Smart Speaker Review: Stay Tuned for the Best Smart Speaker

Many of you might remember the ‘Jetsons’ on Cartoon Network, the stuff of children’s imagination, and the future. Well, now we have a slice of that future too with smart speakers. We may not have a robot butler hanging around to fulfill our every wish just yet, but we are getting there. So, for now, we’ll just have to make do with what we have – smart speakers. Google Home, Amazon Echo, and Apple HomePod are some of the few smart speakers doing the rounds in the market. According to US statistics, nearly 26.2% of the US population owns smart speakers. Smart speakers allow you to switch things off/On with your voice, you can ask questions of it and control almost every aspect of your living space. In this smart speaker review, we’ll be seeing all that there is to know of smart speakers as well as some of the best.

Smart Speaker Review 2019

 

First of All, What Can Smart speakers Actually Do?

So as the name suggests, they’re speakers. They play music and sound but besides that, they also do much more. Besides involves having a smart assistant built-in. These smart assistants are voice-activated. This means that you’ll be able to tell your smart assistant to perhaps, answer a question, play music or control other IoT devices i,n the house.

On to Look at the Best Voice Assistant to have in your speaker:

We aren’t going to say which is the best. That is completely subjective. But we will tell you some of the trends in this smart speaker review. Apple has always been among the favorites, consequently, Siri has become a household favorite too. But it also helps that Siri has been in the market for quite some time now in other Apple Devices. Some people swear by Alexa. So as soon as Amazon’s echo dropped, people were all on that. But overall, many prefer Google Assistant. Many people feel that the assistant with Google is the most accurate. But of course, these are all people's personal choices; yours may vary.

If you’re going for Sound- Pick the Sonos One Smart Speaker Review:

In this smart speaker review, this is the best sounding speaker you can lay your hands on. This speaker gives you the best of both worlds with the smart Alexa on one hand and Sound Quality with Sonos on the other. On the one side, you get the ever-improving Alexa as a voice assistant and on the other, you have Sonos with its multi-room smarts. This feature-rich speaker has even got AirPlay2. This basically allows the Sonos speaker to communicate with Siri sitting inside a HomePod from another room. So Sonos becomes the most versatile speaker on this smart speaker review too. A disadvantage with this speaker is that Google Assistant is still nowhere to be seen. We were hoping it would make an appearance in the November 2018 update, but we’re still waiting now in 2019 as well. If Google does happen to launch in the Sonos smart speaker, then hands down, we can say this smart speaker is the best.

Apple HomePod- a Merging of smarts with Sound Quality:

If you happen to be a die-hard Apple fan and have all its gadgets lying around, then getting an Apple HomePod is a no brainer. The problem with this speaker is not its sound or Siri, it’s the premium you have to pay to get a smart speaker that only fits well into the Apple ecosystem. Is it really worth it? When it comes to sound quality, you can’t really complain but with Siri, you can. Siri seems to work with only the Apple ecosystem when it comes to what some might consider fundamental tasks. That is a bit of a let- down.

Amazon Echo Featuring in this smart speaker review:

Amazon Echo has become a household name for many and with good reason too. Its price makes it an excellent starting point for getting into the smart speaker game. What’s more is that its own voice assistant is more than capable of handling news, podcasts, music and other voice assistant stuff. 2019 new and improved Amazon Echo has taken audio to a whole new level too making it a serious consideration for those looking to enter into the smart speaker bandwagon. This one might be a tad expensive from earlier models but is still way below what you would have to pay to get an Apple HomePod. It softer look too makes it more at home than ever. The assistant too has undergone an upgrade too, with it having voice profile features. It also takes in different voice speeds too. It may not be able to replace your HiFi system just yet but still deserves some serious consideration.

Finally to Google Home:

 

Google Home is a great smart speaker but while in some areas it excels it also disappoints in other areas. When it comes to its voice assistant, it can be a little too rigid when it comes to comprehending a language. Plus many of Google's own features are sorely missed in its smart speakers. The list of these smart speakers keeps growing but with no much improvement or improvements that do not impress. For now, it still has a ways to go to compete with Amazon’s echo but if you’re only looking for a smart speaker that can have access to YouTube Music, built-in Google Cast and to turn on and off light switches then this is the speaker for you. Over the years Google Home has undergone some notable updates. It can now be used to call landlines in the UK and also the ability to handle multiple languages. The most recent update has seen Google Home being brought into the Nest Security Systems array. There are some smart speakers that are great only for their music while others can be used for both. The best of them being the Sonos smart speaker.