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It makes Alexa a bit hard to talk to unless you get used to phrasing requests how Alexa wants to receive them. Home Mini uses a micro USB as the power source with a rating of 9W. Echo Dot 3 has shifted from micro USB to its proprietary plug which is rated at 12V and powers a much bigger driver consuming 15W maximum power.
Alexa's Drop In feature only works with other Alexa-enabled devices. That's a tough question because they're both similar and we find it difficult to pick between the two. Which one you decide to go with may well depend on which you personally prefer and what kind of products you're using than which is technically 'better'. With a standard mini jack socket, you can use the device with most headphones. AptX is a codec used for transmitting audio wirelessly with Bluetooth. It is developed by Qualcomm, and supports 16-bit audio at a bit rate of 384kbps.
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Google goes out of its way to boost Assistant’s appeal by getting it to understand the many ways you may say things. In turn, that usually creates fewer instances of times when Assistant fails to understand you and says it can’t answer your question. Assistant has been getting a whole lot better over the past few years too -- allowing you to even do things like book tables at restaurants and order Uber rides, among other things. Alexa is the voice assistant for Echo and it is powered by Bing as its main search engine. Home Mini, on the other hand, has the Google Assistant which is widely used by Android smartphone users.
Count me among that majority -- if I had to pick one to listen to my favorite playlist on, it'd be the new Dot. Then again, if you blindfolded me and asked me to tell you which speaker I was listening to, I'm not sure that I'd be able to tell. Smart home routines connect a variety of settings for smart devices under a single command. It’s a great way to prepare a smart house for the morning, set the mood for an evening dinner, get the family ready for bed, and a lot more…all you have to do is set them up. Alongside hardware connectivity, both devices can also access “skills” or “actions” that deliver enhanced features like news reports, recipes, reservation bookings, jokes, quizzes, and more.
Third-Party Support
Both devices have a broadcast feature that allows you to send a voice message from one unit to other units in your house, much like an intercom. The third-generation Echo Dot has the same easy-to-use buttons on its top as the first one did. Both allow you to review your history of commands, listen to the audio picked up by the speaker, and delete individual commands if you wish.
As the Nest Hub is a smaller device overall, your expectation may besmallersound. While Google promised a deeper bass experience for its second-gen display, it’s simply no match for the bigger speaker arrays of larger smart displays and speakers. The audio you’ll get from the Nest Hub is, at best, sufficient, with some compression and cut-off occurring at the display’s highest volume tiers. The speakers themselves don't make that choice any easier, because both are quite good; the Echo has been our Editors' Choice winner for a long time, but the Nest Audio is a close runner-up.
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Both need to be connected to power full time, but you can buy a third-party battery dock for either of them. Both are suitably low profile to fit in almost any location in your home. We found the new Dot's audio to be superb, with a very full sound and clear bass. It's not as good as what you get from a full-size Echo or Echo Plus, but it's a definite upgrade. We much prefer it to the 2nd-Generation Dot's sound, which was tinny and distorted. While the Echo Dot features a hockey puck-shape with fabric-covered sides and button on top, the Google Home Mini has a puck-shape and encases its touch-sensitive controls beneath a fabric.
For the Nest Mini, Google Nest doubled the bass and made it possible for the speaker to adjust its volume based on the level of background noise in the room. Although the Nest Mini only has three mics, it does a superior job at picking up voice commands, even from a distance. I tested the speakers at 70% and used an app to calculate the loudness on the dB scale and here are the results. Home Mini on the other is loud but lacks that lower frequency sounds.
Echogear Wall Mount for Amazon Echo and Echo Plus EGMA-EPM1-W2 Brand New in Box
Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. The 3rd-Generation Echo Dot is a huge upgrade in both design and audio. While the 2nd-Gen Dot is less expensive, the discount isn't usually more than $10 over the newer model.
Home Mini lacks any buttons except for the mute button under the speaker. To adjust the volume, you can tap the left and right sides of the home mini. There are other gestures like long press on either side to play/ pause a song, end call, etc. Unlike the fixed buttons on Echo, home mini gestures can be updated and more gestures can be added later on. As you can see the Echo dot clocks in at 81 dB at 70% volume, while the Google Home is a little less loud clocking at 64dB.
Google's Home Mini is clearly inferior as a hardware product, but there's no denying Google Assistant is superior to Alexa in just about every way. It's easier to use, you have access to more useful features, and the multi-account system on Google Assistant actually works. Google Assistant simply has access to more of your life, and is able to use that information to be more useful to you.
Google’s designers have even spent time crafting Nest Mini’s circular power adapter, which fits neatly in the hand and protrudes from the wall far less than the Echo Dot’s power supply. These are small touches, yes, but they demonstrate a level of design detail and care that’s the hallmark of a great device. The Echo Dot and the Dot with Clock both retain the iconic color-changing LED status ring around their base.
If you want a voice assistant that's easy to talk to, a Nest speaker will be better. And, of course, any smart home devices you already use should be factored into your decision. Both devices work well at picking up voice commands, so long as you speak clearly and there is no major background noise. The Mini features microphone muting via a rear switch along with subtle touch-sensitive volume controls on either side of the device.
While we love both touchscreens, we’ll award the Echo Show for its rotatable screen and bigger size. I'd say that yes, the two are at least on equal footing as far as strength of sound is concerned. But whether or not the new Dot sounds better than the Home Mini is really up to the listener. Some of us preferred the fuller-sounding Dot, while others thought that the Home Mini offered slightly better clarity. With Google Nest Mini, there are fewer compatible music services sources, but you can use Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Deezer, and Google Play Music, among other options.
Is Alexa better than Google?
Again, the Echo Dot leads here, with a plethora of different types of skills available for the device . Google’s offering is certainly smaller at this point but is expanding quickly, adding features like a multilingual mode, a translator mode, and step-by-step cooking instructions. The Nest Mini may not have a clock option, but it still uses LED dots to communicate, and it’s available in chalk, charcoal, coral, and sky. Again, the build quality is excellent, and the Nest Mini’s pincushion form gives the device its own identity. Google’s recent design upgrade made the nest Mini more eco-friendly too.
Considering Echo has large 4 Far Field mics that pick up the keyword ‘Alexa‘ from a distance above 20m. Home Mini, on the other hand, stopped responding to my calls ‘hey google‘ at around 10m. This is not a huge difference considering we don’t live in mansions . If you're going for pure sonic superiority between the Echo and Google Home ranges however, opt for the Google Home Max. Its bass is well tuned, its mids and highs well defined, and its top volume levels loud without verging into highly distorted territory. The new Google Nest Mini is set to sound even better too, withy the inclusion of an extra speaker.
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