted in a war between two of the world’s leading global technology companies but also in consumers but it has also left consumers left wondering which of the two is better for them.
Here's a look at both the devices:
Price
Amazon’s Echo series consists of three devices; Amazon Echo Dot, Amazon Echo and Amazon Echo Plus and are priced at Rs 4,499, Rs 9,999 and Rs 14,999 respectively. Whereas, Google’s Home series consists of two devices; Google Home Mini and Google Home which are priced at Rs 4,499 and Rs 9,999.
Form Factor
The smallest among Amazon’s devices Echo Dot comes with dimensions of 3.2 cm tall, 8.4cm wide and weighs 163 grams. The slightly bigger Amazon Echo sport 14.8cm tall and 8.8cm wide dimensions and weighs in at 821 grams. The biggest of the three, Amazon Echo Plus has dimensions of 235cm tall and 8.4cm wide and weighs in 954 grams.
Meanwhile, Google Home Mini is 9.78cm wide and 4.2 cm tall and weighs in at 173 grams. The bigger of the both Google Home is 9.63cm wide and 14.28cm tall and weighs 477 grams.
Functionality
One of the major factor that differentiates both the device series is the voice assistant. Both Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa are extremely efficient. Alexa is backed by Bing search, whereas Google Assistant has Google’s wealth of information. Google’s Assistant wins here.
Both the smart speakers can provide a user with information such as weather, live scores, perform an online search on any query, play music. Alexa additionally can also order products directly from Amazon, which is a big plus for Prime members and scores over Google Assistant here. In addition, Alexa can also pull information from a G Suite Google Calendar, which Assistant still can’t. Both the devices support multiple user’s voice commands.
The biggest factor that users need to keep in mind while choosing between these devices is the kind of media one consumes. While Google Assistant streams music from Google Play Music, Pandora and Google Cast, Amazon’s Alexa streams music from Prime Music. However, both support Spotify as well as TuneIn radio.
When it comes to streaming videos, if you are a heavy consumer of YouTube videos and not a Amazon Prime Video fan, Google’s Home is the go-to device. However, if a user is more into Amazon Prime Video and not too much of a YouTube viewer, then Amazon’s Echo device is the one for you. Google Assistant has an added advantage of supporting Cast using which one can cast and control media using Google’s Chromecast. At the same time, Amazon does all of this with the Fire TV device. However, Alexa cannot broadcast music.
Conclusion
While both devices are smart and efficient, the choice basically boils down to what one wants to do. If you insist on searches more, Google’s devices are the best. Amazon’s speakers on the other hand sound better and is more suitable for playing music, though it doesn’t imply Google’s speakers sound bad, it is just that Echo speakers sound a little better.
While Alexa supports Fire TV, Google Assistant scores better here with its support for Chromecast. However, users will have to wait for Google devices to arrive in India for the time being.