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Best smart speaker: Google vs Amazon vs Apple

They're becoming a feature in many homes, but which is the best smart speaker out there?
They're becoming a feature in many homes, but which is the best smart speaker out there?

Choosing the best smart speaker is a difficult decision. The three biggest tech companies in the world are each vying for our attention – and for good reason. By listening to what you say and enacting your commands, smart speakers offer a gateway into the Internet of Things – a near-future in which we can talk to and control the everyday items around us. For the Amazons, Apples and Googles of this world, the money-making opportunities are vertiginous.

In general, these trio of big hitters perform the same functions. They listen out for your commands, then play music, read audiobooks, take voice messages, search the internet, do your shopping online, add things to your diary, set reminders and issue notifications. They are, in other words, a bit like an attentive secretary who is always in your home, at your beck and call. 

You can also connect your smart speaker to to various pieces of compatible technology around your home and ask the speaker to do anything from turning on the lights to starting the washing machine.

Amazon were the first to popularise the smart speaker. The Amazon Echo launched in 2015, offering Alexa, the company's friendly voice assistant, and a vast range of compatible products, such as the Hive thermostat, Nest security cameras, and even devices as simple as plugs. In 2017, Google got in on the act, with Google Home; and this year Apple launched the HomePod, aimed at a higher price point.

Today, the smart speaker market is complicated by the existence of different tiers of Google and Amazon products. For example, there are five different versions of the Amazon Echo, ranging from the Echo Dot (£49.99) to the Echo Show (£219.99) – but the differences tend to be a matter of hardware: a better sub woofer here, an interactive screen there. The fundamental operating system is the same, which is why, to discern the best smart speaker available, I tested and reviewed the three standard models from each of the big players and considered them for the impact that had on my daily existence.

I lived with each product for a week to gauge their ability to interact with my voice. While my flat isn’t exactly the smartest of homes, I used a pair of Philips Hue lightbulbs to test how easy it is to link the speakers up to smart tech products, and how well they talk to them.

Here's what I learned, starting with my favourite...  

 

Google Home

Why we like it: The full power of Google's search engine ensures the Google Assistant is by far the smartest of them all

Price: £49.00 - £399.00 (depending on model.) £129.00 for the basic model, John Lewis

Google Home smart speaker - Credit: Google
The Google Home is sensitive to the touch on the top, allowing you to adjust volume by running your finger across the top of the device Credit: Google

The key to understanding what Google Home is all about is in its appearance. That big white block at the top is the processing brain; and the smaller turquoise slice at the bottom is the speaker. Google Home is a smart assistant first, a speaker second.

On a basic level, the brain can do your Googling for you. Say "Hey, Google" or "OK Google" and "what's the capital of Mozambique?" and it will tell you "the capital of Mozabique is Maputo" in about half the time it's taken to read this sentence. Which is, I hope, shorter than it would take to unlock your phone and type it into a search bar and scroll the results.

However, it can do much more than that. It can add things to your shopping list, set reminders, or broadcast things to other smartspeakers around the house.

Having the entire power of Google at its back, the Home is capable of using services like Google Maps to tell you how long your commute will take, or Google Translate to help the kids with their French homework, or syncing with your personal and work calendars to tell you what appointments you have coming up. In my book, this seamless relationship with Google's extended suite of products puts the Home slightly ahead of Amazon and Apple's devices.

One of my favourite functions was saying ‘Hey Google, time for bed’, to which the device would respond: “Okay, what time shall I set your alarm?” I tell her the answer (it's always a her in the UK, by the way. An update is forthcoming to give the computer a male voice), and she turns off the lights and plays relaxing nature sounds to lull me to sleep. It’s all very charming and works like a dream.

The next morning, I am awakened to a soft chiming from my bedroom shelf. “OK Google, that’s enough,” I tell her, without so much as raising an arm in anger to shut the alarm off. The noise stops and I take a moment to compose myself. “Hey Google, give me my morning briefing,” I ask. “Sure,” says the Google Assistant, proceeding to tell me the weather forecast, how long my commute is likely to take, and a few headlines from the Telegraph newsroom (that’s a preference you can set – the Google Assistant isn’t quite smart enough to know where I work. Yet.)

