Thanks. That is really a great observation. I will keep an eye out for when the Yale keyfree lock Task is synced to Home.
Google Home
- Thread starter sesevans
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Thanks. That is really a great observation. I will keep an eye out for when the Yale keyfree lock Task is synced to Home.
What are some of the main activities you use smartthings for? I saw the £ 199 starter kit and including various sensors and power outlet. Do you use in together with Samsung appliances (refrigerator, dishwasher, etc) and the smart Yale lock we were talking about earlier? Thanks.
Perhaps you missed the news today?
Bixby Voice will be delayed when Samsung releases the Galaxy S8 on 21 April. Are you surprised that Samsung software adaptations have problems? Sadly I am not. Samsung requires considerable talent and data in order to perfect Artificial Intelligence software such as what Bixby Voice purports to do. Because Samsung is an Android phone, Google will be placing its Google Assistant front and centre on the S8 homescreen. GA runs circles around Bixby because it is genuinely Artificial Intelligence software that works, gains massive data to perfect and refine it and has leading AI engineers working at Google. The lowest bar you need to overcome in AI software must surely be voice to text. Even Facebook, not considered a software powerhouse, can now clear this low bar. Samsung cannot. Remember Samsung Dex? Another poor software execution that is not useful. I consider much of Samsung software on its phones to be bloatware, merely duplicating what superior Google software already does. Bixby's launch does not augur well for Samsung's software efforts.
My purpose is not to rate Samsung software capabilities because I think the market has done that already. It is easy to find complaints about Samsung software bloatware in most blog sites. In my opinion, the reason Samsung outsells other Android manufacturers is because of its excellent hardware implementation, including screen and camera. Its screen in particular is worth highlighting.
Incidentally, one of the criticisms of the Pixel launch was its limited availability. I believe a major reason for the delays in production was due to limited availability of screens. There has been talk that Google has been in talks with LG Display concerning a significant investment in a new LG screen assembly plant for OLED displays, in order to secure supply for the Pixel 2's. Samsung has a definite competitive advantage in screens and it is a clear leader.
"You don't need billion dollar AI research to set up home automation..." Hmmm....Voice recognition is built up with machine learning and AI and both needs loads of data to work well. And Google harvests more info than virtually any company in the world. To understand your intentions and voice is not as simple as understanding "which command you are calling"....there are often different voices, background noise, difficult to learn only commands that are scripted as opposed to commands that are contextual, etc etc. Not everyone has the time or interest in learning set commands....that is not how we naturally speak. Samsung cannot do basic AI....voice to text....which Google mastered years ago. It seems that the "SIRI team" that is building Bixby now realises how hard AI is as Bixby Voice is already delayed. According to news reports, the team first decided to try to get Bixby to understand Korean, not English. But the vast majority of phones Samsung sells are to non-Korean speakers.
"Google/Alexa offer nothing from the phone...." Really? Google has already figured out how you can have your phone and Home in the same space and have your answers given through Home. Google figured out direct integration with some smart home applications before they introduced Home to the UK. Seems to me that Google Assistant is likely to ramp up very quickly. It has thousands of devs working on Google Android. It is not necessary to go through Samsung Smartthings to "access everything". You can access Nest, Philips Hue, etc directly through Home connected to WiFi. That list is likely to grow quickly. Home is much, much more than a dependency on Smartthings.
Samsung Galaxy S8 users will see Google Assistant front and centre on their homescreen and a non-working Bixby button. I expect this screw-up by Samsung is likely to get users accustomed to Google Assistant quickly (and perhaps buy Home).
I will gladly keep an open mind. But this is hardly an auspicious start for Bixby.
I would prefer my Google Home devices not be "locked down" to an individual voice as I wish my family and friends to feel free to ask it questions that a group of us can share. I find it fun when a group of us are in a room and anyone of us can ask it questions that come up in conversation. I believe where voice recognition would be helpful is in creating multiple user accounts on the same Home device.....ie, Home hears a voice and connects the speaker to his/her own Google calendar, GMail, etc so that each user can for example ask Home about their particular daily calendar, Gmails, etc, which would mean that it would be unnecessary for each user to have his personal Home device.
