Alex's voice assistant. Google Home vs Amazon Alexa comparison
Called Alexa. We are publishing an abridged translation of her essay.
I first met Alexa at my friends' country house in New England. Alexa is a mechanical voice artificial intelligence that sits inside a small Amazon Echo audio device. “It's 23 degrees outside the window now,” Alexa said, adding that precipitation is not expected today. Our meeting took place a year ago, before that I had never seen such a talking device. When I decided to trick my friend about his addiction to gadgets, he showed me what else Alexa can do: tell the weather, make a shopping list, order goods from Amazon. Alexa is as smart as my friends' house. She knows how to play music and helps with the housework - like a little butler.
In the spring, I decided to try Alexa myself and install it for my cozy, but far from smart home. In theory, Alexa is able to turn on the light at your request, as well as open or close the garage door and turn on the heating. I live in a pre-war house without an elevator. The switch is usually close at hand. I don't have a garage. And I control the temperature in the apartment with the help of an old battery, an open window and letters to the house management - all these things are incompatible with Alexa. Alas, the brain of my house is myself.
I usually resist new technologies, I think they are kind of overkill (which is why my attempt to build the future with Alexa took place in a room decorated with modest bookshelves and all kinds of stands). When I have a new thing, I definitely like it - for example, I now constantly communicate with the Notes application on mine. But this time, I was a little wary of Amazon. This is the same thing - it can be a source, a savior, a sneak and a rude megalomaniac. All these buttons for ordering the right product make me nervous, and especially the delivery of goods from Amazon on Sundays (on weekends I constantly hear mailboxes squealing near my house: something came from Amazon!). I decided I wanted to chat with Alexa about music and discuss the news, but by no means order anything. Then I went to Amazon and ordered an Echo.
Our communication started a little awkward: sometimes you forget why you wanted to talk to the speaker at all. I asked Alexa to play something from the Velvet Underground. “I choose songs from the Velvet Under-ground repertoire,” she replied. The noise of a live concert was heard. Oh oh. “Hopefully this will be a recording of a performance in Kansas,” I grumbled. This is what she turned out to be. When your player accidentally plays the right song, you get an unusual sense of a sign from above. At that moment, I also felt that this speaker was destined to be in my house.
Amazon is trying to help create a pleasant atmosphere in the home, so it sends its customers tips on how to better communicate with Alexa - just like an annoying parent. For example, “ask Alexa to tell an anecdote about Independence Day or something interesting.” I asked her twice for the latter, and she gave me: "Octopuses have three hearts," and then "jellyfish make up 40% of the biomass that inhabit the oceans." Well thank you robot friend!
As in a conversation with a living person, the safest thing to do is talk about the weather. Ask about her and Alexa will tell you about her. She does an excellent job of setting various timers. Saying “Good morning, Alexa!” Might convey something interesting, such as that today is International Literacy Day, Computer Science Day, or that in 1947, Harry Truman made his first presidential speech on television to American citizens (“ And I'm glad to contact you, ”added Alexa, embarrassed).
Image: Andy Rementer
But with the news, everything is more complicated. Alexa invites you to listen to "short news" - a summary of information with which the media are experimenting, and often insert news about some kind of SIM cards for the ears.
When you live with Alexa, the main thing is to learn what she is good at. She is bad at behaving like a person. You ask her: "Alexa, what should I eat for dinner?" And she will start pushing you about vegetables and pizza (in her opinion, it should be fun). And if you ask to tell an anecdote, then you will greatly regret it.
Once I wanted to hear a joke about the Olympics. “Why did the geologist come to the Olympics?” Asked Alexa.
If you ask "Why?"
... "Za-a-alato" - that is how she uttered the last word. In short, it didn't work out very well.
In one of the emails, Amazon advised asking Alexa to sing "Happy Birthday to You" (Wow, Alexa can sing!). At that moment I was playing the song Naked If I Want To by Cat Power. Instead of turning it off, Alexa sang "Happy Birthday to You" in front of her. It sounded very dark. Just perfect for a lonely celebration with a hat and cupcake.
Still, Alexa plays music very well. Want to listen to John Philip Sousa, Scratch Acid or Loretta Lynn? Ask Alexa to turn on their creativity and see which song she chooses for you. She's usually good at recognizing artist names, but when I named the band Frøkedal she included the Band of Skulls. You can select a specific song or album: West Side Story, Monster Mesh, Revolver. If you tell Alexa to turn on the Beatles album, she will not select Drive My Car or Hey Jude, but will play something of her liking from the White Album. And if you ask to play any song from the Beatles, will you hear Why Don’t We Do It in the Road? According to Alexa, The Beatles is the most Beatles album of all. She may be right.
