Tag: Amazon Echo

Google Home and Amazon Echo Dot

Trendspotting: Smart speaker sales top 66 million units, Amazon Echo leads with 70% market share

This past holiday season the smart speaker was the hot seller. No surprise then that the market continues to grow at a rapid pace. According to a new report, there are now over 66 million smart speaker devices in the U.S. That's up about 25% from the year prior (53...
Alexa app compared to Sonos for whole home audio

Replacing Sonos with Amazon Echo & Alexa – is it a good idea?

As a long-time fan of Sonos products such as the Sonos One and Play:5 speakers I've been watching Amazon Echo products with interest. I wonder, could they replace a Sonos setup for whole home audio? The advantage of going with Echo, of course, is that you get all the additional...
How to (not) disable the Amazon Echo Alexa Try card

Amazon Echo: The one thing that drives me (and others) absolutely bonkers

Try "Alexa, ..." For all the amazing capability voice assistants bring to our homes, there's often a gotcha here or there, after all this is new technology with the Echo Dot kicking off the smart speaker revolution merely three years ago in 2015. Speaking of Echo, the one thing that drives...
Alexa app compared to Sonos for whole home audio

Trendspotting: Echo Dot smart speaker leads way for Amazon on Cyber Monday

We love the Echo Dot. In fact we really, really love the tiny smart speaker. If there was any doubt about our obsession with all things Alexa, that was cast aside in a major way yesterday. Amazon says this year's Cyber Monday was the company's biggest shopping day ever. Ever....
All-new Echo Show (2nd Gen) - Premium sound and a vibrant 10" HD screen

Amazon unveils new Echo Show with larger 10″ screen, better sound

Amazon today unveiled a 2nd generation Echo show featuring a larger screen. You can now get the Alexa-powered speaker with a 10" screen and improved Dolby audio. There's a bunch of other small improvements to the two-year-old original Echo Show including: Real-time Dolby processing 8 microphone array 3rd party browsers,...
Smart Home News: Google Home now supports Spotify Free music streaming

Smart Home News: “Hey Google, wake me up to some jazz in 30 minutes”

Okay Google, wake me up in 30 minutes to some funky jazz. And there you go. You can now use ask Google Home to wake you to music. The long awaited feature is now here, confirmed by an email from Google with examples on how to add a little excitement...
Google Home Mini sales help propel market share in smart speaker race against Amazon
Apple HomePod

Apple HomePod a tough sell especially without multi-room music

You have to really, really love Apple (and Apple Music!) for the HomePod to be a smarter buyer than the reasonably priced alternatives from Amazon and Google and Sonos.
Sonos 8.3 - Navigation and Display Improvements

Sonos app gets dark Now Playing screen, improved menus

You've got to hand it to the Sonos team. Despite the crush of competition for whole home audio from heavyweights such as Amazon (Echo), Google (Google Home), and others like Bose, Samsung (speakers plus SmartThings hub) and Heos (by AVR maker Denon) the Santa Barbara speaker company continues to innovate...
Apple HomePod delayed to 2018 - A huge miss, cedes market share to Amazon and Google.

HomePod delay a massive miss by Apple

Delaying HomePod to 2018 means Apple will lose buyers to Amazon and Google this holiday season. It could be a very costly decision.