The most fun (and useful) things you can do with an Amazon Echo or Google Home

Breathe deeply

Need a moment for you? Try meditating or relaxing with both devices with some free guided meditations in Headspace. On Google, you can say, "Hey Google, talk to Headspace"; on Alexa, ask for "Alexa, open Headspace". If you subscribe, you can continue a meditation from your phone on your device. If you want general meditation content, you can say something like "Alexa, help me relax" or "O.K. Google, help me to meditate.

Both devices can also help you calm down with commands such as "O.K. Google, help me relax, "and the rain seems to play – or white noise if you use it to fall asleep. The echo is similar, but you can choose the types of sounds you want to hear in the skill store. Google can also play "sleep sounds", which are actually lullabies for children, while Echo offers a white noise or ambient. Just say "Alexa, help me sleep" for options.

Have a deeper conversation

Of course, these devices can play music and add items to your cart, but it's a bit awkward to run each query with "Alexa" or "O.K. Google. Fortunately, Amazon and Google have understood. On the Google Home page, the "Continuous Conversation" feature allows you to ask a question to your device and the microphone stays on for an additional eight seconds to see if you want to track it. (You must enable this option in the Google Home app settings, because this feature is disabled by default.) Amazon Echo also has this feature except that Amazon calls "Tracking Mode" and you must also enable it in the Application before using it.

Once lit, you can ask questions such as "Who sang" In My Feelings? »» And once your device answers with «Drake», you can ask «How old is he? "Refers to, but also respond without missing a beat. (Spoiler: Drake is 31 years old)

This feature also paved the way for asking the device to do several things in one command. For example, with "multiple actions" on Google devices, you can say something like "Hey Google, turn up the thermostat and tell me the weather". On the echo, you can not do it in one sentence, but with tracking mode, you can simply ask the two different commands one after the other.

Google Home features only to try

The subsequent startup of Google in the smart home arena was not necessarily a bad thing. The extra time allowed him to offer exclusive features really useful. For example, if you download and use the Google Assistant app in addition to Google Home, you can ask Google to remind you to do something at a particular location. So, if you have to buy milk at the grocery store, you can say "Hey Google, remind me to buy milk at the grocery store" and as soon as you're near your favorite store ( that Google will ask you to specify), your phone will tell you what you need.

And if you're in the mood for a nice story at the end of a long day of work, just say "Hey Google, tell me something good," and Google Assistant will read articles "well- be".