"Sorry, I didn't understand your question." Shot from the TV series Mr. Robot.
Voice control, as opposed to pointing your finger on the screen, helps you connect with your personality. And it's just great. One weekend I said out loud that I wanted to listen to the Grateful Dead (although I never liked this band) - and Alexa turned on that one. the song that I thought of. I ended up listening to the Grateful Dead all morning. Their music was reminiscent of the 70s country rock that I often heard as a child. And I liked her.
I have a whole bunch of Spotify playlists designed for different moods. I made a special playlist that plays when I get home - this is how I drive away bad memories of breaking into an apartment. When I'm going to town, I ask Alexa to turn on the “Go to Town” playlist, and the music tunes me in the right way. In the morning playing Gordon McRae, Wham! and the Kinks. Before bed, I leave the dimmed lights on and ask to play the "Good Night" playlist, and the apartment is filled with pleasant Beatles music.
But there are also unpleasant situations when the wrong song is turned on that you want to hear. When you give commands out loud, it's easy to lose control. In July, I ordered one of my summer playlists to be played on Spotify, a nice mix of music from Yo La Tengo, Grandmaster Flash, Mungo Jerry and so on. And I was furious when Alexa started playing one of the standard summer Spotify music selections. I realize it was just a mistake, but nevertheless, I just got pissed off.
At that moment, I felt like a victim. To calm down somehow, I asked Alexa to include a list called “Just Breathe” from Amazon Prime. Here, I thought, there will be nothing bad. Suddenly my apartment was filled with howling New Age sounds that would be best suited for lying in a morgue or in a hospital room.
By the end of September, Alexa and I started getting along. I realized that she had no sense of humor and stopped asking her to tell a joke. I found out that if you say “Alexa, good morning” or “Alexa, good afternoon,” she can give me a nice answer. She told me interesting facts about jellyfish and whether it will rain today. We both liked The White Album. And then one morning something unusual happened.
“Alexa, good morning!” I said.
“Good morning,” Alexa replied. - Today is the last day of September. I think it's time wake up green day". (Play on words: Alexa thus suggested a Green Day song called Wake Me Up When September Ends - "wake me up when September is over" - ed.).
Seriously, Alexa made me laugh.
In early October, Google unveiled its version of the Echo - Google Home. The Times described the device as "looking like an air freshener." Google Home connects to your Google mail and calendar, and perhaps even a real air freshener in your home. Well, in the meantime, I continue to tune my old speakers - such giant wooden things with subwoofers, buttons and switches - and a friend of mine recently opened a record store. So I step into the future - one leg is already in it, and the other is in the past, such as I like.
The last 15 years have given such an impetus to the development of technology that literally from push-button dialers we have stepped over to smartphones with smart voice assistants. Today, the usual control with buttons is gradually disappearing. But what awaits us next? Where will the further development of control and interaction with electronics lead us? Of course - to voice control. Today we will talk about the next stage in the development of control - we are reviewing the Amazon Echo wireless smart speaker and its simplified version of the Echo Dot. And most importantly, the Amazon Alexa voice assistant built into them.
Amazon Echo
Amazon Echo is a wireless speaker with Amazon Alexa voice assistant. The assistant is activated by the command “Alexa”. That is, you just say "Alexa" out loud and immediately what you want from him. The Echo has 7 microphones that are arranged in a circle. Therefore, the speaker hears commands equally well at any point around it. The microphones are powerful and they recognize voices well, even if the speaker itself plays music at high volume at the time of the request. If the house has a small Echo Dot in addition to the large speaker Echo, then the one that is closer to you will respond to the command.
Echo Dot
In terms of functionality, these are two identical devices. The main difference lies in the size, which is due to the Echo's powerful enough speakers. They directly surprise with the sound quality and will suit most users. If you have your own wireless speaker, such as, for example, the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 2, as in our case, then the small Echo Dot will be enough for you. It connects to the speaker via Bluetooth and plays everything through it. That being said, the Echo Dot has its own built-in speakers, but they're larger for show. But if there is no acoustics, then you should take a full-fledged Echo.
Connect and configure Echo
So, all that is needed to connect the Echo is a smartphone with the Amazon Alexa app installed. In the application, you need to log into your own Amazon account and then follow the instructions. The main goal is to let the Echo connect to your home Wi-Fi network.
