‘Smart speakers’ are angling to colonize your living room

“By 2020, competitors’ products and third-party implementations of leading VPAs (Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana) will likely have ramped up”. At its core-the entire heart of its purpose-Google is a software and search engine powerhouse. “Our goal is to build a personal Google for each and every user”. Combined with great hardware and powerful software, this attractive device will take us into the future. Pre-orders are set to begin on October 13 for India, with the phones set to ship by the end of the month.

The company took to the stage in California to show off its Google Home speaker, a little rounded obelisk that sits in people’s houses, and its Pixel phone.

Wholly voice-controlled, it is always listening for commands that start with “Ok Google”.

Many of Google’s past efforts at selling hardware have fizzled.

“We believe Pixel is by far the strongest phone product introduced by Google, directly taking on Apple’s iPhone 7 and Samsung’s Galaxy S7″, he said in a report.

Google Assistant’s software is essential, but as Rick Osterlo, the head of Google’s newly formed Hardware Group, stated, “This is the right time to be focused on hardware and software … at the intersection of hardware and software, and AI is at the center of it all”.

Along with competing with Apple, Google is following in its footsteps and has made a decision to work exclusively with a single carrier in the United States. Pixel has a “smart” camera for sublime photos, and a program to make it easy for users to switch operating systems, a move aimed at encouraging iPhone users to convert to Android.

What will Google do with the data collects from its home device? Google’s big bet for the future is that its AI and machine learning technologies will create an Assistant so useful that you’ll want to buy any product that has it preloaded.

The hardware-software double play was decidedly Apple-like.

“Google already helps users to purchase flights, and with new offerings like Google Express, which provides same-day delivery from a long list of retailers, the company is encroaching on Amazon’s core business”. “It will be universal, available when users need it to help them”. Today, it made Google Home official with arelease date and price. Just say, “OK, Google” and ask for it to play the music.

For starters, Google Home carries a better-looking price tag being $20 cheaper than the Amazon Echo home assistant named “Alexa”.

The updated Pixel launcher UI features a clean and polished look, Google Assistant in place of Google Now, new Google search “pill” widget, which lets users easily search and access voice commands, a dynamic calendar icon, a revamped app drawer, new round app icons, home screen shortcuts and more. Assuming Google Home arrives here under £150, it’ll be directly competing with the Amazon Echo for a spot in your living room. “It will also know what you watch on TV, what you listen to, and, obviously, when there’s no one home”. And the Assistant isn’t just based in one device, but in a range of Google products – meaning that it can be truly disembodied, not connected even to any particular physical product. Siri can answer some questions and get iPhones to call mom, but Google Assistant is wired up to the most powerful computer brains on the planet when it comes to fetching the information you want.