Google home or mini or echo dot thingy?

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Thinking of getting one of these things for the dc for Christmas. I don't really understand them. Do they link to a device like a normal speaker? Is there much difference between any of them?

We have an Echo in the kitchen and a Dot in the living room. Main difference between them is that the Dot, being very much smaller, has a tinny little speaker while the full size Echo has a decent one. So the Dot is fine for Alexa talking to you, but you wouldn’t want to use it for music (talk radio would be okay-ish).

For music, you’ve got various options, streaming services, radio, connecting to a device ... that’s via Bluetooth, you pair e.g. a phone with the device, and play music through the device speaker. It’s a little bit clunky tbh, you can’t say ‘Alexa, play The Killers from my iPhone’, you say ‘Alexa, pair’, then select what you want from the actual phone.

Amazon music and radio stations are quite good though, I usually just ask for a genre or an era and it’ll choose either a station or a playlist.

Interesting thanks. So we have Spotify... can you stream that directly through the thing rather than going via a phone?

Love the Google Home - we have the Mini. Main reason for buying was to play music and stories for the children without interacting with a screen. You can ask for a lot of info eg how much are flights to Berlin in February? And get useful answers. The sound quality is good as well.

We haven’t gotten this far yet but if you buy some smart plugs that connect you can tell it when to turn on and off appliances.

I think you can use Spotify directly ... it’s listed as one of the music services alongside Amazon music. I don’t have an account though so can’t be sure.

Thanks so much. We have just ordered a mini for 25 from John Lewis.