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psicodude · 08-11-2017, 08:27 AM

I have two of them in my home and have had them for about 6 months (a family member brought it up from the states). It's difficult to articulate, but the Google Home has become part of our daily routine now, especially since they added multi-user identification (it can tell which family member is speaking to it and answer accordingly).

We primarily use it as the hub for our home automation as it runs our lights (Hue), Nest, and Vizio TV. While these devices are all crazy expensive, they work flawlessly. Adding IFTTT into the mix is even better. For example, I just say "Hey Google. Goodnight" and it turns off all of the lights on the main floor and turns on the bedroom lights.

What is really interesting, however, is how we use it in our normal lives. Some of the things we do on a daily basis include:

Asking what time a store is open until, or where the closest location is.
Asking about traffic between our house and a destination.
What's the weather going to be today?
How many carbs are in a certain food.
Reminders (This one is huge)
Stuff you would normally look up on your phone (how many litres in 20 gallons?)
What time is the Flames game tonight? (If I could integrate Home with my PVR, I would be in heaven).

There are some caveats, however. You really need to immerse yourself into the Google ecosystem, or it starts to fall apart. Gmail, Google Music, Youtube, etc, are all pre-requisites almost. The AI is great, but not perfect. It's a massive step forward from Siri, Google Now, etc, but it still messes up fairly regularly. I would also say that the speaker is good, but not great. Especially when compared to a Sonos or whatever. The microphone can be finicky at times as well. It seems to pick up on background noise on occasion.

Overall, I would say I love my Home and fully recommend it to anyone in the Google world. I haven't done anything too special with IFTTT other than saying specific phrases which fires off a Hue scene. I also have it setup to play a song on my phone if I say "Hey Google, I can't find my phone". There are a ton of recipe's available for use though.

08-11-2017, 08:27 AM	#4
psicodude First Line Centre Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Calgary Exp:	I have two of them in my home and have had them for about 6 months (a family member brought it up from the states). It's difficult to articulate, but the Google Home has become part of our daily routine now, especially since they added multi-user identification (it can tell which family member is speaking to it and answer accordingly). We primarily use it as the hub for our home automation as it runs our lights (Hue), Nest, and Vizio TV. While these devices are all crazy expensive, they work flawlessly. Adding IFTTT into the mix is even better. For example, I just say "Hey Google. Goodnight" and it turns off all of the lights on the main floor and turns on the bedroom lights. What is really interesting, however, is how we use it in our normal lives. Some of the things we do on a daily basis include: Asking what time a store is open until, or where the closest location is. Asking about traffic between our house and a destination. What's the weather going to be today? How many carbs are in a certain food. Reminders (This one is huge) Stuff you would normally look up on your phone (how many litres in 20 gallons?) What time is the Flames game tonight? (If I could integrate Home with my PVR, I would be in heaven). There are some caveats, however. You really need to immerse yourself into the Google ecosystem, or it starts to fall apart. Gmail, Google Music, Youtube, etc, are all pre-requisites almost. The AI is great, but not perfect. It's a massive step forward from Siri, Google Now, etc, but it still messes up fairly regularly. I would also say that the speaker is good, but not great. Especially when compared to a Sonos or whatever. The microphone can be finicky at times as well. It seems to pick up on background noise on occasion. Overall, I would say I love my Home and fully recommend it to anyone in the Google world. I haven't done anything too special with IFTTT other than saying specific phrases which fires off a Hue scene. I also have it setup to play a song on my phone if I say "Hey Google, I can't find my phone". There are a ton of recipe's available for use though. Last edited by psicodude; 08-11-2017 at 08:29 AM.