How to Choose the Best Voice Assistant for Your Smart Devices

Want to know about the best voice assistant speaker and which voice assistant is best? Learn how to choose the best voice assistant for your smart devices.

If you are an audiophile and you love smart devices then buying the best voice assistant speaker must be in your shopping list somewhere.

But do you know which voice assistant is best and which voice assistant device will satisfy your needs?

For many people, choosing a voice assistant feels like buying a smartphone a decade ago. Every popular brand has their own “tribe” of followers, with each one providing pretty convincing arguments as to why you should join them.

Combined, the tribes account for about 111.8 million monthly active users in the U.S. alone, and the number is increasing pretty rapidly. And why wouldn’t it, voice assistants are already pretty cool and useful devices.

If you have no experience using voice assistants – this is maybe why you’re reading this article – then the price becomes the deciding factor in your purchase. However, getting to know what you’re buying is a really good idea because each assistant comes with a suite of features that are designed to assist you with running different errands.

Moreover, each assistant requires specific compatible products and has its own data privacy rules.

By the end of this article, you’ll know which tribe to join and which voice assistant is the best for adjusting the thermostat or supplying you with weather updates and music (if this is what you’re looking for). Here we go.

Apple HomePod (Siri)

Apple’s product has received very positive feedback from customers in terms of sound quality, personal assistant usefulness, and spatial awareness. HomePod allows you to use Siri to play the music from your library – the device supports Apple Music – place and answer calls, send and read messages from your other iOS devices, control HomeKit devices, and give you weather updates.

best voice assistant

(Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links and images. I earn advertising/referral fees if you make a purchase by clicking them. There is no extra cost to you. See our full disclosure here. )

Among the advantages and nice things reported by HomePod users is superb sound capabilities, high Siri accuracy, and minimalist design that Apple fans love.

The support of other languages, including French, Spanish, and German makes it a good choice for users from other markets (the device supports only one language at a time, according to Apple’s website).

While the HomePod is an obvious choice for Apple fans, you should note the most common drawbacks reported by its users: a lack of Bluetooth streaming and a requirement to have Apple Music subscription for a complete experience.

Price: $299 (available in Space Gray and White)

Why you need to choose it:

  • If you’re an Apple fan that has Apple devices at home
  • Like Siri’s functionality
  • Need quality sound in your assistant.

Amazon Echo Dot (Alexa)

The next tribe on our list is people who like to buy stuff from Amazon and prefer maximum functionality. The product they admire is cool, indeed, and boasts more capabilities than Apple’s and even Google’s (we’ll talk about Google’s device below).

voice assistant speaker

The newest version of the product, or the third-generation Echo Dot, has:

  • Traffic updates
  • Amazing sound capabilities (in fact, you can connect it to other speaker thanks to a 3.5 mm jack and a Bluetooth jack)
  • Weather forecasts
  • Controlling smart home devices such as thermostats, lights, and locks
  • News headlines
  • Shopping information and advice
  • Timers and alarms
  • To-do lists
  • Free voice calls
  • Music, podcasts, and radio playback.

Quite an impressive list, right? On top of that, the price of the device is really affordable.

Amazon’s superior dealmaking is the reason why their voice speaker is so rich in features,” says Marco Alba, an analyst from Flatfy. “Besides, the list grows all the time, as the company is still working on making the Echo Dot more friendly to smartphones, which is currently one of the biggest drawbacks of this device.

Price: $49 (Available in Charcoal, Plum, Heather Gray, and Sandstone directly from Amazon).

Why you need to choose it:

  • If you need to have maximum functionality.
  • You often buy stuff from Amazon, as you can order products by voice.

On the other hand, if you’d like your speaker to have a good relationship with your phone, going for other options may be a better idea.

Besides, if you feel strongly about data privacy, Amazon’s devices have a poor reputation here, too; for example, Alexa once recorded a private conversation and sent it to a contact without the user’s confirmation.

Google Home (Google Assistant)

So, Google doesn’t want to be left behind, so the company also has its own voice speaker. It has a pretty attractive design and even changeable color bases, which means that you’ll have no problems with it ruining your interior.

But perhaps the biggest advantage of Google Home smart speaker and home assistant is the ability to use Google’s search and voice-control expertise.

For example, you’ll be able to check traffic to get to work in time, manage your calendar, play music on Spotify and other providers, control smart home devices (in fact, Google claims that it works with over 1,000 smart devices of more than 150 brands), get reminders, and do many other things.

voice assistant google

Even though Google Home still has some catching up with Amazon to do, it’s already a pretty functional and useful device that has most of the available voice assistant features.

Price: $99 for Google Home, $49 for Google Home Mini, and $199 for Google Home Max.

Why you need to choose it:

  • If you’d like your assistant to have conversational skills, as Home is known to be natural to converse with.
  • If you’d like to use Google.
  • If you’re looking for a great music player.

Wrapping Up

Choosing a voice assistant depends on many factors, like the level of synchronization with devices, connectivity and, of course, price. Hopefully, our brief guide will help you choose the right voice assistant for your smart devices.

Author Bio:

Ryan is a passionate writer who likes sharing his thoughts and experience with the readers. Currently, he works as a digital marketing specialist, you can check his website flatfy.ro. He likes everything related to traveling and new countries.

You may also be interested in checking out:

3 thoughts on “How to Choose the Best Voice Assistant for Your Smart Devices”

Comments are closed.