Google Home
- Thread starter sesevans
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I play my music using a family subscription to Google Play Music as you are allowed to have a number of family members on the same account.
You can Google all this of course but for free music service, here is something I found that might help:
http://www.techadvisor.co.uk/how-to...me-without-google-music-subscription-3659075/
That document didn't answer what I was requesting but another one did. It does.
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Only got mine Saturday (and love it!!), here are some of the things I've been enjoying so far.
Control Netflix via a Chromecast, this has been a highlight for me, tell it what to play and the TV switches input and it just plays, you can then get it to pause, rewind, stop etc. And when finished I can tell it to switch of the TV. Sadly I can't get it to switch the TV on but I have a pretty old TV.
Use it to control Hive heating
Say good morning and it gives you a nice little rundown of the weather, traffic on your commute and the news headlines.
Play music via Google play music, nice and easy to control, plus if you're playing a random play list you can do things like ask what is playing. I really love how easy it is just to stick some music on.
Add items to your shopping list. Okay its not mega but in the past I would get my phone out and add a note when I notice I was low on something. Now I can just tell google to add butter or whatever to my list.
Set timers (great when cooking) and alarms
Tell it to send the information to your phone after asking a question
Fun stuff, tell me a joke, sing me a song, play a game, tell me an interesting fact. Okay the jokes are bad but those aside I find the assistant genuinely funny at times.
It really annoyed me when they took the shopping list out of Google Keep though. Why would they do this? Now it's tucked away on it's own thing, so I no longer use it
It really annoyed me when they took the shopping list out of Google Keep though. Why would they do this? Now it's tucked away on it's own thing, so I no longer use it
Oh, I didn't realise it was there as a separate thing in Google Keep, I always just used one of the normal notes in there. Shame they removed it though, no reason to really.
Thanks for your list as I like to compare what I have found useful with others so I can add to my enjoyment.
1. I find the Netflix via Chromecast a great feature and unlike my experience with a Tivo Box from Virgin Media, the stopping and starting and rewind and back, etc actually work! Home does turn my TV on and off---I assume you need it on standby? Also works with YouTube of course. Having Netflix, YouTube and the internet (iPlayer) means I rarely turn on my TV---will probably "cut the cord" soon. I am more than happy to watch the sports highlights next day on YouTube.
2. I often have it play a podcast after the ritual "Good Morning" as I am eating breakfast.
3. Yes, I find Google Play Music a terrific feature and the mood music is just great. If you like opera, try "Italian Cooking Opera", Google's radio station.
4. I know AndyCR15 was upset by the loss of Google Shopping but I find too that it is so easy to add to my shopping list via Home that I miss it less each day.
5. I understand that phone calling via Home will arrive in the UK soon.
6. I have three Home devices, two of which are signed in to my account and one signed in to my wife's account. For the two signed in to my account, I was mentioning the other day that I did a broadcast from my phone will moving around London. So when I was leaving one meeting and going to the next, I told my wife by broadcast simply by telling Google Assistant on my phone to broadcast a message by saying, "OK Google, broadcast I am leaving 1 pm meeting on .....Street and heading to second meeting on .......Street to arrive by 3 pm". My wife was sitting in a room which had one of my Home devices and the device broadcast my message to her instantly.
7. As you develop a more complete smart home, you might find Home as useful as I have with smart lights and a smart kettle used to boil water. Speak to Home and it will perform a myriad of functions.
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Cheers for these!
I'm not actually sure what Google Shopping is in this context? I miss that I used to tell me Google Home to add sugar to my shopping list, and there it was, in the Google Keep widget on my home screen. Now it's hidden several taps into a web page, so I just don't bother that way and have to manually add it to Keep. I really don't know why Google changed it to be this way.
The thing that puts me off with these things is the 'ok google' before every statement. You say about netflix etc but surely you have to be like 'okay google, play whatever', then 'okay google, pause netflix' etc instead of just asking. Likewise with the 'good morning' which sounds convenient, would it not actually be 'ok google, good morning' which just sounds daft to me lol.
And thanks for yours.
Thanks, I'll give that a try. Opera isn't really my thing but might be good for cooking. I like to try random playlists in the hope that I find some stuff I like.
Wasn't aware of the broadcast feature, thats amazing!
Yeah I think I'll look into smart lights at some point in the future, though probably not for now. However in the short term I want to connect the two lamps in my living room to smart plugs and use it to control those. Hoping for a blacik friday offer on the tp-link smart plugs.
Personally I find 'Hey Google' a slightly less weird option.
