7 ms·

Ask HN: To people who own smart assistants, how often do you use it?

Is it like the way iPhone was used (high usage) or the way VR headsets are used (low usage)? There's a reason iPhone grew and VR headsets didn't, as of now.

kingkool68 8y ago
I use my Google Home mini and Home Hub every day to ask for the weather and set timers to alert the kids that it's bed time. We use them to play songs and my 4 year old asks Google questions about Spanish words every other day. They're neat to have around.
- sumitsrivastava 8y ago
  Songs are a pretty nice functionality. I guess that can be done on non smart speakers too. The alert thing is really cool! A unique way to handle kids.
  - kingkool68 8y ago
    Totally. I'm not the bad guy but the alarm is. Putting on the cleanup song helps cleaning up go faster.
deuslovult 8y ago
I have a couple Google Home mini's in my apartment, an android TV, and almost all of my lights are Phillips Hue. I use the assistant constantly to turn on/off lights, change colors, dim them, play things on the TV, etc. Very high usage. I think using the assistant for things like calendar, weather, traffic, calls, etc is more difficult than just using a phone. But being able to turn off all the lights in my apartment when I'm ready to go to bed by just saying "lights off" is really nice.
- sumitsrivastava 8y ago
  Lights off: probably the most common use case for everyone.
thatoneuser 8y ago
Have a couple lying in a drawer. I've never found them to be worth the effort let alone the cost. Majority of questions you ask are "hmm idk". Functionality is very limited unless you've also invested in smart home devices. And at that point it's like how much effort do I save to turn off the lights by voice rather than walking 5 feet. Idk. To me it seems like a high level gimmick the tech giants used to make another billion. More hype than value.
- sumitsrivastava 8y ago
  Probably the most common use case is a smart home.
Paraesthetic 8y ago
I have a Harmon Kardon Invoke (Cortana), I use it almost exclusively for playing music from spotify, telling me what time it is when I'm sleeping and I dont want to open my eyes, and setting alarms. Occasionally for movie trivia games or turning off my tv.
- sumitsrivastava 8y ago
  Interaction while sleeping. Whoa that's an awesome usecase. Makes me wonder, what else one might want while sleeping?
BenMorganIO 8y ago
I do three things: 1. OK Google, what's the temperature outside? 2. OK Google, turn off all the lights. 3. OK Google, turn on all the lights. If I don't say all, it turns three lights on instead of 8.
- sumitsrivastava 8y ago
  Why do you check for temperature, rather than weather? Does it help knowing the changes in temperature outside?
  - zingermc 8y ago
    You can tell if it's raining by looking out the window, but you can't really see the temperature.
    - sumitsrivastava 8y ago
      Does it really help knowing the temperature? I can take an umbrella if it'll rain soon but what can I do by knowing that temperature will rise by 1°C in two hours? Genuinely curious.
      - NullPrefix 8y ago
        Do I put on my coat or go out in a t shirt.
        sumitsrivastava 8y ago
        Oh, a cold climate thing.
csixty4 8y ago
Way less than I used to. The big deal breaker for me was Amazon no longer letting you upload your own music, meaning Alexa can't play my obscure CD rips from the 90s and my Bandcamp purchases from today. So I really only use it to check on Amazon orders, reorder stuff, add to my Out of Milk shopping list, start timers, or check the weather -- all things that are almost faster to just do on my phone. But I work remotely and I like having someone to talk to.
- sumitsrivastava 8y ago
  The last line you wrote hurt. You might want to try Wakie, a YC alumni startup.
mrburton 8y ago
I use my smart assistant for a lot of one off tasks, but I realized something.. when I head out, I have a routine I do daily and it can be automated. e.g., What's the weather? Order Lyft to Red Rock, and turn off the lights. I should set this up in one command.
- sumitsrivastava 8y ago
  You really should, or I can do it for you!
Spooky23 8y ago
We use the home pod for music and light control. I had the cheaper versions of the Google and Amazon asssitsnts, and gave up on them after a few weeks. Just didn’t do anything useful for us.
nataz 8y ago
Multiple times per day. For input devices I have a Google home, mini, 2x Chromecast and a pixel 3 xl. When I'm ironing my clothes in the morning/brushing my teeth/generally getting ready I ask Google home about about the weather, and have it play some music on Spotify. When I get in my car, my phone auto connects to Bluetooth, and it automatically keeps playing my music, or I ask it to open pocketcast and play a podcast. As I pull out of my driveway I ask it to navigate to work. I have three equal distance routes, but live traffic updates to route around accidents is super useful. After work, I get in my car, auto connects to Bluetooth, and I have it text my wife that I'm on my way home. Ask it to navigate home, again taking advantage of live traffic updates. When I'm home in the evening I'll use it to set a timer while cooking, play music, control/play Netflix or YouTube red. I'll also use it to control the lights (I use hue bulbs throughout the house). When I head to bed I have it turn off the lights downstairs, and turn on the lights in my spare bedroom so I can set my things out for the next day. Then I have it turn off all the lights except for the outdoor ones. Basically it's a hands free input tool. Because I have a pixel, Chromecast, and home, etc., they all work pretty smoothly together. I like how the Chromecast combined with a home can turn on the TV, open an app (Netflix/Spotify/YouTube) and play specific media without a remote or pressing any buttons. The pixel in the car is amazing for directions, making phone calls/sending (but not receiving) texts. I like how I can be anywhere in the house and control music and video via my voice. Its nice that the different input devices do pretty well with figuring out which one is closest to you to preform the action you are trying to complete. For instance even though multiple devices in different rooms may hear me from the living room, it will be the living room home that open Netflix on my living room TV.
thefounder 8y ago
Only in the car to get directions and weather info.
dingo_bat 8y ago
I use my echo for these things: 1. Weather 2. Temperature in the bedroom 3. Music 4. Lights 5. Set timers 6. Very rarely news I don't use the Google voice in my phone at all. I use Bixby sometimes because the dedicated button makes it easy to trigger. But I'm almost always disappointed by the result.
PerfectElement 8y ago
I have several Google Home minis and use them several times per day to check the weather, play music and podcasts, set timers while cooking, add things to my grocery list (my favorite feature), turn off the lights, ask for directions when driving (android auto). Another neat feature is the "play latest news" to have it play the latest hourly news from NPR, Bloomberg, CBC or whatever you set it up with.

