100 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 44
OPINION
to have an advantage over Google Home and
Amazon Echo with its high-fidelity, room-sensing
smarts, but now Google Home Max has landed, and
it might be even better.
Like HomePod, Google Home Max uses machine
learning to analyse your space to deliver optimal
sound, but Google’s method gets more granular
and fine-tunes the sound based on the song you’re
listening to as well as adjusting based on Max’s
surroundings. But if they’re even when it comes to
sound, the real difference-maker is Google Assistant.
Apple has improved Siri’s speech patterns in iOS
11, but for the most part, its AI ambitions have been
relatively conservative. Google Assistant isn’t just
better at recognizing what you’re saying, it’s more
contextual and conversational, which leads to an
all-around better experience. And with the new
routines feature, you’ll be able to combine several
tasks (like shutting the lights, setting an alarm,
and activating your security system) with a single
phrase. It even recognizes your voice over the other
people in your home. With Siri, commands are
islands unto themselves, while Google Assistant is
practically like talking to an actual person.A smarter camera lens
It was just a year ago when Assistant was limited
to Pixel phones and Google Home, and now it’s
everywhere: headphones, watches, speakers, not to
mention hundreds of millions of Android phones.
And now Google is branching out beyond simple
voice commands. Exclusive to the Pixel phones (at