It’s handy little moments like this that make all the difference with Google Home. It’s seamless, and easy to use, and pretty good at figuring out what you’re asking of it.

In terms of the Google Home’s ability to connect with the smart tech, I found it really easy. With my Philips bulbs at my side, I went into the Google Home app, clicked ‘Home Control’, then linked my Philips Hue account. And that's it.

As for how well the device understood my commands, the experience was almost perfect. Voice recognition software is now superb – far beyond the level we tend to think it operates at – and I found the Google Home understood my commands more or less spot on every time. Plus, on the rare occasions that it didn't, the device would say as much, rather than taking a stab in the dark and doing something inappropriate. It is also easy to link to the Google family of products, such as my Chromecast. "Hey Google, put on Stranger Things" I would say, and it would immediately start playing the American TV series. Easy stuff. 

To be fair, however, both the Apple and Amazon products were just as good in this respect. Like I say, voice recognition software really is very good these days.

One area where I did see a difference was in Google's ability to discern what I was saying in a loud environment – like when I had music playing. In this respect, it was superior to its competitors, although only by a smidgen.

One of the other handy things you can do with a Google Home is set up Voice Match. This means the Google Home will be able to recognise exactly who is speaking to it. You’re probably thinking, why bother with Voice Match? Well, a single Google Home can be linked with up to six Google accounts who can all have their own unique settings. When I say “Hey Google, give me my morning briefing”, I get updates on my commute, and headlines from the Telegraph. When my partner says the same, he’ll get completely separate information according to his preferences. Obviously the Google Assistant can also address you by name if it knows who is speaking to it.

Google Home Max smart speaker - Credit: Google
The Google Home Max is a much more pricey version of the Google Home, designed specifically for music playback Credit: Google

One reservation I have about the Google Home in general is the speaker quality. While it is technically a smart speaker, as I mentioned before, the former is the focus rather than the latter. The speaker is certainly perfectly good but compared to the HomePod and Echo it can’t help but feel a little weak. It’s absolutely fine for casual users, but serious music fans would be better off with another device. Google seems to have anticipated this criticism and recently launched Google Home Max, an alternative (and pricier –£399.00 at John Lewis) version which is much more focused on being a speaker.

Buy now

 

Amazon Echo

Why we like it: Echo devices are the cheapest smart speakers but are still fully formed functional devices

Price: £49.99 - £219.99 (depending on model.) £89.99 for the basic device, Amazon

Amazon Echo smart speakers - Credit: Daniel Berman/Bloomberg
Amazon Echo devices come with various different covers so you can find one to fit into your home Credit: Daniel Berman/Bloomberg

Google may have just a slight edge over the Amazon Echo, but, frankly, it's only by the tiniest of margins. Amazon’s flagship smartspeaker is the cheapest of the major smartspeakers (not counting miniature versions) but don’t let that fool you. Alexa is as smart as a whip and more than capable of all the things her pricier brethren can do.

First thing’s first, when you get your Amazon Echo out of the box you’ll need to download the official companion app and connect it to your internet so it can start updating. In the meantime, you’ll want to set up or connect your pre-existing Amazon account (if you bought your Echo from Amazon it will already be connected.) And once those two things are done, the world is your oyster.

Simply say ‘Alexa’ and state your request. Easy. "Alexa, play Carly Rae Jepsen songs", "Alexa, how long is the Great Wall Of China?", "Alexa, set a timer for five minutes," "Alexa, tell me a joke" etc. It’s very easy and very seamless. The basic functions are the same as on Google's device, though Alexa lacks some of the lifestyle features such as the bedtime one I mentioned before. 

Straight out of the box, Alexa is a pretty handy AI to have around but you can also install Alexa Skills which are essentially apps. There are literally thousands of Skills available, from games to news (get your daily newsflash from the Telegraph right here) to lifestyle to travel. 

Incidentally, that’s how you set up smart tech. Once I set up my Hue bulbs, I just had to go into the Alexa app on my phone and download the appropriate skill then pair it with the bulbs.

The only irksome thing is that you have to download new Skills through the Echo app, which might be challenging for the technologically-challenged user. In fact, this is the reason why I preferred Google to Amazon in terms of smart speakers. Amazon has a lot of annoying default settings which are fiddly and difficult to mess with through the app. For example, the default music player is Amazon Music. You can change this but on Google's device its as simple as saying 'Make Spotify my default music app', on the Echo you've got to jump through a range of hoops on the app. 

