Google Home (2016)

Great design ; Decent sound ; Reasonable price point ; Conversational assistant ; Easy setup

Limited smart home compatibility ; Speaker isn't very loud ; Needs to be plugged in at all times

Google Home is a powerful smart speaker, powered by the smartest voice assistant and a growing range of smart device support.

Tasteful design ; Access to Google's massive knowledge graph ; Google Assistant is conversational and context aware ; Chromecast integration has the potential to be a killer feature

Speaker quality is only so-so for music ; Limited third-party app support compared to Amazon ; A handful of expected features aren't available at launch

It can be personalized to you, giving you info on your commute, weather, and calendar ; Works with Chromecast ; Answers questions and follow-ups fairly well ; Lots of choices for music

Works with fewer devices than Amazon Alexa

Overall, it’s come a long way since its debut. It quickly caught up to where the Echo was after a year in terms of smart-home control, and it keeps adding features that go way beyond skills. The Voice Match and calling are both great additions, and now...

Customizable base Massive song library Expanding hardware ecosystem

Missing Google’s own services Phrasing needs to be precise Google Cast support needs work

Wildly intelligent and supremely versatile in the ways in which it can be used, Google Home is a solid smart speaker. It's not as integrated with Google's own services as we'd like, and the Google Home has some room to improve in terms of audio...

Google Home is running hard to catch up with Amazon Echo, which has its own host of services, as well as deeper links with smart-home products than Google Home. On the other hand, Google Home has some advantages on the AI front. These new features will...

Attractive design. Removable color bases. Well-rounded sound. Multi-room audio.

Still fewer skills than Amazon's Alexa. Doesn't work as a standard Bluetooth speaker.

Alexa is still the queen of voice assistants. Google Home is learning fast, and it does some things better than Alexa does. If you have a Google Play Music account and multiple Google accounts around your household, Google Home will give you a smoother...

Simple to use ; Unobtrusive design ; Works with Chromecast ; Multi-room capability ; Stereo pairing

Few apps ; Average sound ; Limited smart home capability ; No Bluetooth (but it's coming)

Google has arrived late to the voice-controlled assistant party, and has some catching up to do

Cheaper and arguably more attractive than Echo ; Better at answering questions than Echo ; Built in voice control of Netflix and Chromecast

Less good as a music speaker than Echo ; Does less overall than Echo