Google to Rename its Cast App to Boost Google Home

Earlier this year at I/O 2016, Google unveiled its Amazon Echo competitor called Google Home. Starting options now allow customers to play music from Spotify, Google Play Music, Pandora, TuneIn and YouTube Music. They can be used to control and monitor SmartHome IoT platforms such as Samsung SmartThings.

Given the name change, Google will hopefully continue to work toward making the app a real hub for the smart home, perhaps by incorporating other devices that may not be cast-compatible, like smart light bulbs, and including home automation. Amazon is not a search engine and does not have the hardware companionship that Google Home will have with the Pixel phone.

The idea is that you’ll say “Ok Google” to wake it up (like you can with your Android phone) and ask the Home to do things. Echo’s not unpleasant, but it would maybe feel more at home on the Death Star. “Because every home is different, you can customize the base with different colors and finishes (metal and fabric, sold separately) to your personal taste”. “We’ve now chose to take the next step and provide our take on the best Google experience, by bringing hardware and software design together under one roof”. Amazon has a lead here because it has been around for longer.

Google will show off a collection of new tech products this week, including (probably) two new smartphones aimed to take on the iPhone. Interestingly, Google Home is created to learn from experience and become smarter with every conversation it has with users over time. It handles all the same “OK Google” voice commands that the Google smartphone can handle, but in an AC-powered, stay-at-home appliance. The device was announced at the Pixel event yesterday, as expected, along with the Pixel phones, its VR headset, Chromecast Ultra, and Google WiFi.

The Google Home release date is November 4th through the Google Store, Best Buy, Walmart and Target. IHeartRadio (already available for the Echo) is coming soon. Plus, its voice search lets you specify from which service you’d like to stream, and remembers your preferences, too. This is evident in the phone’s design, which has a slicker, more premium glass and aluminum build than Google’s previous Nexus phones. Amazon works well only in the United States, and is less functional in the European market.