Smart home technologies are becoming more popular among homeowners. These include security systems, smart home controls and even smart home theaters. However, while these are all good upgrades, there is one that homeowners tend to gravitate towards due to its affordability: smart home assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri.
But how can you determine which smart home assistant is the best for you and your home?
Smart home assistants could be used to help you find answers to any questions you may have. According to experts, when it comes to general knowledge, Alexa is the best smart home assistant to use with Google Assistant coming in a close second as it sometimes requires paraphrasing for it to answer your questions. Siri, on the other hand, came in dead last as it wasn’t designed to answer trivia questions about general knowledge.
When purchasing a smart home assistant, most homeowners tend to look for one that allows them to play music and movies at a command. Thankfully, Alexa and Siri can play music so long as you’re subscribed to their music streaming services, and Google Assistant can play music from YouTube. Apart from that, all three assistants also offer some form of multiroom audio functionality. However, if you want to use third-party smart speakers, note that Siri only works on Apple’s HomePod while Google and Alexa can work with third-party speakers.
When you’re looking for a smart home assistant, it’s best that you buy one that also allows you to easily get in touch with your contacts. According to experts, with Alexa, you can call and send messages via audio or text form with other Alexa users in your contacts. If needed, you may also call them. With an Echo Show, on the other hand, you can also make video calls with other owners of Echo Show or users of the Alexa smartphone app.
Google Assistant lets you make calls to people in your contacts via the phone as long as it’s configured so the calls appear to come from your Google Voice number. And, while it can’t send text messages without a workaround, it can make international calls if linked to an account with credits. As for Siri, on the other hand, you can make calls or texts if you have the HomePod and is the only assistant that can place calls to emergency services and third-party calling and messaging apps like Viber.
Finally, when it comes to smart home devices, Alexa and Google have a lot of major partners, meaning that they work well with almost every smart home product that is available on the market. Siri, meanwhile, is still competent since the device is compatible with Apple’s HomeKit despite its lack of major partners.
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