(light music)

- Hi, YouTube.

Welcome to Digitales.

I'm Olivia, and today we're gonna be unboxing

and reviewing the brand new Google Home.

(cheerful music)

So we're quite lucky.

We've managed to get this early

considering that we're in the UK

so we're gonna do a bit of a testing comparison

with Amazon's Alexa,

and see how it compares to other digital assistants

that are in the market including Cortana and Siri.

So just this bit of a warning

before we probably get going,

if you have a Google Home

or an Alexa or (laughs)

a Siri or Cortana within your vicinity

whilst you're watching this video,

you may want to put them on mute

because every time I say the name,

they will likely react and stop responding. (laughs)

(beeps)

Like that. (laughs)

One of the key differences with the Google Home

in comparison to Amazon's Alexa

is that the Alexa is obviously powered by Amazon Cloud

whereas Google Home is powered by Google Search,

Google Maps, Google Play.

So yeah, that's kind of the main difference

so I think at the moment that kind of means

that Google Home actually gives you access

to a lot more information

and a lot more kind of things like different music services

and that type of thing.

Something worth mentioning though.

This is the American version of Google Home, not the UK one.

It's not been released in the UK yet.

It's going to be hopefully soon.

There is no date that's been announced yet

but it's possible that when it is released,

packaging might be different, et cetera

so I just want to make sure everyone knows

this is the US version of Google Home.

Let's start the unboxing.

It's got a circle thing here, the Google.

Okay, there's a little tab here.

It's the reveal.

♫ Da dadada dada da

Okay.

It's quite small.

I mean I heard someone, (laughs)

someone said that people think

it looks like an air freshener,

which I guess it kind of does. (laughs)

But I think at the moment it looks like it probably blend in

quite nicely in your home.

Oh cool!

It comes in different colors.

You can get different bottoms for it.

I didn't actually realize you could do that.

That's quite neat.

It's customizable.

Nice one.

Well done, Google.

Okay, cool.

So there we have it.

So let's now get all set up.

Okay, so now we've got it set up,

we're just gonna ask some questions,

and see how it kind of interacts now or works.

So okay, Google, what time is it?

- The time is 8:46 p.m.

- Okay.

Okay, Google, play some Justin Timberlake.

- Sure.

Here's Justin Timberlake on Spotify.

("Can't Stop The Feeling" by Justin Timberlake)

- Cool, okay.

So with Google Home, (laughs)

we can also either increase

or decrease the volume as well by talking to it

or by actually turning it around on the device.

I love this song. (laughs)

Okay, so here we go.

(music volume increases)

♫ We're flying up, no ceiling, when we're in our zone

My neighbors are gonna hate me.

And then we can also tell it to stop by talking to it

or just by tapping it like this.

(music stops)

Nice and easy.

It's really cool to use.

Okay, so the other thing that Google Home does

that's slightly different to the Alexa

is that you can actually,

it remembers the content of the kind of questions

that you ask so for example I can say,

"Okay, Google, when was Robert Downey Junior born?"

- Robert Downey Junior was born on April fourth, 1965.

- Okay, Google, where was he born?

- He was in Manhattan, New York, United States.

- Okay, Google, how old is he?

- 51 years old.

- Cool, so I think that's a really great example

of how Google Home kind of continues

that kind of conversation with you.

The other thing we can do similar to the Alexa

is have her interact with our other devices in the home

or the IoT devices so one of the things I have set up

is quite a few of the Philips Hue light bulbs

so let's just see how that works.

Okay, Google,

turn living room lights off.

- [Google] Okay, turning for lights off.

- Cool, so totally seamless.

All right, so now we're just gonna get the Amazon Alexa out,

and see how the two devices compare.

So first of all, just doing a bit of a comparison

in terms of the look of the two devices.

So I've got them both in the white color,

and I think they're both quite nice-looking devices

obviously to keep in your home.

I think both Google and Amazon

have done a really good job of creating something

that isn't gonna be some massive eye sore. (laughs)

Personally I think I do actually prefer the look

of the Google Home.

The one plus though that I would say

about the Google Home as well is the fact

that obviously you can change the color of base speaker bit,

which I think is quite cool.

It's a bit more customizable.

So one of the key differences from a performance perspective

with these two products is the microphone.