But I do share the frustration you must have felt with your young nephew! Parental control seems a more efficient option?
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Soon this should not be a problem! Google Home now supports multiple users in the US and can be made personal to up to 6 voices and is coming to the UK soon.
https://blog.google/products/assistant/tomato-tomahto-google-home-now-supports-multiple-users/
The pace of new actions on Home seems to be speeding up. This note from Venture Beat sums up some of the newer features, often launched first in US and expected to be brought to the UK soon. Anyone use AirBnB for a property rental? If so, the Venture Beat note mentions one new feature which I like on Home:
"Another noteworthy new action is The Virtual Concierge..........By saying “Talk to the virtual concierge,” a vacation rental or AirbnB guest can learn about house rules, or ask questions about things like the Wi-Fi password, nearby restaurant recommendations, and a range of other things a property may want a guest to know."
https://venturebeat.com/2017/04/24/google-assistant-can-now-turn-you-into-a-wannabe-bird-whisperer/
"Another noteworthy new action is The Virtual Concierge..........By saying “Talk to the virtual concierge,” a vacation rental or AirbnB guest can learn about house rules, or ask questions about things like the Wi-Fi password, nearby restaurant recommendations, and a range of other things a property may want a guest to know."
https://venturebeat.com/2017/04/24/google-assistant-can-now-turn-you-into-a-wannabe-bird-whisperer/
that is referring to google assistant so you can do it from your mobile too
On a side note, I am wondering why google wifi doesn't have google home with it
I really need to invest in smart home more.
One of the best things I did to get my smart home going was to buy a Nest Thermostat. It learns about your preferences. And it is controlled by voice either by your Google Assistant enhanced smartphone (works well with my Pixel XL) but now more recently with my Google Home.
On other smart home products I have Nest Protect for detecting carbon monoxide emissions near the boiler and fireplace.
I am considering integrating Philips Hue lights with Google Home.
I would expect a future Google Home to integrate WiFi but perhaps at a higher cost than the original Google Home and perhaps with a different (bulkier?) design.
You ask a great question: What can Google Home do that my Android phone can't? Ultimately it is a lifestyle choice and hence these are my personal impressions. Google Assistant is built into both devices (although I believe some actions are on Home but not yet on the phone Google Assistant), but I find it more intuitive as the standalone Home speaker.
I for one do not wish to be tied to a phone screen. If you carry a phone in the house 90% of the time, it is often in your pocket where the response is muffled when you say: "OK Google....." It requires a separate action to pull the phone out of your pocket or leaving it permanently outside your pocket. If you use Assistant, you are trying to minimise your actions, not add to them. Having a conversation is the most natural thing I can think of doing with a smart assistant device. Being forced to take the phone out to hear a response reasonably well seems an unnecessary action when I do not need to do anything with Home other than speak. The quality of the microphones on Home that pick up your sound from across a room is excellent. Further, the quality of the response sound is much much better on Home than on my top of the line Android phone, the Pixel XL. Google Home has three quality speakers compared to a single speaker on the Pixel. So any music played sounds amazing, much better quality than my phone.
Google Assistant is super intelligent on Home. When the Pixel XL knows that it is near Google Home, it automatically allows Google Home to respond to everything, so you do not get your phone making any response or taking any action. What I find myself doing is not needing to carry my phone around the house. More and more actions are becoming more natural for me to perform on Home without lifting a finger! I do not feel as inclined to use Assistant on my phone with the frequency I use Home. For example, yes I can regulate my Nest Thermostat on my Pixel phone but I find it easier to adjust it by simply asking Home to do it. I find it easier to ask Home to play music because the quality of the sound is so outstanding.
