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Google Home vs Amazon Echo: Which smart speaker is best?

The two virtual assistants for the home face-off.
The two virtual assistants for the home face-off. The two virtual assistants for the home face-off.

The arrival of Google Home means that for the first time, consumers now have a choice of which smart speaker they would like to run their home.

In the other corner is Amazon Echo, powered by Alexa and more established having been launched in the UK late last year.

To find out which had the edge, we put them to the test with a series of questions and challenges relating to providing information, answering queries and providing pieces of information based on location and even its ability to realise when it wasn’t being summoned but was in fact hearing an advert about itself.

Both speakers carry the power to stream music as well as give you news briefings, weather updates and connect to other smart home appliances.

Google Home and Amazon Echo
Google Home and Amazon Echo
(Martyn Landi/PA)

But while Amazon’s Echo has strong shopping capabilities, with users able to buy products directly with just their voice, Google Home is able to call on the power of its search engine as well as Maps, Translate and schedule information from Gmail and Calendar to help you out.