Amazon Echo vs. Google Home first impressions

What's happened , youtube , Josh had her here for six months later .

And as many of you out there know , I have been doing a ton of videos on Google home devices for the past year .

I also use a ton of Google home devices in my personal life as well .

So this may come as a shock to some of you out there .

But I finally did it .

I bought an Amazon Echo and I'd like to tell you why I did that .

And what I think about the Echo coming up , this is six months later .

Why Josh , why did you get an Amazon Echo ?

You may ask , well , it was prime day .

They were like $50 .

And I have been just curious about what the experience of Alexa is like compared to the Google assistant on Google home devices .

And I wanted to pass those learnings along to you .

So that's why I bought an Amazon Echo now to my loyal subscribers out there who only subscribe to this channel for Google home device videos .

Do not worry , we are not slowing those down .

We will keep rolling out Google home feature update videos as well as any videos and six months later reviews on new Google home products going forward .

But now that I have an echo sitting on my desk right next to a Google home .

I wanted to share my thoughts on the differences between the devices .

First .

Let's talk set up .

I thought the overall set up of the Amazon Echo was on par with the time it took to set up a Google home device though .

I did think that setting up a Google home is slightly easier than setting up an Amazon echo with the echo .

You have to go into your phone settings and connect to the echo's wifi signal , which is an extra step compared to setting up a Google home .

One thing that I really liked about the echo set up compared to the Google Homes was that it had this awesome intro video to the Amazon Echo and what you can do with Alexa .

Now , let's go to the question .

You're all probably wondering right now , which one is better ?

Is the Amazon echo better than the Google Home ?

Well , yes , in some respects it is and no , it's not in other areas .

So let's take a look at where these devices really compare and look at them head to head .

And let's first start with design .

The first generation echo looked like this space age tube that really stuck out of your living room .

It did draw attention to itself , which is good in some ways .

But for me , overall , I thought the Google Homes design was better and blended into my overall home aesthetic much better .

This was one of the reasons I originally went with the Goo Home Amazon has certainly improved the aesthetic of the second generation Echo , which is the one I have currently , it looks so much more subtle .

I really like the mesh cover .

They gave the echo and like with the Google Home , you can change the cover to a different color to better match your room's aesthetic .

One thing I don't care for with the echo is while that I appreciate the amount of microphones they put into this thing .

There are way too many holes for them on the top of the device , those microphones plus the four buttons make the top of the device look a bit busy looking visually and less appealing though .

That's pretty nitpicky .

The Google Homes top is much cleaner though and more simple .

The Google Home has led lights beneath its touch surface to act as the assistance indicator whereas the echo has its trademark led ring that lights up different colors for different actions .

So far , I've ran into quite a few colors .

There's white which represents volume just like it does .

On the Google Home blue is the main Alexa color red is mute and I've also ran into yellow for shipping notifications .

I'll cover more on the shopping experience with Alexa in a bit , the sound quality on the echo is all right .

I don't have a first generation Amazon echo to compare the second gen two .

So I can't tell you how much Amazon improved the sound quality over the first generation .

Now , compared to the Google Home , I found that the Amazon echo was more clear with its sound .

The Google Home sounded a little bit more muffled with vocals and midrange .

And I also thought that the base on the Amazon echo was better than the bass on the Google Home .

So for a $100 speaker , I actually thought the Amazon echo sound was pretty good .

I wasn't expecting it to sound better than my Google Home Macs per se , which sounds amazing .

But for a $100 speaker , it sounds really good and I quite preferred its sound over the sound of my Google home .

Speaking of music and media , playback .

One weird quirk that I found with the Amazon Echo was there was no way to physically pause music , playback with the echo .

At least not that I could find .

The only way it seems like you can play and pause media is by using your voice with the Amazon echo .

Now , this is compared to the Google home where you can just simply tap the touch surface of the Google home to play and pause media which I quite like , especially if the Google Home is within reach .

It's a lot faster to be able to pause media by just tapping it than to have to use your voice .

Both the home and the echo do have a way to wake the assistant without your voice .

The echo gives you a dedicated button on the top where with the home , you just tap and hold the touch surface and the assistant will wake .

Speaking of assistance , overall , I've actually been fairly impressed with Alexa .

It is still not as capable as the Google assistant for more advanced search queries .

But what it can answer is still pretty impressive .