And here is my final thought on why Home rather than GA on my Pixel. I find Home to be a great product for my entire family. Unlike my Pixel which I use exclusively and do not share with anyone else, Home's greatest selling point is the ability for group conversations to interact with it. Anyone in the room can ask Home a question or ask it to take an action. This distinction is clearly not lost on Google. Recently Google introduced the ability of Home to detect up to 6 different voices so that only you will be able to access private information on Home----ie, Home tied to your Gmail account will mean that only your voice can access your calendar, Gmails, etc., but anyone else can access non-private info on Home. Google introduced it first in the US and it is being launched in the UK very soon.
Hope this gives you some impressions as to why I chose Home in addition to having a Pixel phone.
You are welcome. As to your reply, yes in US and, according to recent press comments, coming to UK very soon:
https://www.cnet.com/uk/how-to/how-to-add-multiple-accounts-to-google-home/
The ability to distinguish up to 6 different voices for account action is a reflection of the intense investment Google has made over many years in the area of voice and Google Translate. The ability to distinguish accents is part of their huge investment in this area. See this article on their recent announcement in India to give you a sense of just how intensive has been their research efforts, esp in the areas of neural machine learning and Artificial Intelligence. Google is able to infer what you mean too. For example when you ask Google Assistant / GH a question, you can follow it up with the assumption that Google is able to assume you are talking about the same topic or person. Humans can infer meanings from how you speak to another person. So it seems can GA/GH.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/google...a-with-neural-machine-translation-technology/
Yes, I mentioned this deal the other day when I bought my third GH with a free Chromecast (see forum for Networking and Interconnectivity on Overclockers--there is an active GH and Google WiFi discussion going on over there). I picked mine up at the Google Store at PCWorld Curry's in London on Friday so I assume this deal is available at all retail outlets that sell GH including John Lewis, etc. I did not notice the deal on the Google Play Store devices website but perhaps it becomes available when you checkout of the purchase.
Funny you should ask. Last weekend, I bought a GH for my daughter who uses an iPhone. Installation could not have been easier. Found Google Home app in Apple app store easily, added her to the Google Play Music family membership (£ 15 per month for up to six family members living in same country) and she loves it. I made Google Music her default music player but I noticed that Spotify is also available to be added. I also set up for her a Google Chromecast on her TV so that she can easily cast photos and videos to her big screen. I expect soon she will buy the Nest Thermostat and perhaps Philips Hue lights to build her smart home. All linked seamlessly to GH.
Incidentally, the GH costs £ 129 but there is currently an offer that gives you a free Chromecast (worth £ 25) with the GH purchase. I understand this offer is available not only at PCWorld Currys but also at Argos and perhaps at other retailers like John Lewis who sell GH and Google WiFi, their latest hardware offerings.
Thanks for that.
I've got a Pixel at the moment but am toying with the idea of switching to an iPhone perhaps next year and didn't fancy stumping up for a Home if they didn't work 'well' together.
I already have a Chromecast which I stream stuff to via my phone and tablet which works lovely
By the way when you are considering an iPhone next year, you will have the Pixel 2 (likely two options) to compare starting around October if rumours are correct. I think OLED screens (like the Samsung 8 recently launched), no bezels, virtual home buttons, wireless charging, waterproofing, Artificial Reality/AR, etc will likely be common to both the iPhone 8 and the two Pixels. If the Pixel 2 looks an improvement in these areas to my Pixel XL version 1, I will likely give my current Pixel to one of my children and switch to one of the Pixel 2s. I think Google put a toe in the water this year with Pixel and getting a better than expected reception, leading me to think that they will really go all in for the Pixel 2s.
I expect we might get a glimpse of what Google has in store for the Pixel 2 in a couple of weeks at the I/O developer conference. Certainly more about Android O will be featured. I am thinking O for Oreo?
Sure, you can cast music from your phone or tablet onto GH for example.
