Which voice assistant best supports my smart home?

Personal assistants such as Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Siri have grown enormously in recent years and can be found not only on their respective smart home speakers, but also on devices such as phones and tablets, each offering its own strengths and features. 

But which is the best personal assistant out there and which one will best suit your needs? 

While there are other assistants, such as Samsung's Bixby, we've focused here on a summary of the three most important—Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri—to help you understand what they are, what they can do, and which devices you'll find them on. 

Amazon Alexa 

You can remotely control your Chuango smart home system with Alexa. Alexa has been around for some time, and its feature set has expanded over the years with the availability of new skills, apps, and devices. Alexa originally debuted with the Echo speakers in 2014 and has been continuously updated, developed, and maintained ever since. It's a very well-designed product that's also constantly being developed and improved. 

One of the most important features for many people is the novelty of Alexa being able to speak with the voices of celebrities. Who wouldn't want Samuel L. Jackson to tell them they look wonderful or inform them about what's on the agenda? The Alexa Voice Service (AVS) is at the heart of this service and operates in the cloud, similar to the Google Assistant. This makes Alexa powerful and versatile, but also means there's some ambiguity about privacy. 

"Um, Alexa, are you listening?" You can be sure Alexa is listening! Alexa can help with all sorts of things, but she was designed specifically for your smart home. There are many compatible devices and accessories that can be added and controlled by Alexa. These are manufactured by various third-party companies and are often relatively affordable. These include all the lights and outlets you'd expect, right down to your vacuum cleaner! 

There are also tons of fun accessories. You can talk to your pet and give them treats from hundreds of miles away, or turn on the lawn sprinkler at just the right moment (while monitoring them via your Chuango Smart AI camera). The sheer number of different devices and accessories that work with Amazon's system (and can be controlled via Alexa) is one of its biggest draws. The downside, however, is that all the data is linked, and data security may therefore be compromised. 

Alexa supports 8 languages: English (4 dialects), Spanish (3 dialects), French (2 dialects), German, Italian, Hindi, Japanese, and Brazilian Portuguese. You can use two languages ​​at the same time, with varying results. 

You can find more information in our FAQ article or watch our detailed instructional video . 

You can find out everything about integrating Alexa into your Chuango smart home system in our blog article! 

 

Google Home Assistant 

Google Assistant is arguably the smartest and most dynamic of personal assistants. With Google Assistant, you can easily control your Chuango Smart Home System. 

Launched in 2016 as an extension of Google Now, Google Assistant not only offers personalized elements—by pulling information from Google Calendar, Gmail, and other Google services—but also understands context, recognizes different language profiles, and supports features like Continued Conversation and Interpreter Mode. 

"Hey Google" gives you instant access to news, plays music, warms your shower, organizes your bedtime, and connects to all devices in the Google Nest family. The Google Assistant is available on more than 1 billion devices, including smart speakers, cars, TVs, and watches. It integrates with other Google products like Chromecast and Nest, as well as third-party products like iDevices. 

Google Assistant supports a total of 44 languages ​​on smartphones, but currently only 13 languages ​​for Nest (formerly Google Home). These are: Danish, Dutch, English (6 dialects), French (2 dialects), German (2 dialects), Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish (3 dialects), and Swedish. You can use three languages ​​at once. 

Google leverages its ubiquitous cloud processing to manage data and voice requests, customize experiences, and store settings. You can expect all Google products to work well together, so you can expect seamless operation from Nest products with Google Assistant. A major advantage of the platform is the variety of modular options provided by third-party developers, but this can also make it more difficult to ensure system stability and security. It's important to note that Google Assistant's cloud-based infrastructure means that personalization data and other information about you (and your home) is stored on external servers, but Google Assistant also has powerful processing capabilities. 

You can find more information in our FAQ article.