Amazon Echo uses far-field voice recognition technology to be able to hear you from right across the room, and it has a process called ‘beam-forming’ which means it should be able to hear you even while it is playing loud music or the kids are screaming. The caveat here is that I noticed the Amazon Echo can hear you perfectly well once it hears the wake word "Alexa" (you can customise this), but it can sometimes struggle to pick up that word in a really noisy environment. Another thing that you should note is that Alexa is designed to work indoors. I tried mine outdoors and it sometimes struggled to hear me over passing traffic. Not ideal for garden parties.

In terms of design, the Echo is my favourite of the three. It’s a handsome piece of kit, and the ability to choose a custom covers means that you can get an Echo which blends in perfectly with your room.

The design also allows the Echo to blast out some meaty sounds. They're not a patch on the Apple HomePod (I'll get to that shortly), but considering Amazon recently announced Echo Sub, a powerful subwoofer which connects to Echo devices, that may not be the case for much longer. 

Amazon Echo Sub smart speaker - Credit: Amazon/PA
The Echo Sub is a powerful subwoofer which connects to previously released Amazon Echo devices to boost their abilities to function as speakers Credit: Amazon/PA

Amazon definitely provide the widest range of smart speaker products at the moment with the Echo Show and Echo Spot ranges offering the chance to view video through your speaker. It’s worth remembering that Amazon are still locked in a bitter feud with Google (the owners of YouTube) so these video-focused devices can’t share clips from the world’s biggest video sharing site with going through a browser. Unless you’re a die-hard user of another video service, or a frequent Skype user, there’s not a great deal of point in buying one of these products.

Buy now

 

Apple HomePod

Why we like it: A stunning speaker capable of hitting even the deepest bass notes is the big selling point of this device 

Price: £319.00, John Lewis

Apple HomePod Smart speakers - Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
The HomePod is by far the biggest and bulkiest of the major smart speaker brands but the music quality is fantastic Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

Retailing for over three times as much as Google or Amazon’s offerings, the HomePod is a different beast altogether.

Despite the fact that it was Apple’s Siri who popularised the idea of AI assistants, she takes on a smaller role here; the HomePod is a speaker first and foremost, the inverse of the Google Home.

In terms of design, the HomePod looks most like a speaker of the three I reviewed. It’s nice to see Apple clearly differentiating their offering from rivals, and that no nonsense design helps make the HomePod by far the most impressive in terms of sound.

On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine carrying a HomePod from bedroom to kitchen in the same way you could with an Echo or a Google Home. The HomePod’s fancy speaker tech makes it a lot heavier than its competitors (HomePod weighs 2.5kg, compared to the 0.8kg Echo, and 0.5g Google Home.) If a kid accidentally pulls this off the shelf they’ll get a nasty bump.

The most important thing to remember about HomePods is this: you need a device with iOS 11 and upwards to get going. If you’re an Android user, or you’ve clung to any iPhone older than a 5S, you cannot use your HomePod. Sorry.

If you do have an modern iPhone though, the first thing you’ll note about the HomePod is that it’s not exactly seamless to set up. The iPhone needs to have certain settings in the right place, such as two-step verification. This stuff is easy to sort, it just adds to the process at the start.

Once you do that, you’ll leap through a few more queries and technological hoops before a short tutorial where Siri tells you to say things like “Hey Siri, play music” or “Hey Siri, turn on the lights”. These basic commands all work pretty well, and you can control things like the volume either with your voice or with the basic touch screen on top of the HomePod.

Unfortunately, Siri isn’t nearly as smart as Google Assistant or Alexa and it shows. Sure, Siri can perform basic online web searches, but the AI just isn’t strong enough when it comes to identifying what you really need it to do. I found it particularly struggles with lifestyle functions. While the other options are great for talking you through recipes, telling stories, or ordering food, Siri often tells me that it doesn’t know what I’m asking for or how to help. Siri also struggles to understand anything expressed too conversationally. 

