Computer Shopper - UK (2020-04)

ISSUE386|COMPUTER SHOPPER|APRIL2020 99

T

he Google Assistant powers Android
phones and agrowing number of
smartspeakers, making it the main rival
to Amazon Alexa. In many ways, the systems
aresimilar: you can ask the Google Assistant
about the weather,upcoming appointments
or who played arole in acertain film.
Theresponses aresimilar,although as the
Assistant is powered by Google’sservices,
many results aremoreaccuratethan Alexa.
Forexample, Google is far better at giving
travel information thankstoGoogle Maps.
TheGoogle Assistant is also abit easier to
talk to,asitunderstands context. So you can
say,“OK Google, what’sthe weather?” and
follow up with, “OK Google, and tomorrow?”,
and the systemunderstands thatyou’reasking
about the weather tomorrow.
When it comes to the smarthome, Google
Assistant gives you much of the same control
as Alexa. Smartdevices and speakers are
managed through the Google Home app,
which is available for iOS andAndroid.
To add anew device, tap the +icon, select
Set up device, and click ‘Have something

already set up?’.You can th

use the list or search items

find the manufacturer of

your smartdevice. Follow

the instructions and you

can link your smart

devices to your home.

Yo ushould then be

able to put discovered

devices into rooms. At

this point, you can use

your voice to control your

devices, such as, “OK Goo

turn on bedroomlights”.

As with Alexa, you can use smart

speakers for easier control, as the speaker

understands which devices arearound it

when you ask for control. Forexample, with a

Google Home in the living roomwith smart

lights, you can say,“OK Google, turn on light”.

In the Google Home app,tap aroomand

then tap the cog icon. Scroll down and select

Choose devices, and select the smartspeaker

you want to add to the room, then Ta pNextto

confirmyour selection.

TheGoogle Assistant also has Routines,

which work in asimilar way to Alexa’s:you can

trigger multiple commands to happen at

once. In the Home app,select Settings, then

scroll down and tap Moresettings under

Google Assistant services. Ta pAssistant, then

Routines and then tap Add aroutine.

Ta pAdd commands and then enter the

trigger phrase you want, such as ‘movie night’.

Yo ucan also use the Set time and dayoption

if you want the routine to run automatically.

Next, tap Add action to choose the actions

the Google Assistant will perform. Yo ucan just

enter acommand, using the phrase thatyou’d

ay(‘set temperature

to19degrees’,for

example). Yo ucan also

use the Browse popular

actions, and select

devices to control from

there. Thelatterisless

exible.For example, if

uenter acommand, you

etalight to anycolour

htness; if you use the

popular actions option, your only light

choices aretoturn alight on or off. Finally,you

can then choose to have your Routine play

some media, which can be amusic track, a

radio station or apodcast.

There’scurrently no option to create

routines thatrespond to smarthome devices,

such as via amotion sensor,making Alexa

slightly morepowerful for now.However,

Google has one neat featurecoming soon:

scheduled actions. With this,you can tell

Google to performacommand at aset time.

So you could say,“OK Google, set bedroom

to 18 degrees at 6am” if you have to get up

early and want aone-time way of making sure

your bedroomisn’t cold when you get up.

We should also starttosee the Workswith

Assistant Routines come into place, which will

let Nest devices startRoutines. Originally,

therewas the WorkswithNestsystem, which

gave automatic rules, such as turning on all

Hue lights when the Nest Protect detected

smoke. Google turned offthatprogram,

killing these automatic rules, but the new

systemshould reinstatethem.

GOOGLE

ASSISTANT

ThemainrivaltoAmaz

onAlexa,

GoogleAssistanthas

someneat

tricksofitsownbutit’s

notquiteas

powerfulforthesma

rthomeyet

ABOVE:Adding new devices is easy ABOVE:Routines let you control multiple devices at once

CONS

Limitedroutines

CONS

PROS

Naturallanguageinteract

ion

Excellenthardwaresuppor

t

Newfeaturescomingso

on

Google Home speakers

rstand natural language

hen

sto

ogle,

t

sa

t

t

fl

you

can se

and brig

l ti

LEFT:G

under