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Apple's HomePod, Google Home and Amazon's Echo do not just want to play music, they also want to build your smart home. (Photo by John Brecher for the Washington Post)
Of course, you can choose a smart speaker based on sound or price. The gadget gift of the season to discover is available on Amazon, Apple and Google with better acoustics, new touch screens and deep discounts for the holidays.
But you do not just buy a talking jukebox. Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant also want to adjust the thermostat, fill your photo frame or even microwave your popcorn. Each artificial intelligence assistant has their own ways of managing a house. You choose which tribe is yours.
I call it a tribe because everyone has a distinct culture – and requires loyalty. This decision will determine how you will obtain information, what devices you will have purchased, where you will buy and how you will protect your privacy. According to the Consumer Technology Association, one in ten Americans plans to buy a smart speaker this year. And Amazon says its Echo Dot is the best-selling speaker of all time.
The last time we had to choose a tech tribe like this, it was when smartphones arrived. Have you gone iPhone, Android, or hung on a Blackberry? A decade later, it is increasingly difficult to consider a switchover between iPhone and Android. (A recent Match.com study found that iPhone and Android users do not even like dating.) Now, imagine how difficult it will be to change when you install wired objects in your walls.
In my test lab – I mean a piece of life – an echo Amazon, Google Home and Apple HomePod sit side by side and voice AIs are fighting for my house to be managed like a genie in high-tech bottles . Here is the shortcut I learned: Alexa is for accessibility. Google Assistant is for the brains. And Siri is for security.
The aggressive expansion of Amazon makes Alexa the one I recommend and use the most. Google's assistant comes from behind, function by feature – and Siri, the original voice assistant, feels that Apple's focus on privacy and its software weaknesses is being held back.
(Jeffrey P. Bezos, CEO of Amazon, owns the Washington Post, but I review all technologies with the same critical eye.)
Smart speakers build the smart home you never needed. Inside audio equipment, these are mainframes that work with smartphone applications to connect and control disparate devices and services. Now, with a speaker and connected gizmo, you can enter a room and turn on the lights without touching a button. Or control the TV without remote control. Amazon even sells an Alexa controlled microwave that cooks, tracks and reorders popcorn.
But home helpers can also be Trojan horses for a specific set of devices and services that favor one business over another.
My boyfriend Matt recently asked me to help him choose speakers and devices for great remodeling. He likes Google Assistant on his Android phone. So it must be easy to choose one's tribe, is not it? Hardly: he wanted to install Sonos speakers throughout the house, but they take voice commands directly via Alexa. (Sonos says Google Assistant support is coming, although this has been promising for a year.)
Lutron Caseta connected switches work with Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri Smart Homes. (Photo by John Brecher for the Washington Post)
Identifying compatible connected doodads is a bit like solving a 10,000 coin puzzle. The best gadgets for the smart home (such as Lutron Caseta and Philips Hue lamps) work in all three tribes, but alliances and technical concerns sometimes make a lot of room for appliance manufacturers.
How do you find your AI tribe? Here is how I differentiate them.
Google Home, Echo of Amazon and HomePod also act as hubs for the smart home. (Photo by John Brecher for the Washington Post)
Alexa
Smart devices supported: More than 20,000.
Who likes it: Families buying lots via Amazon and experimenting with new gadgets.
Good: Alexa knows how to exploit most things, thanks to Amazon's superior trading work. The only connected things he can not make work at home are the application-controlled garage door and some facets of my TV. Amazon has also successfully created new connected gadgets: Alexa's voice and microphone are integrated with more than 100 non-Amazon devices. And Amazon has recently announced plans to offer device makers a chip that allows Alexa users voice control for low-cost daily tasks, from wall outlets to fans.
Alexa has also mastered some of the little details of family life. It will confirm a request to turn off the lights without repeating your order – very useful when someone is napping nearby.
The bad: Alexa is getting smarter every week, but it can be extremely difficult to use a specific syntax. It also has the weakest relationship with your phone, the most important technological element for most people today. Amazon has developed a companion app for Alexa phones, improving the communication and configuration of smart home routines, but I still find it the most confusing of the lot.