That being said, setting up Siri with the Philips Hue bulbs worked easily enough. You just scan the code on the bulbs with the HomeKit app and you’re away. I really like HomeKit, which groups all of your smart tech in one easy place; it’s significantly easier than jumping between Philips’ own app and Google/Amazon’s apps.

Still, while Siri isn’t the best assistant, that’s not the point. This device is all about the speaker. And it is an incredibly good speaker. I was blown away by the bass. Even the most proasic pop song sounds epic on Apple’s little device. The speaker apparently can analyse the room and figure out how to best send out soundwaves so it sounds perfect every time. I don’t really understand the science behind that function, but I certainly had no complaints after trying the HomePod in various different locations around my flat.

AirPlay 2 is also a great feature unique to HomePod. You can place multiple HomePods around your house and the music will follow you around. Just ask Siri to continue playing the song in the next room and it’ll do it. There are also numerous third party speakers which support AirPlay so you might be able to tie it to another speaker you already own.

Amazon Input smart speaker - Credit: Andrew Burton/Bloomberg
You could theoretically get a cheaper and arguably better smart speaker by plugging an Echo Input into a pre-existing speaker Credit: Andrew Burton/Bloomberg

Speaking of third party speakers though, that’s where Apple has met its match. Yes, the HomePod is by far the best speaker of the three, but Siri is a long way behind Alexa and Google Assistant and will take a while to catch up. Amazon have effectively capitalised on this deficiency by announcing the launch of Echo Input. This will allow users to turn a pre-existing speaker into an Alexa-enabled smart speaker. You could theoretically end up with a better quality speaker than the HomePod with a better assistant, and all for less money.

The HomePod is perfect for Apple loyalists and audiophiles who are looking for a better quality speaker than they currently own. If Apple brings down the price significantly, that’d also be a solid reason to invest. Otherwise I’d recommend looking elsewhere, at least until Apple inevitably ups its game with HomePod 2.

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Frequently asked questions about smartspeakers

Who makes the best smart speaker?

Ultimately, it’s fairly subjective as to which smart speaker is the best. They all offer a different package that will suit different people. Essentially, it breaks down along easy to follow lines:

The HomePod is by far the best for music lovers as its speaker tech far outpaces the other two. Unfortunately though, Siri just can’t possibly keep pace with Google Assistant or Alexa. 

Google Home is the best for those seeking a voice assistant or a smart home controller, as the voice recognition and response is the best of the lot. Google's product is also probably a better fit for those who want to smarten up their homes, but aren’t necessarily the techiest people, as it is fairly well-equipped right out of the box.

The Echo range sits nicely between the other two. The standard Echo has a solid enough speaker and Alexa Skills help broaden the Echo’s utility as a smart assistant. However, for technophobes out there, adding those skills might be too much of a faff.

Personally, I'd go with Google Home, as its voice recognition ability is top notch and it's widely compatible with third parties like Spotify.

What does a smart speaker do?

At its most basic level, a smart speaker is a speaker. It plays music, audiobooks, or voice messages. It is considered ‘smart’ because it accomplishes all this by connecting to the internet, which opens up a whole new array of options.

Smart speakers come with a voice assistant. You say something to the speaker, and it will answer. You can connect your smart speaker to various pieces of compatible technology around your home and ask the speaker to do anything from turning on the lights to starting the washing machine. These voice assistants can also take notes, answer questions, add things to your diary, set reminders, and give you notifications.

It can also connect with other items of smart technology to allow you to control your home with your voice. Depending on what appliances you own you could do everything from boiling your kettle to switching on the lights, activating your washing machine to checking who is at the door.

Why do you need a smart speaker?

The smart revolution started with our phones but over the past few years it has accelerated massively and is beginning to take over everything in our homes from light bulbs to toasters, heating to televisions, doorbells to pet care.

You could control all this tech with your phone or a computer but smart speakers make everything that bit more seamless. With voice commands, you can make your smart home come to life without having to fiddle about with various different apps and appliances.

Philips Hue smart lighting - Credit: Philips
Devices like the Philips Hue light bulbs allow you to control your lights with your voice, even changing the colour of them at will Credit: Philips

All of the products have plenty of integration with other brands or websites so you could order a takeaway just by asking, get an answer to that burning question that’s been bugging you all day, or have a story read to you by a kindly voice.