Yep, that's true. And though valid I don't think there is really any way around it, the assistant needs to know you're referring to it otherwise things could get very confusing, especially with a room full of people talking, plus the assistant would need to listen to 'everything' you say, which people have an issue with from a privacy perspective.
I guess this is the one thing Amazon have done slightly better, just saying "Alexa" probably feels more natural than saying "Okay Google", but after the first few times I don't really feel silly or find it unnatural, "Okay Google, Good Morning" seems fine.
Soldato
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i much prefer ok/hey google, over alexa.
"ah cool you have an alexa" could switch the device into listening mode.
"ok google" is something you only say when wanting the assistant to start.
i also feel like i'm talking to an automated assistant that's just a computer when saying "ok google" where as alexa seems like it's trying to hide that and will mean it has to have a female voice forever and any varient may sound weird to people used to alexa's voice. google assistant can be anything and is just a computer, so hopefully will help people remember that it's not a miracle device.
"ah cool you have an alexa" could switch the device into listening mode.
"ok google" is something you only say when wanting the assistant to start.
i also feel like i'm talking to an automated assistant that's just a computer when saying "ok google" where as alexa seems like it's trying to hide that and will mean it has to have a female voice forever and any varient may sound weird to people used to alexa's voice. google assistant can be anything and is just a computer, so hopefully will help people remember that it's not a miracle device.
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Soldato
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I bought a google home today for only £77, but even at that price it's going back, it's not a 'bad' product but I think I probably just expected a bit more, if anything it taught me that my phone does pretty much the same thing and I can just say 'ok google' to that and it hears me even across the room, I think for an always on home smart device I need it to do a lot more, I want it to work seamlessly with every thing I own easily, I hate having to juggle between a smart device one min and then having to grab the remote the next min, for me personally it's either all or nothing with a device like this.
Associate
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I picked one up this week. I was not sure whether to go Google or Amazon, as we have an Echo at work. Opinion is mixed at the moment.
Current observations after a few days:
1. Despite uploading my music collection to Google play, some songs remain "Not available in your area", despite playing fine on phone or tablet. This is actually getting quite frustrating.
2. Home seems to ignore "All Day" events on my Google calendar. So if staff and or Wife have days booked off, Home decides I do not need to know !! Unforgivable IMO
3. Speaker quality is better than expected. The bass was too heavy, but good to see it could be adjusted in the app.
4. Our 4 year old loves it. She asks Google maths questions and how to spell words. It makes her learning fun.
So its work in progress as far as I am concerned. Pretty sure we will grow to love it. Time will tell.
Current observations after a few days:
1. Despite uploading my music collection to Google play, some songs remain "Not available in your area", despite playing fine on phone or tablet. This is actually getting quite frustrating.
2. Home seems to ignore "All Day" events on my Google calendar. So if staff and or Wife have days booked off, Home decides I do not need to know !! Unforgivable IMO
3. Speaker quality is better than expected. The bass was too heavy, but good to see it could be adjusted in the app.
4. Our 4 year old loves it. She asks Google maths questions and how to spell words. It makes her learning fun.
So its work in progress as far as I am concerned. Pretty sure we will grow to love it. Time will tell.
My Home has been having more 'blonde' moments lately. Keeps forgetting that it has Hue Lighting devices attached to it. If it's not that then it doesn't to recognise my voice, or the wifes whilst our TV is on. I wonder how good the far field recognition is with just 2 mics vs the Echo's 6, which from what I understand from colleagues just picks up your voice from the other end of a busy room.
The very act of playing back songs in my google library hugely frustrates me. It is so inconsistent that it makes me want to throw the device out the window. "I'm sorry I cannot play Phil Collins from your google music library right now"...WTF NOT?! If it's not that then it blares out that I need a music subscription....just before it starts playing it once I re-state my request.
I've got a Chromecast Audio coming this week so I hope that eases the burden off those little speakers when I do actually succeed in playing music. It is good to see Google adding to the app as I had been expecting them to ignore it and let the competition race ahead.
I am hoping Google allow the trigger word to be changed. Imo I've always disliked saying Hey Google and would prefer a one word trigger prompt.
The very act of playing back songs in my google library hugely frustrates me. It is so inconsistent that it makes me want to throw the device out the window. "I'm sorry I cannot play Phil Collins from your google music library right now"...WTF NOT?! If it's not that then it blares out that I need a music subscription....just before it starts playing it once I re-state my request.
I've got a Chromecast Audio coming this week so I hope that eases the burden off those little speakers when I do actually succeed in playing music. It is good to see Google adding to the app as I had been expecting them to ignore it and let the competition race ahead.
I am hoping Google allow the trigger word to be changed. Imo I've always disliked saying Hey Google and would prefer a one word trigger prompt.