Is it like the way iPhone was used (high usage) or the way VR headsets are used (low usage)? There's a reason iPhone grew and VR headsets didn't, as of now.

kingkool68 8y ago

I use my Google Home mini and Home Hub every day to ask for the weather and set timers to alert the kids that it's bed time. We use them to play songs and my 4 year old asks Google questions about Spanish words every other day. They're neat to have around.

sumitsrivastava 8y ago
Songs are a pretty nice functionality. I guess that can be done on non smart speakers too. The alert thing is really cool! A unique way to handle kids.
- kingkool68 8y ago
  Totally. I'm not the bad guy but the alarm is. Putting on the cleanup song helps cleaning up go faster.

deuslovult 8y ago

I have a couple Google Home mini's in my apartment, an android TV, and almost all of my lights are Phillips Hue. I use the assistant constantly to turn on/off lights, change colors, dim them, play things on the TV, etc. Very high usage. I think using the assistant for things like calendar, weather, traffic, calls, etc is more difficult than just using a phone. But being able to turn off all the lights in my apartment when I'm ready to go to bed by just saying "lights off" is really nice.

sumitsrivastava 8y ago
Lights off: probably the most common use case for everyone.

thatoneuser 8y ago

Have a couple lying in a drawer. I've never found them to be worth the effort let alone the cost. Majority of questions you ask are "hmm idk". Functionality is very limited unless you've also invested in smart home devices. And at that point it's like how much effort do I save to turn off the lights by voice rather than walking 5 feet. Idk. To me it seems like a high level gimmick the tech giants used to make another billion. More hype than value.

sumitsrivastava 8y ago
Probably the most common use case is a smart home.

Paraesthetic 8y ago

I have a Harmon Kardon Invoke (Cortana), I use it almost exclusively for playing music from spotify, telling me what time it is when I'm sleeping and I dont want to open my eyes, and setting alarms. Occasionally for movie trivia games or turning off my tv.

sumitsrivastava 8y ago
Interaction while sleeping. Whoa that's an awesome usecase. Makes me wonder, what else one might want while sleeping?

