The presence of smart home devices has automated everything in the household. All things ranging from movies to TV episodes to music can run on screen devices and can be viewed or heard across all devices. Smart home technology also makes it easier to control the different appliances of your home from your phone or laptop.
However, only the voice assistantsallow you to perform all the functions without actually keeping track of theremote or even standing up from the couch. Virtual assistants or voiceassistants are so much more than only the cool clear female voices whichrespond to your specific request of playing the song of your choice, lettingyou know the weather report, calling up someone, or messaging someone. If youare planning to optimize your home so that every feature in your home iscontrolled by voice, you need to buy a voice assistant right now.
The three major players in the voice
assistant industry are Google, Apple and Amazon. Amazon started voiceassistance with its famous Alexa. Following Alexa Amazon has produced many Echoproducts which utilize Alex as technology. Google has its own nest series whichis a competitor to Alexa. Apple has also come into the field of voiceassistance with the HomePod which gets powered by Siri. They had released afull-size HomePod earlier but it was recently discontinued. However, the morecompact version of the HomePod mini is still in the competition.
Compatibility of the voice assistants
The value of a voice assistant dependson a number of things. If you are checking out the voice assistant on yourphone, it should be able to access apps and be able to complete simple tasks
like calling up someone, messaging someone et cetera if you are looking atvoice assistance meant for the house, the voice assistant should be able tofollow your verbal commands like switching off or switching on the thermostats,switching the light bulbs on or off, switching on the air-conditioner, etc.
Which is the best voice assistant?
Currently, Alexa can be considered asthe best voice assistant.
Intelligence
Voice assistants can be used to answergeneral questions and perform simple tasks like let you know about the top newsheadlines of the moment or remind you about a meeting you have. Some voiceassistants like Alexa also allow you to give follow-up commands. You can giveyour follow-up command after you give your first command and Alexa will respondto your follow-up command without the need for reactivation or being woken up.According to research, Alexa is learning quicker than its competition.
Smart home support
You want a voice assistant which isready to work with all your other smart home appliances. Most voice assistantshave been observed to work with other smart home pics like Philips hue light et
cetera.Even in this field, Alexa has shown tobe better than its competitors. It is compatible with over 7000 brands. This isin huge contrast to it competitor, Google Assistant which is compatible withonly 1000 brands while Siri is only compatible with 50 brands. Even thoughGoogle Assistant is learning and quickly catching up, Alexa is still the leaderof the pack.
Easy shopping access
Most of the voice assistants help youcomplete simple tasks but the connection that Alexa has to Amazon gives it anextra edge. Alexa can offer you a seamless shopping experience if you shop fromAmazon. You can easily place, track or even cancel your order via using Alexa.You can also enquire Alexa, if there are any exclusive deals available onAmazon.
The problems
A recent study has indicated thatAlexa does not always provide the most relevant answers. Sometimes it has eventaken users a few attempts to get the answer they want. This can be because
Alexa is now answering a lot more questions than before. Thus, an increase inthe inaccurate responses has been seen. It is important that you remember thatvoice assistant technology is still in the early ages and it is in need of a learning curve to attain its best performance. It will take practice to phrase the correct voice commands andget consistent responses from the voice assistant.
Unfortunately, unlike the competitorsof Alexa like Siri and Google Assistant, Alexa does not come pre-installed inmobile phones. You can use Alexa on your mobile phone if you want by
downloading the Alexa app however, the experience is not as seamless as is inthe case of Siri or Google assistant.
If you want a voice assistant whichwill integrate with almost all of your home appliances and if you are okay withthe voice assistant not performing very well on your phone, go for Alexa.
