***Remote access and voice control - Part 4 - Apple Home vs. Google Home vs. Amazon Alexa Comparison

Remote access is a must when it comes to smart homes. The first thing my parents asked me when I told them I was reviewing smart home gadgets was “Can I check up on my house when I’m gone?”. If you feel as strongly about remote access as I do, then Apple Home is probably going to be the better smart home platform. Again. And Google Home sits at the bottom. Again.

However, when it comes to voice control, I personally prefer Alexa over Siri but that’s just me.

This is part 4 of 4 of my ULTIMATE smart home comparison between Apple Home, Google Home and Amazon Alexa. Check the description section below to see what the other 3 parts are. I’ve also lumped everything into one giant video if you rather watch everything in one go. I also talk about the fundamental problem I have with smart home’s right now in the longer video.

Part 1 - Hardware Setup -    • Easiest to Setup? - Part 1 - Apple Ho...  
Part 2 - Apps & Automation -    • The BEST Smart Home App & Automations...  
Part 3 - Data Privacy & Security -    • SHHHHH! - Data Privacy/Security - Par...  
Part 4 - Remote Monitoring & Voice Control -
   • Remote Monitoring & Voice Control - P...  

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Remote Access

I’m going to sound like a broken record here but remote access again goes to Apple Home if you set it up with an Apple TV or iPad. Everything runs through iCloud and you access your home, outside of your home, like you do in your home. With Apple Home, you can see what all your devices are doing in one app. You don’t get this with any of the other platforms.

With Amazon Alexa, you can verbally tell the AI to turn appliances on and off but it can’t handle queries about the status of the appliances. For me, the most awkward part is opening the Amazon shopping app in order to use Alexa. I can’t use Alexa in my Amazon Alexa app.

Google Home gives you a big fat bagel for remote access.

But this might not matter. Most of the products that are compatible with Google Home and Amazon Alexa have remote access web services so if you really wanted to, you can control your devices through their apps.

Voice Control

When it comes to issuing commands to Siri, Google and Alexa, I personally prefer Alexa. Shocker!

Here’s why I prefer Alexa. If I’m commanding something, my tone is quite stern. For example, when I’m telling Monty to sit, I’m doing it in an authoritative way. I’m not giving Monty an option with that command. That’s the same feeling I should get when I’m giving these AI’s commands. I feel very comfortable giving Alexa smart home commands. The outcome should be finite.

Saying “Hey Siri” bothers me a bit. When I say “Hey”, it’s more of a question, a query. I’m not expecting a finite answer, a finite outcome. For example, I’ll ask my wife this question “Hey, can you see if the backdoor is open?” My wife might be doing something and she wouldn’t be able to. My tone isn’t authoritative but again, I’m not expecting a finite outcome which is fine. I don’t ever say to my dog “Hey Monty, can you sit?”

Giving smart home commands with “Hey Siri” feels very awkward to me because it seems like I’m giving Siri a chance to not obey the command. What makes interacting with Siri even more frustrating is when the AI just fails at the query. Having to say “Hey Siri” when you’re about to rage makes me feel odd.

Onto “Ok Google”. Personally, this is the most emotionless command I can give an AI. At least Apple and Amazon tried to give their AI a semblance of personality by naming the AI’s but Google didn’t. When I think how I use the word OK, it’s usually not in a sentence. I use “Ok” as a sentence, to acknowledge something. So to start a sentence or command with the “Ok” is odd. Can you imagine starting a conversation with “Ok, Ben do your homework?”

Now this is all quite fluffy but I didn’t really have an issue until I started using the various AI’s with my smart home. When I was using the AI’s as an extension of my smart phone, I didn’t care about how I addressed the AI. But now that I’m using it for my home, which is filled with inanimate objects, being able to give the right command in the right tone seemed really important to me.