When setting up smart bulbs in the Google Home app, you can easily create a device group for Chuango smart bulbs. Simply select a room or name a group during setup. Once set up, you can remotely control the bulbs you selected with your voice. Say "OK Google, turn on the office lights," and all the bulbs in that room or group will turn on. 

You can also remotely control multiple Chuango Smart Light Bulbs using "routines." Here's a quick guide: 

• Install the Google Home app if you don't already have it
• Open the Google Home app. Tap "Settings."
• Under “Features” select “Google Assistant”
• Tap “Manage all Assistant settings”
• Tap on “Processes”
• Tap the plus sign to create a new routine.
• Add triggers. Here you can select "Voice Command."
• Pick a phrase. As a huge Harry Potter fan, I chose the light spell “Lumos.”
• Add actions. Here you can select "Set Home devices."
• Tap “Control smart devices” and select the smart bulbs — “Turn on”.
• Don't forget to save and activate the routine. From now on, you can simply say "Ok Google, Lumos." The selected smart bulbs will turn on.

*Note: The Google Home routine must have at least one voice command trigger. Otherwise, it won't work. 

 

Siri voice assistant

Siri is the familiar voice assistant found on Apple iPhones and iPads and can also be used to control Apple HomeKit. 

HomeKit has taken a different development path than its two main competitors, opting for a "slow and steady wins the race" approach. HomeKit has relied much less on smaller companies developing cheap, generic, "compatible" products. Instead, it has focused more on ensuring that the fundamental design philosophy is maintained across the HomeKit ecosystem. This means the system works seamlessly together, with a level of security that is second to none. Apple has worked hard to ensure this. Every Apple-certified device contains either an MFi (Made For iPhone/iPad/etc.) authentication chip or a secure software equivalent, which can only be achieved through close collaboration with Apple engineers at all stages of design and development. 

For this reason, there are fewer devices that work with HomeKit, but they work perfectly. Another advantage is that Apple has retained control over system security. HomeKit's high level of security makes it an ideal combination with a Chuango smart home system. With the Chuango DreamCatcher Life app, you can use Siri as your voice assistant to control Chuango smart home devices. 

 

'Hey Siri, I'm home.' There may be more limited options, but there are no limits to HomeKit functionality, no matter what you're up to. Of course, you're paying for the quality and thoughtful design of approved HomeKit accessories, but you're not missing anything in terms of capabilities. 

Siri fully supports 21 languages: Arabic, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch (plus dialects), Finnish, English (plus dialects), French (plus dialects), German (plus dialects), Hebrew, Italian (plus dialects), Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mandarin (plus dialects), Norwegian, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Spanish (plus dialects), Swedish, Thai, and Turkish. Siri isn't bilingual yet, but that will come over time. 

The main advantage of Siri as a smart home assistant is that most of the data processing takes place in the base station itself, not in the cloud. This means very little data about you or your home ever leaves the building. Siri is just as powerful and capable as other voice assistants, but offers the added assurance of stability and security. If privacy is a priority for you, Siri is the best choice. 

With our DreamCatcher Life app you can easily control all your Chuango Smart Home devices with your voice. 

With the "Scene" feature in our DreamCatcher Life app, you can remotely control multiple devices simultaneously. For more information on creating a "Scene," see our FAQ article.  

You can also create Siri Shortcuts for a "scene" to enable voice remote control. For more information on creating Siri Shortcuts, see our FAQ article.

Conclusion 

So, which personal assistant is best? Well, as always, there's no easy answer, and it depends on your individual needs. 

If you have an Android or iOS phone, you can download the Google Home app and the Alexa app from the App Store or Google Play Store. As mentioned above, Siri is only available to Apple users. So if you own an Apple device, you have access to all three assistants. 

Every personal assistant has its pros and cons. If you want the smartest assistant, choose a device with Google Assistant. If you value the greatest compatibility with apps and services, choose a device with Alexa. If you prefer the funniest and most natural assistant, choose Siri with an Apple device.