BenMorganIO 8y ago

I do three things: 1. OK Google, what's the temperature outside? 2. OK Google, turn off all the lights. 3. OK Google, turn on all the lights. If I don't say all, it turns three lights on instead of 8.

sumitsrivastava 8y ago
Why do you check for temperature, rather than weather? Does it help knowing the changes in temperature outside?
- zingermc 8y ago
  You can tell if it's raining by looking out the window, but you can't really see the temperature.
  - sumitsrivastava 8y ago
    Does it really help knowing the temperature? I can take an umbrella if it'll rain soon but what can I do by knowing that temperature will rise by 1°C in two hours? Genuinely curious.
    - NullPrefix 8y ago
      Do I put on my coat or go out in a t shirt.
      - sumitsrivastava 8y ago
        Oh, a cold climate thing.

csixty4 8y ago

Way less than I used to. The big deal breaker for me was Amazon no longer letting you upload your own music, meaning Alexa can't play my obscure CD rips from the 90s and my Bandcamp purchases from today. So I really only use it to check on Amazon orders, reorder stuff, add to my Out of Milk shopping list, start timers, or check the weather -- all things that are almost faster to just do on my phone. But I work remotely and I like having someone to talk to.

sumitsrivastava 8y ago
The last line you wrote hurt. You might want to try Wakie, a YC alumni startup.

mrburton 8y ago

I use my smart assistant for a lot of one off tasks, but I realized something.. when I head out, I have a routine I do daily and it can be automated. e.g., What's the weather? Order Lyft to Red Rock, and turn off the lights. I should set this up in one command.

sumitsrivastava 8y ago
You really should, or I can do it for you!

Spooky23 8y ago

We use the home pod for music and light control. I had the cheaper versions of the Google and Amazon asssitsnts, and gave up on them after a few weeks. Just didn’t do anything useful for us.

nataz 8y ago

Multiple times per day. For input devices I have a Google home, mini, 2x Chromecast and a pixel 3 xl. When I'm ironing my clothes in the morning/brushing my teeth/generally getting ready I ask Google home about about the weather, and have it play some music on Spotify. When I get in my car, my phone auto connects to Bluetooth, and it automatically keeps playing my music, or I ask it to open pocketcast and play a podcast. As I pull out of my driveway I ask it to navigate to work. I have three equal distance routes, but live traffic updates to route around accidents is super useful. After work, I get in my car, auto connects to Bluetooth, and I have it text my wife that I'm on my way home. Ask it to navigate home, again taking advantage of live traffic updates. When I'm home in the evening I'll use it to set a timer while cooking, play music, control/play Netflix or YouTube red. I'll also use it to control the lights (I use hue bulbs throughout the house). When I head to bed I have it turn off the lights downstairs, and turn on the lights in my spare bedroom so I can set my things out for the next day. Then I have it turn off all the lights except for the outdoor ones. Basically it's a hands free input tool. Because I have a pixel, Chromecast, and home, etc., they all work pretty smoothly together. I like how the Chromecast combined with a home can turn on the TV, open an app (Netflix/Spotify/YouTube) and play specific media without a remote or pressing any buttons. The pixel in the car is amazing for directions, making phone calls/sending (but not receiving) texts. I like how I can be anywhere in the house and control music and video via my voice. Its nice that the different input devices do pretty well with figuring out which one is closest to you to preform the action you are trying to complete. For instance even though multiple devices in different rooms may hear me from the living room, it will be the living room home that open Netflix on my living room TV.

thefounder 8y ago

Only in the car to get directions and weather info.

dingo_bat 8y ago

I use my echo for these things: 1. Weather 2. Temperature in the bedroom 3. Music 4. Lights 5. Set timers 6. Very rarely news I don't use the Google voice in my phone at all. I use Bixby sometimes because the dedicated button makes it easy to trigger. But I'm almost always disappointed by the result.

PerfectElement 8y ago

I have several Google Home minis and use them several times per day to check the weather, play music and podcasts, set timers while cooking, add things to my grocery list (my favorite feature), turn off the lights, ask for directions when driving (android auto). Another neat feature is the "play latest news" to have it play the latest hourly news from NPR, Bloomberg, CBC or whatever you set it up with.