For those whose vision or motor skills are poor, being able to control devices vocally can be a lifesaver, opening up the opportunity to listen to music without a fiddly CD player or MP3, changing the thermostat without having to get up, or dimming the lights after having left the room.

For everyone else, smart speakers seem like a novelty right now, and yes, they sort of are. But smartphones seemed like a novelty before Apple changed the world with its iPhone, and now we wouldn’t dream of leaving the house without one. This whole thing is a bandwagon, and it’ll be better to leap on it sooner than later.

Do you have to pay a monthly fee?

None of the smart speakers available at the moment force you to pay a monthly fee for their services. You simply buy the speaker and you’re good to go. You will need to sign up for a Google, Apple, or Amazon account for the corresponding device. However, these are all free to do so.

That being said, you might get more out of these devices if you do take out subscriptions. Amazon’s Echo devices, for example, can get you music from Prime Music or place orders for next day delivery if you have an Amazon Prime account.

Apple’s HomePod is also best enjoyed with Apple Music, a subscription service which allows you to listen to vast reams of music as much as you like, all optimised for the HomePod’s impressive speakers.

Is Alexa a good speaker?

Yes. While Amazon and Google have both played up the smartness of their speakers, I’m happy to confirm that they’re perfectly functional as normal speakers too. Amazon’s Echo, home to Alexa, is a good speaker as it goes. If you feel it needs beefing up further than consider investing in an Echo Sub.

All that being said, if you’re looking for a really powerful speaker you should consider Apple’s HomePod. This was created as a speaker first and foremost.

Can you use Spotify on the Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod, and Google Home?

While all of the major smartspeaker brands also operate their own music streaming services (Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, and Google Play Music), the most popular music streaming service in the world is still Spotify. So, if you’ve got a Spotify subscription, you’ll probably want to know if you can use it on your shiny new speaker. Well, that depends on your speaker.

  • Amazon Echo does work with Spotify. You’ll need to use the companion app to change your preferences, but once you’ve set that up Alexa can play music from Spotify.

  • Apple HomePod doesn’t technically work with Spotify, but there is a get around. You can’t ask Siri to search for music from Spotify directly, but you can play music from Spotify on your iPhone and, through AirPlay, it will play through your speakers.

Google Home does work with Spotify. You can search for music on Spotify by saying “Play *song name* on Spotify” or you can change your default music player to Spotify so you don’t have to specify. It’s up to you.

best smart speakers - Credit: Patrick Semansky/AP
Spotify is available on all the major smart speaker brands, but some are able to access it more easily than others Credit: Patrick Semansky/AP

Do you have to buy your smart speaker from the big three manufacturers?

Nope. As the hype continues to grow, more and more technology brands are bringing vocal assistants into their own speakers. However, Apple, Google, and Amazon are the companies behind the voice assistants in each device, which is why I've focused on them for the purpose of this article. Sonos make a range of critically-acclaimed smart speakers, but you’ll be using Alexa and Google Assistant in those devices and the functionality for the voice assistants is the same. If Alexa can do it on an Echo, she can do it on a Sonos speaker and vice versa.

Amazon also recently announced Echo Input. This device links to any speaker via a 3.5mm audio cable to turn it into an Alexa-powered smart speaker. Don't be surprised if Google announce something similar in the near future.

A glossary of terms

AI: Short for artificial intelligence. This is the ability of the virtual assistants onboard smartspeakers (like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant) to understand and interpret your meaning when you make requests of them.

Virtual assistant: This is the name given to the user interface of smartspeakers, Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant because they operate as your assistant: changing the music, setting timers, giving you reminders etc. This is especially useful if you’ve got plenty of smart tech around your home as you could conceivably control your whole home with a couple of notifications.

Smart tech: Sometimes called the Internet of Things. This refers to all the devices you’ve got around your home which are connected to the internet in some way. That could be smart speakers, smart appliances, smart light bulbs etc. Usually these devices only have a very basic internet connection which is why they’re considered ‘things’ rather than computers or smart phones.

Wake word: This is the word you use to tell your smart speaker to listen to you. These devices only work by constantly listening but they can’t understand anything you say until you use the wake word. By default, these are set to ‘Alexa’ on Amazon’s devices, ‘Siri’ on Apple’s devices, and ‘OK Google’ on Google’s devices.