Calendars and sports preferences
Echo is directly controlled by voice. This is how the Alexa voice assistant understands what is required of it. More extensive settings are available in the application. Here you can set a physical address in order to receive information about traffic jams. You can connect calendars from Gmail or Microsoft Outlook so that Alexa can remind you of upcoming events or play a short agenda in the morning. Sports preferences are also set in the settings. You can make a list of your favorite teams, football, basketball, hockey, and when you request sports news, they will tell you everything in detail about them.
Music services
Music services are also selected here. In fact, you can choose the library from which you want to play music. It could be Amazon Music or Spotify. The list of radio services is slightly broader: iHeart Radio, Pandora and TuneIn are available.
Alexa Skills
The rest of Echo's smart features are customizable through what are called skills, or skills. The skills section is similar to an app store, only the skills are free there. They fall into a wide variety of categories from Business and Finance to Humor and Travel. The description of the skill indicates the voice command that activates it. For example, there is the entertainment skill My Financials. When asked for its current bank balance, Alexa will name an unimaginably large amount that will surprise those around you. But there are more serious ones.
News resources
Most of the skills are associated either with applications and online services, or with specific devices. That is, in order for the voice assistant to read your favorite news, you must first connect the corresponding skill, which is specially created by agencies for Alexa. There is support from the BBC, Fox News, ABC, Techcrunch, CNet and many more.
What can Alexa in the CIS?
It is clear that when creating Echo, Amazon focused on the United States and other developed Western countries. Therefore, it is not surprising that the smart assistant Alexa does not speak Russian. In connection with this fact, it may seem that for most of the inhabitants of the CIS, this thing is just a useless cylinder with bulbs and speakers. But this is not the case. If you know English at a basic level, that is, you studied it at least at school, then it will not be difficult for you to use this voice assistant. The same story is with the German language. Amazon Echo supports it too. At the very beginning, we advise you to read 25 phrases for Alexa, they will help the assistant get used to the pronunciation and in the future Alexa will understand you better.
Playing music
With the settings sorted out and you can go to direct contact, which is possible in 4 conditional categories. The first is musical. Everything is simple here - you order a composition, artist, specific playlist or music to suit your mood and enjoy. Amazon Music has a fairly extensive media library. But not enough to listen to the newest and freshest albums. For example, she played Green Day Revolution Radio only in fragments. But the library can be expanded with a paid subscription to or using your Spotify account.
Answers to any questions
The second category of functions deals with answering a wide variety of questions. For example, why is the sky blue, or what is the height of Everest. It all depends on what interests you. Alexa can also read Wikipedia articles. That is, she knows the answers to almost all questions. In addition, you can ask Alexa to start a timer or create an alarm or reminder for you.
Smart home control
The third and probably the most interesting feature of Echo is smart home control. There are not many well-known companies that have provided their devices with the ability to communicate with Amazon's Alexa right now, but the number is growing. For example, right now you can control the light if you have Philips Hue bulbs, or regulate the heating in the house using Netatmo thermostats, or turn off any electronic devices that are connected to smart sockets altogether. In this, Alexa is a serious competitor to Apple HomeKit and Google Home. At CES in Las Vegas this year, we saw a ton of gadgets that connect to Alexa and HomeKit.
So, these three categories are as accessible as possible for us - residents of the CIS. Learning some English or German phrases to control Alexa is not at all difficult. And if it works out, then Alexa will be an excellent assistant for people who are learning the language. Having a native speaker of a foreign language in your home is great.
Any "advanced" smartphone user probably knows what a voice assistant is today. If you have a more or less new Android - more often than not, it's enough just to say "Ok Google" (or click on the microphone near the search bar). IOS users are most often familiar with Siri, which is easy to call with a long press of the Home button. But then who is Alexa and what is her difference?
A bit of history
In November 2014, Amazon introduced the world to a new technological gadget - the Amazon Echo. The gadget is a high cone, into which a sufficiently powerful and high-quality Bluetooth speaker and microphones are built. Then it was the first device of this type, and almost no one understood why it was intended. And it cost a lot - almost $ 200. ( We sell it, for example, Stylus, but - editor's note).