So the Google Home only has two microphones on the top here

whereas Amazon's Alexa has a seven microphone array

all around the top, and what I found

is actually that when I'm in my home

and I'm, say further away from these devices

is that the Alexa actually picks up my voice

from further distances over the Google Home

because of obviously the extra microphones

so that's definitely a plus points for the Amazon Alexa.

Another key difference between Amazon's Alexa

and the Google Home is the apps that they support

so Alexa supports tons and tons of apps

like loads of them so you can pretty much do,

well, most things with it,

and one of the key things is that in terms of smart devices

in your home that currently allows integration

with the vast majority of smart devices

that are out there on the market

whereas Google Home currently only supports three apps

so it supports Google Nest, Samsung's SmartThings,

and Philips Hue light bulbs, and that's it

so if you've got other devices in your home

that you want to be able to control

by a digital assistant of some sort,

then Google Home isn't really gonna do it for you right now,

and with that in mind, I would probably suggest

opting for Amazon's Echo.

Also a bit of a difference in price

between these two products

so Amazon's Alexa retails at $179,

and Google Home retails at around $129

so that's a good $50 difference

in the price of the two devices, which is interesting,

and I think as Google Home is around for a bit longer

and more apps are developed hopefully

to work with the device,

I think Google Home will definitely start to become

a lot more competitive with Amazon's Alexa.

So as an alternative to paying the $179 for the Amazon Echo,

you could also opt for the Echo Dot.

So the Echo Dot essentially still gives you access

to Alexa and all the same functionality.

It just doesn't have anywhere near as good of a speaker

as the Amazon Echo does but you can resolve that

by quite simply attaching it to another speaker

that you have in your home

so for example I've got Sonos system

so I can attach the Echo Dot to one of my Sonos speakers,

and I'll have actually better sound than what I get (laughs)

with the Amazon Echo, which is great,

so I think that's a really, really good alternative

that Amazon's given people.

And this retails at $50

and also 50 pounds in the UK.

First, you might want to purchase in the UK.

So we're just gonna unbox the Echo Dot.

Hey, this is some very neat and tidy packaging.

Cool, it's tiny.

It's so small.

That's absolutely tiny.

That's gonna be even more discreet in your home.

You could hide this thing anywhere.

Next, we have in here.

Okay, this is the wire that comes with it,

and also the plug, which is nicely branded with Amazon.

This is definitely I think a really good option,

and that's a really good price.

That's an absolute bargain. (laughs)

So that's definitely another option to consider.

So now we're just going to ask these two

some questions and see how they both perform.

Alexa,

buy chocolate.

- The top searches are for chocolate

is Gro-wer collection, pack of 48 pieces.

It's 12 pounds total.

To order it, tell me your voice code.

- Okey-dokey.

Okay, Google, buy chocolate.

- Sorry, I don't know how to help with that yet.

- Okay, that's a shame.

Alexa, how far away is my nearest cinema?

- Based on your postcode settings,

there are a few nearby popular ones:

Reel Cinemas, Everyman Barnet,

Cineworld, and Rainbow.

Check out the Alexa app for contact info and hours.

- Okay, cool.

Okay, Google, how far away is my nearest cinema?

- I found a few places within 7.2 miles.

The first one is SK Vision on Daws Lane in London.

The second one is Musical Images

on Station Road in Edgware.

The third one is Varna Studios Photo and Cinema

on Hazel CL in London.

- Okay, so I think the Google Home gave me

obviously a little bit more information about the distance

specifically being 7.2 miles to these cinemas.

Alexa didn't do that but I think the information

that she did provide has actually improved somewhat.

That's definitely a lot more information

that she used to be able to do

so that's definitely I think a plus point there for Alexa.

I think their answers were pretty much on par.

(light music)

Alexa, what is the meaning of life?

It's a very important question.

- 42.

- 42.

42. (laughs)

Okay.

Okay, Google, what is the meaning of life?

- The answer is somewhere between 41 and 43.

- Okay, fairly similar but to be fair,

I think, okay, Google's answer was slightly more original.

I think Alexa just ripped off Siri.

Just gonna do a quick comparison of the speakers.

So Alexa, play Justin Timberlake.

- Playing Justin Timberlake from Spotify.

("Can't Stop The Feeling" by Justin Timberlake)