Released in November 2016, Google Home was one of the first, alongside the Amazon Echo, to bring 
artifical intelligence (AI) to the home, to make the lives of people that bit easier and more convienant. But, this technology has seemingly got mixed reviews, with many people loving it while others do not see the point in it or get scared at having something constantly listen to you. Either way, here is my review of living with Google Home for a month…
The first thing that is I noticed about Google Home is just how small it is and how much it can pack bass: the volume it can produce from its speakers is truly quite incredible. This actually led me to ditching my trusted Braven BRV-HD (which is definately not a slouch for sound quality and loudness) to using the Google Home as the speaker system I listened music to on a daily basis, who would have though that!
I guess this brings on the point that to truly work well with music, you are going to need some sort of subscription to a music streaming service, for which Google Home can integrate with Google Music, Spotify, YouTube Music and Pandora. From having a streaming service, you can ask Google Home to play any music, and it will find a playlist, radio stration or songs based on what you asked, within seconds – with this, I can see the future of bluetooth speakers adopting an AI similar to the feature Google Home can provide with music as it truly is amazing.
“Me: Okay Google, play me some Adele”…..“Google Home: Playing Adele on Google Play Music” (starts playing Hello by Adele)
Although I used music on Google Home the most, I still used it for other things such as timers. It was useful when cooking food to get Google Home to set timers for when my food needed to come out of the oven. The same applies for alarms in the morning too, for which you have to say ‘Okay Google, stop’ to turn the alarm off (I think sometimes she ignores me on this one to make sure I am truly awake)!
What I think sets Google Home apart from others such as Amazon Echo is its looks and how the user can physically interact with it. Google Home is much smaller but does not lack in size in volume or voice recognition. As well as this, it has by far the best way to physically control it, where the whole top surface is touch sensitive. Rotating your finger in a circle clockwise and anti-clockwise turns the volume up or down, while tapping will stop Google Home or pause any music you are listening too.
But, like with anything, there are a few pet hates. If the volume is too loud, Google Home struggles to listen to you triggering it. But, what is really annoying is the fact Google has not yet integrated reminders into Google Assistant – I would have thought that would have been one of the easier things to integrate. I guess we will have to wait for an upgrade for this to happen.
So, ultimately, would I recommend it? Out of all the AI systems out there, 100%.
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