Amazon Echo vs Google Home: Which Is The Smarter Assistant?

Smart home assistants are trending these days. Google recently launched Google Home assistant in India, priced at Rs 4,499 for the Home Mini, and Rs 9,999 for Home. It is in direct competition with Amazon’s Echo series – Echo Dot, Echo and Echo Plus.

In terms of hardware configuration between Amazon Echo (also priced at Rs 9,999) and Google Home, Echo is the better of the two as it has a few more functionalities and better sound output. It also has hardware buttons for waking it up, adjusting volume, and muting the microphone. With Google Home, it’s all touch based, except for the microphone mute.

However, we decided to test out their intelligence across a number of parameters. From regular updates like the weather to telling jokes, playing music, pulling out specific information from the Internet, and even speaking multiple languages, we put the two assistants to the test.

While using the assistants, we figured Alexa (as Amazon Echo prefers to be called) finds it easier to respond to commands – it is more alert to the wake word, while Google Home sometimes can’t hear you, especially if the music playing is quite loud. You have to shout to be heard, while Alexa will hear you even if the music is blaring.

Also when it comes to music libraries both assistants access – Alexa has quite a vast repository on the Amazon Prime Music service, while Google needs to be hooked up with apps like Gaana (which even Alexa can access).

Carrying on a conversation is slightly easier with Google though, as the replies don’t always need the wake word and are fairly conversational. Alexa is still a little stiff, upper-lipped in that regard.

Watch the video to find out how they fared in different parameters.

Cameraperson: Abhay Sharma
Video Editor: Rahul Sanpui

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