OK GOOGLE, WHAT CAN THE NEXT GOOGLE HOME DO?

Intelligent language assistants have made it from cell phones to living rooms, where they entertain with music, and up-to-date information. Google's solution is called Google Home. What can it do and where are there deficits?

A speaker that answers questions, plays music and can control the lights. That's the easiest way to describe the new voice assistants like Google Home and Amazon Echo. But there's a lot more to it than meets the eye.

ACTIVATION

The internet is essential. A wired network is required for optimal use of Google Home. With no internet, it's just a speaker with no music source. Google Home is activated by the familiar "Okay, Google" or "Hey Google". Currently, these activation words cannot be changed. Only the internal device name can currently be changed. Amazon Echo offers more ways to talk to your voice assistant.

THE MUSIC

For many Google Homeowners or prospects, the ability to play music on demand is very enticing. However, if you want to go beyond listening to internet radio and say to Google Home, "Okay Google, play Shape of You by Ed Sheeran," you'll need a Spotify, Deezer, or Google Play Music subscription. Other providers are not supported by ium Moment. The performance of the speakers is limited. Casual music fans will appreciate the built-in mono speakers. For others, this is not enough, as the quality quickly reaches its limits, especially at higher volumes.

GOOGLE'S INFORMATION FOR GOOGLE

Besides playing music, answering questions is a very popular feature of Google Home. Here you will get answers to questions like: "How high is Mount Everest?", "Who is Michael Jackson?", "What's the weather like in Munich?" or math problems like: "What is 10% of 120?". To do this, Google Home uses the information that can be found on the Internet. Since Google Home is a Google user, the information usually comes relatively quickly and is almost always error-free.

SMART HOME CONTROL

The third important function is the control of smart devices in the house. Here you can control lights, sockets or heating controls that are on the same home network as soon as they are connected to Google Home.