Tell me about smart speakers

drofluf

Considering a smart speaker to act as an alarm clock and play streaming radio services. Don’t need it to control my home or do the shopping list but Apple Music would be a nice to have. 

The Echo Dot and Google Home Mini come up at the right price; any thoughts on them? Or alternatives?

I know that a DAB radio would do the job but there’s no reception in the room. And phone is out

Thanks 

Legionreturns

Out of those, the Echo is better sound quality. That's about the only difference. You can link them to most music apps. 

ThePrettyDamned

I've got a brand new, never used echo I could sell you. We have no use for it. 

ToneControl

google ones are smarter, amazon ones are speakerer

Seriously, the amazon ones sound pretty good, even the £45 one that goes on offer for £22 sometimes
The google home we got (£89) sounds shit compared to the small echo

Also note that (last time I checked) the small Echos have a 3.5mm output you can run into a proper hifi, which is the way I use them in 3 rooms

welby

Echo Dot 's can be paired surprisingly good sound for not a lot of money. Also work with spotify

RobDavies

I got a google home mini free, as part of my Spotify subscription. 

Its quite good fun for a few days but now lies under my bed, unplugged and unused. 

stickyfiddle

They will spy on you and eat your children.

Axe_meister

I work for Google but still use an echo.
One reason only, headphone out jack so I can link it to a proper sound system.
However Spotify integration is not as good I find the Alexa AI can often give you wrong results and does not always understand I want it to play and album rather than a song of the same name, even if I state is, i.e. play the album xyz by ABC.
Google does it perfectly

strumjoughlamps

Sonos One if you want smart and great sound quality.

I switched from Alexa to Google and much prefer it. I actually think the Google Home Hub sounds better than the Echo Show it replaced.. And the Google Home Hub is like a mini chromecast TV so it's great for watching films on. I think the Google Home Hub is currently the most perfect bedside table smart device. 

TheMarlin

I prefer dumb but good quality speaker and smart phone. 

drofluf

TheMarlin said:

I prefer dumb but good quality speaker and smart phone. 

Phone's out. Apparently some rule about no phones in the bedroom....

darthed1981

The Amazon Echo Dot is a very fine device for the money, and a total steal in one of Amazon's regular fire sales.

With Echo is also a fine bit of kit, you may also consider one of the Echo Show devices, which give you a visual clock as well (useful at 4am when, well, you want to know it's 4am) and all go cheaper in the sales.

I've got a google home mini that I got for free from Spotify a few months back, and its much smarter at free-form questions and also faster.  As others have said, the internal speaker is not as good as the one in the Echo Dot but it can bluetooth to a compatible device (in my case I use my Pioneer home-cinema amp and it sounds great).

drofluf

Thanks all! Looks like it's the Echo Dot. Now just to find a bargain!

Grumpyrocker

We've got a Home Mini in the kitchen hatchway - which serves two rooms and often gets used for radio, music, and a cooking timer. And quite often for settling fact-based arguments at the dining table.

And we've given each of the kids bedroom a Home Mini too. As we have a Family Google Music sub they use it for their music listening needs. For a little speaker it sounds surprisingly good for them. 

You can also cast to Home Minis which is handy sometimes.

ToneControl

my kids use the echos as bluetooth speakers

beware everyone about the "drop in" feature on echos - basically an audio or even video call that auto-answers. I disable this on mine

drofluf

Well that was a success! Had it a couple of days now and does just what I need it to do. 

15 year old son liked it so much that he’s ordered one and even my “technology aloof” wife was impressed. 

ToneControl

drofluf said:

Well that was a success! Had it a couple of days now and does just what I need it to do. 

15 year old son liked it so much that he’s ordered one and even my “technology aloof” wife was impressed. 

which one?

drofluf

Only have one son and one wife! 



Oh! You meant what did I buy?  An Echo Dot

ToneControl

drofluf said:

Only have one son and one wife! 



Oh! You meant what did I buy?  An Echo Dot

OK
remember to disable "drop in" and don't allow it to order from your amazon account

drofluf

Thanks have already disabled ordering, will do drop in as well

Winny_Pooh

The 2nd gen echo's sound quite good. 99% of the time we plug it into the hifi though. With the spotify app connected you can run it from your phone or voice, although with voice you have to add "play the song If You Ever on Spotify" as the default searches on Amazon music.