Amazon Echo: first smart speaker to support Alexa voice service
True, for especially loyal Amazon customers - members of the Prime program, for a short time it was available for $ 100. A year after its release, Amazon expanded its line of smart assistants, adding 2 more devices to it:
Essentially the same Echo, but designed for use with an external speaker connected via both Bluetooth and audio. Although a low-power speaker is present in the device itself. The initial price of the device was about one hundred dollars, but after six months the second generation of the device was released for $ 50.
Amazon Dot: a stripped-down version of the Echo, designed to connect to an external speaker
Amazon Tap: Also a stripped-down Amazon Echo speaker, in which they left a high-quality speaker, but removed, as for me, the most important "feature" of the device - microphones that are constantly ready to listen to your orders. In this column, to "call" the assistant, you need to press the button.
Amazon Tap: A simplified version of Echo that requires a click of a button to invoke a helper
In addition to its devices, Amazon has given other manufacturers the opportunity to "embed" their voice assistant into their devices - for example, in the Invoxia Triby radio or even in the LG Smart Instaview Fridge.
Well, at the end of 2016, Google entered this market with its smart column. Google home worth $ 129.
Competitor Google's Amazon Echo
Why do I need this and what can a voice assistant do?
Attention: Both services are not officially available in Ukraine, so you need to understand that none of them speaks either Russian or, moreover, Ukrainian. Both services are sharpened by default on the US market (Amazon is also on the UK), therefore most of the services for which you need your geolocation will be unavailable. Also, many additional services are officially only available in the US….
The main "feature" of these devices is that by default they always listen to you (not like some of your relatives!). Each of them has their own "magic word": Alexa, Echo or Amazon to choose from for devices from Amazon or "Ok, Google" for Google Home, when they hear which they are ready to follow your orders. Let's look at what they can "out of the box" (located in terms of usefulness for "our person":
- Play music from online streaming services. So, Amazon Alexa can play music from Amazon Music, Amazon Music Unlimited and Spotify. Google Home - From Google Music and Spotify. Both can also play radio stations from TuneIn. Amazon also offers you access to the Audible service, which has many audiobooks available (at an additional cost), in English of course. For me now, this is the main application of the assistant - even my three-year-old son learned the key phrase "Alexa play Peppa Pig Song". My wife often listens to American top charts, and I prefer old school rock classics. We have a Spotify account connected to which there is almost any music, except that the Russian names of the groups are not always pronounced - sometimes we have to launch it from the phone through the application (Aleksa, play OKEAN ELZY - understands once out of five).
- Access to your Google calendar - both columns can read events from your calendar (if, of course, they are written in English). Interestingly, only Amazon Alexa can add events so far.
- Easy access to wikipedia and search. Both services can answer you simple questions like "What is gravicapa" or "How much is 2 + 2". At the same time, Alexa uses Bing for search, unlike Google Home.
- Clock ("Alexa, what time is it in New York now?"), Timer, weather forecast.
- Each of the devices has a considerable list (Alexa is larger, Google is smaller) of smart home devices with which it can be connected. Thanks to this, you can easily turn on / off the lights in the house (if you have smart lamps from Phillips with the sweet name Hue), turn on the TV (if you have a Logitech Harmony smart remote) and even make coffee (using a plug-in Behmor coffee maker).
- Each device has its own IFTTT channel that allows the sophisticated user to customize the voice commands for themselves.
- For devices from Amazon there are already more than 300 "external" add-ons (they call them Skills or skills) from third-party manufacturers, with the help of which the speaker will become even "smarter". For example, you can ask a rabbi for advice, call an Uber, or play different voice games. You can also ask Alexa to find the right recipe for you on the Internet. Google Home promised to present this in early 2017, while we wait.
- Google Home has one more feature - it can "interact" with other Google devices - Chromecast (both audio and video). Thanks to this, you can ask Google Home to show you the desired video on your TV (you need to know exactly what it is called) or a movie from Netflix.
So I don’t understand, I need it?
I confess that while in Ukraine such assistants are in most cases just a smart speaker that can play the music you ask for. But even for this purpose, you will have to "try" - using the same Spotify in Ukraine is not easy. ( We have a separate article on how to connect Spotify in our conditions - editor's note). Or it will help those who have a lot of smart home devices of the latest generation by adding voice control to them. But, as soon as one of them adds support for the Russian language and services that are relevant for Ukraine, there will be many more opportunities for application. The voice interface on the Internet is really convenient, but for now you have to "adjust" too much to it.
