Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss smaller homes for Alexa, Target, Walmart, Amazon and the toy market, an astronaut dummy revealed, hearing protection for dogs, the death of Google CloudPrint, Amazon’s 30 minute deliveries, T-Mobile anti-trust news, ransomware, Snapchat’s time machine lens, and more.

Penny in Windsor, Ontario listens on AM800 CKLW and asked: “I’m currently using Google Mini. Is there a better one out there? Do they all basically do the same thing, or is one better?”

Penny, they’re basically all the same.

Amazon’s Echo devices tend to be slightly ahead of Google, then Google catches up a little and Amazon pulls ahead a little, but the differences in functionality don’t warrant the amount of money it would cost to switch to a different model. They are 95% the same, with some minor differences.

Where you may see some worthwhile differences are in two areas: 1) Sound quality, the larger speakers sound far better than the mini models, and 2) screens.

If you’re interested in asking Google Assistant to show you something on a screen, or doing the same with Alexa, or starting video calls with either, then you may benefit from an upgrade to a Google Home Hub or an Echo Show. If you’re mostly interested in the calls, Facebook has a horribly overpriced device that will pivot to follow you around with its camera, just the thing you want to buy from the company whose CEO called their users idiots for trusting him.

The biggest difference you may find is the ecosystem, if you use Google Music, then a Google speaker is probably better for you than if you’re a prime member that listens to Amazon Music.

The features, though, those are about the same. Control smart lights and other devices with your voice, ask the assistant questions then sigh, grab your phone, and get the answer you were looking for there instead, play music or videos, they all do those things.

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