It can answer a lot more things than I thought it would be able to and can do more complex queries in certain situations like it can follow the context of a previous query .

So for example , you can ask Alexa who is JP Morgan and then Alexa will give you the answer and then you can ask it again as a follow up .

When was he born ?

And Alexa will still know that you're talking about JP Morgan some other things , Alexa knows , Alexa knows what sound waves are .

It can tell you how long it would take to drive somewhere and it knows to current stock price for other queries though Alexis still is not as capable as the Google Assistant .

Here are some random queries .

I found that Alexa couldn't answer where Google could .

What is Lacroy ?

Alexa did not understand .

I was referring to the popular soft drink and thought I was talking about something in France and this last question , which I just think is hilarious .

Why does my butt hurt Alexa ?

Why does my butt hurt ?

Hm .

I don't know that .

Why does my butt hurt ?

Health conditions related to this search include Piriformis syndrome , muscle strain or pregnancy .

I will say these queries are much more obscure than the typical queries , these assistants get asked .

So it is impressive that Google can answer them to begin with .

Overall , though I was impressed by how much Alexa can do compared to the Google Home .

In terms of queries , Amazon has definitely been improving their assistant since the last time I tried Alexa over a year ago .

Next , let's take a look at the shopping experiences on both of these platforms .

This is an area where the platforms really differentiate themselves from each other .

With the Google Home .

You have Google Express which allows you to shop through a variety of partners like Target Walmart and Home Depot and it works something like this .

Purchase an Amazon Echo , second generation .

Ok .

The first thing I found on Google Express is second generation sandstone fabric .

Amazon Echo two way smart speaker from Target for $84.99 .

How's that sound ?

Buy it .

All right .

I added it to your card .

By the way , Target will deliver for free if you spend $15 more .

It's pretty bizarre that you can buy an Amazon Echo through your Google home .

Well , you can't actually buy it through your Google home .

What the Google Assistant will do is add the Amazon Echo to your Google Express shopping cart .

And then you have to go on a mobile device or on your computer to actually check out .

You can't actually buy the item directly with your voice with Google Express , which in my opinion is a bit lame .

However , with Alexa and the Amazon Echo , you can do just that .

And here's how that shopping experience works .

Purchase a stainless steel trash can based on your order history , I found I touch a stainless steel trash can .

49 L T 13 gallon .

It's $63.63 from Amazon .

Would you like to buy it ?

Yes .

Ok .

Order placed .

Your total is $68.24 including tax and your gift card was applied and will be delivered by August 19th .

Buying things with Alexa is pretty simple and works really well .

It's actually something I think I'll be doing a lot in the future which I was not expecting when I first bought my Amazon Echo .

I love the fact that it gives you suggestions on what to purchase based upon things you already purchased in your order history .

And as someone who is an Amazon customer with a very large order history already with Amazon , that gives me more confidence when I place an order using my voice with Alexa .

Now , luckily it is very easy to cancel an order in case you accidentally order the wrong thing or your kids bought some ridiculously expensive thing .

They were not supposed to purchase these devices can also help you after your order has placed both the Google Home and the Echo will give you notifications on your orders , which is pretty neat .

The Google Home actually has an advantage here if you use Gmail because Google can scan your emails to identify purchases .

So it'll know your Amazon orders are supposed to be delivered as well as other orders from other vendors though , it won't typically know what all is placed in the order .

If you have multiple items within one order to ask about a shipment notification , just ask either Google or Alexa to track your shipments .

I found nine orders that were placed in the last two weeks .

I'll start with the most recent one .

First , your order from Amazon dot com is scheduled for delivery between September 6th and September 13 .

Next , your order from Panera Bread has been confirmed .

Your order from Panera Bread has been confirmed .

What are my notifications ?

One new notification from Amazon shopping Josh's shipment has arrived for trash can .

Well , that's it for my first impressions of Alexa , the Amazon Echo and how the Echo compares to the Google Home .

Now , definitely let me know in the comments , what you thought of this video , if there are any differences that I missed initially between the two devices .

And let me know what you'd like to see in future videos between the Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant .

Now , something to check out after this video is our brand new website , six dash months dash later dot com .

On the website , you'll be able to find reviews in a written blog format .

That's great for sharing with friends and family .

Also , if you liked this video , please be sure to give us a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel to see more videos like this one on smart speakers .

Until next time .

Thanks so much for watching .

I'm Josh Teter for six months later .