Issuing a pair of commands like “Play Manic Focus” and “Set the volume to 10” to voice assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home can be annoying because you have to precede each command with the wake-up phrase. Echo has partially solved the problem with user-created scripts called “routines” that run several commands in sequence after being triggered by a single phrase. While Google works on their own version of routines, it’s come up with another approach to the problem. Home now accepts two commands at once.
Running two commands is as simple as you’d expect. Say “Hey Google. Play Manic Focus and set the volume to 10” and Home does both. Most of the time – sometimes it only executes one command or tells you it can’t do what you asked. The dual command function just rolled out and it’s a little wonky.
Home’s two-command system is useful for pairing smart-home commands although Echo’s routines work better if your smart-home sequences involve more than two commands. On the other hand, Echo is more limited because routines can only include smart home, news, weather and traffic actions. Echo can’t run a routine to play music and set volume, for example. Home doesn’t place restrictions on the commands you can use.
If the future is like the past, Google and Amazon will continue their tit-for-tat competition in the hands-free, voice assistant space, and Home will have its own version of routines while Echo learns to execute paired voice commands. This is great for consumers as these already-useful devices keep getting better all the time.
By: Kevin Murnane (Forbes).
Photo: CNet.
Review: Emerging Market Formulations & Research Unit, Flagship Records.