Personal experience
As a real "true geek" I did not resist for a long time before the temptation of ordering a voice assistant for myself. 200 bucks I was sorry for it, but when it began to cost a hundred, I could not resist. So Amazon Dot (first generation) settled in my house. And he has been living there for almost a year. For its full use, I had to make several tricks with my ears, namely:
- Pay for a year access to a special proxy server tunlr.com ($ 10 per year). It very easily sets up a tunnel from your router to American resources, impersonating you as a respectable American.
- Buy premium family access to the coolest music service Spotify, which has all the music I am interested in and which is supported by Amazon Echo (as opposed to Google Music). I bought it for $ 30 on ebay, theoretically the "Filipino family" can be found cheaper.
I use Amazon Dot mainly for playing music, both adults and children learned how to order it at my home. Tried listening to audiobooks but still hard to hear in English so far.
I keep licking my lips at Google Home, but for now I’m waiting for him to speak Russian.
For those who want to know more
- How to use Spotify when you live outside the US or Western Europe
- Ukrainian made Google and Amazon assistants endlessly ask each other questions (video)
In the first week of 2017, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos became richer by $ 3.8 billion.The reason for this was not record sales of goods on Amazon (although the company is in the lead by this indicator), but thanks to the voice assistant Alexa. It was first presented at CES-2017 in Los Angeles.
Although the Alexa virtual assistant has only become popular in the last two years, its development has been going on since 2010, and the prototype of the model replicated today appeared in 2014. Jeff Bezos brought the Amazon Echo, the smart speaker, to the technology show this year.
The device was a black column (cylinder) with a built-in microphone and voice recognition system. In order to activate the assistant, it was necessary to say "Alexa", and then only with the help of voice commands you can shop in the Amazon online store, order food at home, listen to music and surf the Web.
And while Bezos' company was the first to introduce a device with a virtual assistant on a non-smartphone, the whole idea was not new. Users already knew Apple's Siri and Google's Assistant. Amazon Echo was priced at $ 179. It should be noted that the presentation and the technology itself left a mixed impression on users and critics. There were complaints about the poor reaction of the assistant: the command was not executed immediately, or was ignored altogether.
New trend - home voice assistant
For 4 years, the technology has undergone several changes, and its functionality has been expanded. Today, the modern Alexa system has 15,000 skills. This is despite the fact that in mid-2016, the system only supported 1000 functions.
This metric has allowed it to take the lead in the virtual assistant market, despite all attempts by Google Home, Microsoft and Apple to catch up with Alexa. While competitors are working to improve technology, Amazon is already talking about Alex's assistant as the main operating system for the "Internet of things".
How to manage the virtual assistant Alexa and what it can do
It is still sufficient to say the assistant's name to activate the device. For the system to be able to accurately execute the command, you must speak clearly.
If you introduce it into the “smart home” system, or at least buy a special adapter (for an outlet or a lamp), then using voice commands you can control the light, turn off the sockets, adjust the sound of music, and so on.
Cancellation of any command must begin with the words "Alexa, off" or similar phrases.
If you install special video cameras, "smart locks" on the doors and a fire alarm system, then Alexa will also protect your home from uninvited guests and fire. When the owners of the house are absent, the system will notify them by means of a smartphone about the doorbell ringing or attempts to enter (if necessary, it will turn on the siren).
Today, the most popular Alexa skills are updating and dubbing news (“flash briefing”), the owner chooses the categories of interest on his own. But this is only a small part of the functions, and judging by the development of AI, there will be even more functions in the future.
Alexa doesn't just do it, it thinks
Alex's virtual assistant is able not only to execute a command, but also to analyze it, try to anticipate the owner's wishes and moods. You can simply talk to an assistant from Amazon, find out about his favorite color, exchange jokes, and ask to be reminded of an important event.
The novelty could not be missed by the manufacturers of transport and equipment. So Volkswagen and Ford have already expressed a desire to integrate the Alexa system into new car models, and Whirlpool has released a whole line of large household appliances, which will be controlled by a virtual assistant.
In addition, the developers have an idea to teach Alexa to cook. This means that users will be able to get not only an interlocutor in the kitchen, but also an assistant who can at least warm up food (if Alexa-enabled ovens and microwaves appear).
It is quite difficult to predict how advanced systems with AI similar to Alex will be. This is due to the limitless possibilities that go beyond today's understanding of the functionality of technology. However, it is safe to say that the voice assistant Alexa and its competitors will definitely be in demand in the future, and from the category of “fashionable gadget” they will move into an urgent need. The secret of success is incredible simplicity and naturalness of use, so "addiction" appears literally the first time.
