5 ways Google Home has taken my heart out of Alexa

The awesome clarity of the Google Nest Hub display is almost enough to get you hooked on it.

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I’m trying to share you a confession. What started as an affair became a full-scale relationship with myGoogle Assistant, which happened just like Alexa. I have been strong for a few years and have become accustomed to myAmazon Echo. As soon as I got hooked, I fell in love with another smart speaker before saying “Alexa, goodbye.”

It was easy-in the end, Alexa’s screen looked stale and tired compared to the Nest Hub’s gorgeous display, and myGoogle Nest Mini instantly clicked with other smart home devices. The Google-powered brain behind the pitch-perfect speakers and shimmering LCD also helps keep me away from the extraordinary average Alexa.

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So how do you love Google Home? Let’s count the methods. Here are the top five features I have available on Google Home.

I know when Google Home will end

When the timer or alarm sounds on the Google Home smart speaker or display, all you have to say to turn it off is “Stop!”. Yes, unlike Alexa and Siri, you don’t need a wake word to cancel a timer or alarm on Google Home. This little tweak may not seem very good, but as I often do, seconds are important when you’re busy in a kitchen with multiple timers.

If Google Home sounds an alarm or a timer, just say “Stop.” Without using “ne y” or “OK, Google” wake words

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This is very similar to another Google Home feature I love. This means the Google Assistant keeps listening for a few seconds after every voice command, so you don’t have to repeat the wake word for follow up. The Alexa device has a similar trick, which raises their sleeves, but to pull them apart, they mute the volume of what is annoyingly long playing. Google Home does that much more seamlessly.

Google Home is a good housewife

The Google Assistant is primarily a voice assistant, but some tasks are better with touch, such as smart home control from the Google Home app. Sometimes scrolling and tapping a device list to turn it on or off is easier than rattling a long list of voice commands. Routines can automate and group certain functions into a single command, but can display a list of devices with control options (on, off, brightness, color, etc.)

Google Home devices such as this Mini and smart home gears such as this Wemo Mr. Coffee coffee maker will be displayed in alphabetical order in the Google Home app when they are categorized into rooms such as “Kitchen” and “Bedroom”. ..

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If you take the time to set up rooms and groups, the Google Home app will organize your smart home devices in a logical and attractive way, making it fun rather than making smart home controls easier directly from the app. (If you’ve seen how Amazon’s Alexa app organizes smart home devices, you know how painful it is.) Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max on Google Home ($229 on Crutchfield) The smart display features the same intuitive smart home controls as the app, great writing.

I love sleeping next to Google Home

My bedtime routine is not a routine. If you need some time to relax, you might connect your phone to Google Home via Bluetooth and listen to the podcast (or 2, or 10). Or you might listen to some ambient music or other sleep sounds to help you relax. But one thing that remains consistently every night is that when the rubber hits the road, you hear a brown noise.

I’ve heard white noise, a static sound version of an unadjusted TV screen. The brown noise is the same, but not only is it high-end and static, but it also causes more noise in the base register. Think of thunderstorms that can be heard but not rain and never stop.

Google Home is perfect for your bedside.

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The soft noise of brown noises makes you sleep more comfortably than white noises. (There is also pink noise, which is between white and brown.) To trigger brown noise, say “OK Google, play brown noise with askHelp Me Sleep”. In Help Me Sleep, you can hear not only white, pink and brown noises but also water, nature and baby sounds.

Waking up at Google Home is a pleasure

When you wake up every day, there are two things you want to know immediately. The weather forecast. You’ll know what to wear when you first bring your dog out and the traffic conditions when commuting.

You can change your Google Home routines with the Google Home app.

Taylor Martin / CNET

I set the default “good morning” routine for Google Assistant to provide only that information and play a brief newscast, but you can add as many as you want to your good morning routine. Here’s how to create it yourself:

1. Open the Google Home app,[設定]Tap,[その他の設定]Tap on the top menu bar[アシスタント]Tap.

2. At the bottom of the list[ルーティン]Tap, then[おはよう]Tap.

3. Add or remove a list of actions such as smart home and thermostat controls, lighting scenes, weather, traffic, calendar events, reminders and more.

4. Play music, news, radio, podcasts, audiobooks, or nothing at all and decide if Google Home ends the routine.

Google Home hosts the best dance party

Even though the only dance party I host is between my 6-year-old daughter and me, it’s fun to instruct Google Home to play music through all the speakers at home (in her room 1 There are a total of 5 including one)).

It’s worth noting how well the music syncs. So, when you move from room to room, you don’t experience the same wobbling loss of directionality that you experienced when broadcasting audio using other platforms such as Amazon Alexa and Apple iTunes. How to set up a home-wide audio system on Google Home.

You can mount the Google Home or Nest Mini on the wall for better sound.

Dale Smith / CNET

A proper dance party requires a slap music library, so use this guide to set up your music subscription service the right way with Google Home. Also, if you mount Google Home Mini correctly on the wall, it will sound better and save space on the surface.

Whether you’re considering adding a display such as a Nest Hub or Nest Hub Max to your Google Home array, or if you already have one, here’s everything you need to know to get set up quickly.

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