Also you might find this article on playing music on GH to be very useful:
https://support.google.com/googlehome/answer/7030379?hl=en
I would like to see just one thread on GH rather than it spread over a few topics. I suppose it started in Mobile phones and tablets because before GH there was Google Assisant on mobile phones like my Nexus 6 and then on my Pixel XL. Apple has its own section. Perhaps it is time to do the same for Google? Now with the GH, Google WiFi, Pixel phones, Android watches, etc? Just sayin....
I would not be surprised for Google to address the "lack of services compared to America" when Google holds its annual developer conference (I/O) in 10 days. Perhaps to obtain maximum media impact rather than to drip feed services? After all, the UK is the only market outside the US where Google has introduced GH so far so clearly they want to get it right before a wider distribution.
At I/O Google will have many of the same devs who have worked to make Android so successful and who can make GH a great success too. Already Google Assistant is on many more devices than when it first started, helping to get engagement and traffic generation.
I expect Google to introduce tweaks to GH to make it more user and developer friendly.....eg, work with microphone could improve voice recognition and giving more devs access to the GH microphone could also accelerate development.
One obvious service area that will improve GH for me will be making it into a phone, able to receive and place calls. Why not make GH able to answer my phone, like an Assistant would, screen and schedule calls, take notes for me and perform other tasks like scheduling and managing meetings? Let's also say that the caller is a telemarketer. Why not have GH answer the call, hang up when it determines that it is a telemarketer, report the number and block my number for such future use by the telemarketer?
Compare that to a call from your wife, which GH identifies by her voice and tells you about before passing you through. Or compare to a scheduled business call, which when finished results in GH taking notes of important items, call participants and action points to follow up. GH sends you the summary by email. During that business call, you receive another call which GH answers and tells the caller that you are in a business meeting and will tell you the message the caller leaves when you finish your business call.
Seems to me the future of most phone calls is as a virtual assistant function rather than an app on a phone. Will it come to a point where we will not ever need a mobile phone as we know it, just a virtual assistant device whose form is evolving?
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Nice to see that almost magical reaction when a person sees the options available on Google Home.
Set up Home at my daughter's family and the first time she was able to instruct GH by voice to cast her photos to her TV was one of those "Wow" moments. So many other actions and questions pleased her too.
Refreshing to see a first impression.
Set up Home at my daughter's family and the first time she was able to instruct GH by voice to cast her photos to her TV was one of those "Wow" moments. So many other actions and questions pleased her too.
Refreshing to see a first impression.
I would not be surprised that there are some tweaks coming on the wake words (OK Google, Hey Google) as I saw this week that Google is changing the voice on Waze from IceT or Morgan Freeman to your own voice with variations and funny interpretations. So all this is entirely possible but it is worth remembering that other problems might arise when the wake words are changed (you no doubt heard about the Burger King ad that attempted to wake up GH with a TV ad using the words OK Google, what is a Whopper?).
I am not surprised that Alexa struggles with voice recognition as Google has years more experience with voice recognition, accents, translation, etc. Also Google uses Google Search which Alexa cannot use. We take for granted that everyone searches on Google so having Alexa use Bing is already a sub-standard experience.
I am surprised that your phone cannot use Google Assistant. Are you using a Pixel or a relatively new version of Android software? You can always live chat with a Google Home customer service agent.
Meanwhile, I assume everyone has read about the screen coming to the next Alexa, with an expected US launch only in late June of the Echo Show--US price of $ 230 is likely to mean a UK price at some point of £ 230. This follows on from the Amazon Look, a rather ugly looking device which is Alexa with a camera. I suppose I can see the logic of the screen but I find that I do not spend to much time looking at my GH, just speaking to it. Sure the screen will for example allow video calling (Hangout/Skype, etc) and act more like the telephone that I predicted the other day in an earlier posting. Clearly a screen will also allow for advertising that pays for many other services and no doubt Google will follow with a screen as its comms app that a newer GH will use will be compatible with Android devices.
Bottom line: if as I assume Google will launch a new version of GH with a screen, Google Assistant has a huge advantage over Amazon because GA has been designed to run with a screen (smartphone) and Google dominates this space.