Best Smart Speaker Competitor for Information While Working from Home

Google Home Smart Speaker Competitor

Google Home Mini

Coronavirus Disease COVID-19 pandemic has forced most people to stay home or work from home. After a while, we need some kind of entertainment for time out and relaxation. Say “Hey Google, entertain me” and she’ll give you options to choose.

Google Home mini is available in many countries including Asia. Sometimes we can can get it for free by purchasing certain partnering products or services. Google Home has over a million of Google Assistant actions or voice commands and close to 1000 actions for smart home controls. Although it’s released 2 years after Amazon Echo, it’s catching up fast while developing more 3rd-party actions and local language support. It’s the most popular alternative to Echo.

Like Amazon Echo, some of the online services are chargeable while some are available in US only. Meanwhile, some of the features have to be activated manually in the app. The voice instruction informs that the setting has to be set in the app but doesn’t tell which setting.

Notes:
1. Some online services may not be available in all countries.

Why This Smart Speaker Competitor is Our Top Choice

We recommend Google Home as our top choice for best smart speaker. Google Home is available in many countries including Asia. The following 3 reasons make it a good buy:

It’s suitable for all countries since the power adapter supports 100-240 VAC.
The pricing is equally attractive and is often given out as free gift with other purchases.
New Google Assistant actions are being introduced for the smart speaker.

How This Smart Speaker Competitor Improves Our Lifestyle

Considering Google Home is available 2 years later than Amazon Echo, the smart features are impressive. It doesn’t have as many models and voice apps as Amazon Echo family. Here are the top 5 reasons to consider this smart speaker as alternative option:

Over 1 million of Assistant actions (voice apps) are free for download. They’re arranged in closed to 20 categories including games & fun, health & fitness, movies, photos & TV, music & audio, news & magazines, smart home and more.
Google Assistant supports multiple users and recognizes different voices for personalized experiences
The wake words are “Hey Google” or “OK Google” and white dots light up immediately. It waits for voice command like “Hey Google, what’s the latest updates on stock market?
Set reminders and alarms easily with voice. Just say “OK Google, set an alarm at 6 am.”
Many 3rd-party smart devices are compatible with this smart speaker. Use wake word like “Hey Google, turn on TV.” The voice control is contactless and safe.

When Our Smart Speaker Competitor Becomes Even Better

This best smart speaker would have been better without the following issues:

Not all online services are available in all countries.
Like Amazon Echo, the history of voice commands is a privacy concern to some people.
Sometimes we need to shout to this speaker to get our message across.

What to Check Before Buying

Verify that you can download the free app and run the app in your smartphone. If you can’t find this app in your local Google Play store or Apple App Store, then download it from US app store directly.

Where to Go From Here

Due to the international shipping costs and custom duties, it’s worth buying locally even when the price is slightly higher than overseas prices.
The only 2 reasons why you should buy the recommended items here are: 1) the items are not available locally, 2) the local prices are significantly higher.

Google Home is our top choice of best smart speaker but don’t just take our words for it. Explore our first choice for comparison.

Interested in finding out what other best smart home devices that can work with this smart speaker? Check out our home page for more best smart home ideas.

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