Best answer: SmartThings works seamlessly with both Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa. It takes a few extra steps to get up and running, but it's smooth sailing once set up. Talk to Me One of the best things about SmartThings is that it truly does integrate extremely well with a ton of different devices and services. Unlike some other smart home products, SmartThings can easily be controlled using Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. The integration and control are extremely fluid and care-free once set up, and it all truly does bring your home one step further into connected bliss. In addition to what you can do in SmartThings, you can use the Google Home or Alexa app to automate your devices by creating custom scenes and routines that fit your daily lifestyle. To set up either voice assistant (or both, if that's your thing) you'll need to use the respective Alexa or Google Home app on your phone or tablet. You can choose to allow all or some of your SmartThings devices (depending on … [Read more...] about Which voice assistants does Samsung SmartThings support?
Which voice assistant is best
Amazon Echo or Google Home: Which smart speaker is right for you?
If you’re in the market for a small speaker, you can go for an Apple HomePod with Siri inside or this $2,250 Bang and Olufsen deal, but if you’re looking for the most value, top features, and a solution that lets you spread music throughout your home, you only really have Amazon’s Echo speakers and Google’s Home lineup. Statistically speaking, you are likely to buy more than one speaker, and depending on the size of your home, if you get three or four, you should be able to cover your entire home with those smart speakers. You can also access a wide range of games, apps, and services, from making phone calls and checking your calendar to sending messages and making phone calls. Many of the places where Google Assistant and Alexa meet can be fought more or less to a draw. Both provide a range of at least half a dozen speakers you can mix and match that range in price and sound from the $49 Echo Dot and Home Mini (the Home Mini is actually better) to the $130 Echo … [Read more...] about Amazon Echo or Google Home: Which smart speaker is right for you?
Google vs. Alexa: After I/O, which assistant is best?
Google Assistant vs Amazon's Alexa has been one of the more prominent battles in consumer tech over the past year. Alexa was first to the smart speaker game with the Amazon Echo, and had a sizable head start in features by the time Google launched its own Google Home two years later. Last year, Google closed the gap with key upgrades like voice recognition, and the two have gone back and forth ever since.If you need to catch up, here's everything you need to know about Alexa, and everything you need to know about Google Assistant. Basically, they're both digital assistants that respond primarily to voice commands. You can ask either of them to search the web, play music, control your smart home devices and much more. After Google's impressive I/O Keynote on Tuesday, I'm ready to call Google Assistant the best and smartest digital assistant out there. CNET's Ry Crist disagrees. We've been covering both assistants for a long time, and now it's time we go head to head to figure out if … [Read more...] about Google vs. Alexa: After I/O, which assistant is best?
Siri, Alexa or Google: Which voice helper is best for you?
Voice assistants are everywhere these days -- in our phones, our tablets, our computers, our smart speakers, our refrigerators, you name it. Gimmicky? Perhaps -- but there's no denying that they've exploded in popularity. Here's the thing: That popularity is the engine that's powering a formidable feedback loop for the voice-control category. As customers flock to stores to pick up smart speakers and voice-activated everything, developers rush to capitalize on the wave. That's led to a flood of new Alexa skills, HomeKit controls and Google integrations. As a result, the category keeps getting more compelling, which motivates more people to buy in, which... well, you get the idea. At some point, the appeal of these platforms might hit a ceiling, but for now, they're still getting smarter and smarter -- and that makes it a great time to explore their promise of a more convenient and connected living space. And, with Siri controls already baked into your iPhone and iPad, and Amazon's … [Read more...] about Siri, Alexa or Google: Which voice helper is best for you?
How voice-assisted commerce is speaking up in retail
By the end of 2021, more than 1.6 billion people will use voice assistants on a regular basis, and it is certain they will want to do more than ask about the weather or hear their favourite song. Such assistants will provide retailers with an unprecedented opportunity as consumers use them to find, research and buy products. For this reason, exploring how voice assistants can improve the customer experience is a core focus for many retailers right now. Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) is powering voice technology systems and be it Alexa, Siri or Google Home, these platforms are enabling customers to interact with brands in ways that are not only convenient but also highly personalised and contextualised. In a conversational AI world, virtual assistants will search, open, fetch, command and engage the dozen or more websites, portals, apps and systems we all interact with daily. “My virtual agent does that” will become the new “there … [Read more...] about How voice-assisted commerce is speaking up in retail