Amazon does not always show the greatest concern for our privacy. This spring, when Alexa Inadvertently, she recorded a family's private conversations and sent it to a contact. Amazon's answer was "Whoopsie". It records and preserves all the conversations you have with artificial intelligence – including every bag of popcorn it spends in the microwave. (Amazon says it does not use our queries to sell us anything other than recommendations based on searches for songs and products).
Some people love Alexa's ability to order products by voice. But as long as Alexa runs your house, you'll still have to buy these products from Amazon. (This microwave oven will never command that popcorn from Amazon.) The next generation of appliances built with the Alexa chip inside could also trap you forever in Amazon- land.
Amazon Basics Microwave, at $ 60, receives orders from Alexa – and even keeps track of your popcorn supplies. (Photo by John Brecher for the Washington Post)
Google Assistant
Smart devices supported: More than 10,000
Who likes it: People who are deeply involved in Google's services.
Good: The Google Assistant is closest to a conversation with a human assistant. You do not have to use the exact language for things to happen or for useful answers. His intelligence can also be delightfully personal: it's a great way to differentiate the voices of family members. In addition, on the new Home Hub device with a screen, the wizard organizes a slide show containing only highlighted items from your Google Photos collection.
Although owners of Android phones use more user-friendly Google services for assistants, it does not consider the type of phone you use – its simple companion apps run on iOS and Android.
And Google is neck and neck with Alexa on many shades: Night mode reduces the volume of responses at night, and it can even force Junior to say "pretty please".
The bad: As a newcomer to the smart home, Google has quickly caught up. But at home, it's still not possible to completely control my ring tone or send music to the Sonos speakers. And I'm not convinced that Google has the bargaining power of Amazon, nor the influence to bring the next generation of connected products online.
The biggest problem is privacy. The final phase of Google always requires you to spend more time on its services, which allows it to collect more data to target ads on you. Like Alexa, Google Assistant keeps a record of all your questions – every time you ask him to turn off the lights. Google processes this type of search history on the web and uses it to target ads elsewhere. (Fortunately, the data from his Nest Thermostat and its home security divisions are still separate.) The potential benefit is that when Google discovers your habits in all this data, it may be better to automate your home – as what time all the lights should be off.
The new $ 150 Google Home Hub serves as a smart speaker, smart home control center and family photo frame. (Photo by John Brecher for the Washington Post)
Siri
Smart devices supported: Hundreds.
Who likes it: Lovers of privacy and all-Apple households.
Good: Apple is synonymous with security and privacy. Any device that wants to connect to HomeKit, its smart home software that works with Siri on HomePod and iPhone, requires special encryption.
In addition, your data is not associated with a personal profile, which means that in addition to protecting your privacy, Apple does not use your home business to sell or advertise. (While other intelligent speakers keep records and transcripts of what you say, Siri controls the devices by sending a request to his system via a random identifier, which can not be linked to a specific user.)
And Apple is good enough to keep the smart home simple. Configuring a smart home device is mainly about scanning a special code. Even the creation of routines, in which several accessories work in combination with a single command, is easier in Siri's companion application than among its competitors.
The bad: You have to live in a world of entirely Apple devices to enjoy these benefits. Siri is a very good DJ, but only if you subscribe to Apple Music. You stick to the HomePod as a one-size-fits-all intelligent speaker, and Siri is still not as competent as its competitors in artificial intelligence.
In addition, Apple 's security approach first prevented too many device manufacturers from joining its ecosystem. Of course, it's quality, not quantity, but Siri still can not interact with my Nest Thermostat or Ring Bell, to name just two. Apple has recently released a little gesture: starting with the Belkin Wemo Mini Smart Plug and Dimmer, it no longer requires special hardware for authentication – it can now be done by software. The move should simplify the compatibility of new products with Siri and allow it access to existing products.
Read more technical advice and analysis from Geoffrey A. Fowler:
It's not your imagination: the phone's battery life is getting worse
Touch my data! 15 default privacy settings that you must edit now.
The photos on your smartphone are totally wrong and you like them
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