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I love my echo (alexa), especially the convenience of "no button but wake word" when I have my hands full in the kitchen. That said, google voice is so much be

I love my echo (alexa), especially the convenience of "no button but wake word" when I have my hands full in the kitchen. That said, google voice is so much better at parsing my questions that I'd pay a bunch of money for another standalone device with wake word which would integrate with with google voice. Any chance of hacking that, or linking your device with both? (Ask Amazon / Ask Google)

frik 11y ago
Buy an high end phone with a good mic and you can choose between GoogleNow and Siri (and more). Or if you have a SmartTV in your kitchen, you can use that too (Samsung, LG, etc),
- notlisted 11y ago
  I have all of those, but it really doesn't compare. Echo does an amazing job recognizing every voice (without training) from a great distance.
squeaky-clean 11y ago
Google's question parsing is ridiculously good. You can also do neat things like say "When I get to work, remind me to email John" and you'll get a notification when you arrive. I don't have an Echo, but I imagine it can't do such contextual things. You could get a dedicated Android phone/tablet, and leave it always plugged into a charger somewhere. I just tested it on my Phone (LG G3 Android 5.0.1), and I'm able to get my phone to respond to "Ok, Google" questions, even with the screen off. Though the microphone probably won't be nearly as good as the Echo, and from the setup it seems like you have to train "Ok, Google" to respond to your voice, so I don't know if it will work with multiple users.
- toomuchtodo 11y ago
  I love my Nest Thermostat, and I know they've got "Protect" as the smoke/CO detector. I'd LOVE if Google would release an "Assist" product that was the Echo form factor powered by Google's agent engine, and I could mount it on the ceiling in each of my rooms similar to how smoke detectors are (hard wired to mains with battery backup). Too much to hope for I suspect.
  - lsaferite 11y ago
    That would be both awesome and terrifying. I have an Echo and the mic array is fantastic. And the idea of having one in every room for localized interaction is great. But the idea of such a good mic in every room is scary if you consider bad and/or state actors.
- dharma1 11y ago
  I've got an old Android phone always plugged in, connected to a THX system on top of my fridge/freezer, for doing things like automatically playing music in the morning. Exploring what other things I can get it to do with Tasker atm. OK Google works, but the mic really isn't as good as the array on Echo. I've been looking into external mics for Android - will test with simple omni mics first but ideally an external array mic would be the best choice.

frik 11y ago

Buy an high end phone with a good mic and you can choose between GoogleNow and Siri (and more). Or if you have a SmartTV in your kitchen, you can use that too (Samsung, LG, etc),

notlisted 11y ago
I have all of those, but it really doesn't compare. Echo does an amazing job recognizing every voice (without training) from a great distance.

squeaky-clean 11y ago

Google's question parsing is ridiculously good. You can also do neat things like say "When I get to work, remind me to email John" and you'll get a notification when you arrive. I don't have an Echo, but I imagine it can't do such contextual things. You could get a dedicated Android phone/tablet, and leave it always plugged into a charger somewhere. I just tested it on my Phone (LG G3 Android 5.0.1), and I'm able to get my phone to respond to "Ok, Google" questions, even with the screen off. Though the microphone probably won't be nearly as good as the Echo, and from the setup it seems like you have to train "Ok, Google" to respond to your voice, so I don't know if it will work with multiple users.

toomuchtodo 11y ago
I love my Nest Thermostat, and I know they've got "Protect" as the smoke/CO detector. I'd LOVE if Google would release an "Assist" product that was the Echo form factor powered by Google's agent engine, and I could mount it on the ceiling in each of my rooms similar to how smoke detectors are (hard wired to mains with battery backup). Too much to hope for I suspect.
- lsaferite 11y ago
  That would be both awesome and terrifying. I have an Echo and the mic array is fantastic. And the idea of having one in every room for localized interaction is great. But the idea of such a good mic in every room is scary if you consider bad and/or state actors.
dharma1 11y ago
I've got an old Android phone always plugged in, connected to a THX system on top of my fridge/freezer, for doing things like automatically playing music in the morning. Exploring what other things I can get it to do with Tasker atm. OK Google works, but the mic really isn't as good as the array on Echo. I've been looking into external mics for Android - will test with simple omni mics first but ideally an external array mic would be the best choice.