Are you the new owner of an Amazon Echo or Google Home? Congratulations, You’ve just joined the growing number of 40 million Americans who own a smart speaker. Whether you own the Amazon Echo or the Google Home, both devices are capable of tons of different tasks and they continue to learn and offer new skills every day. There are basic skills like asking for the time and the weather, but the devices are much more complex and capable of so much more.
Here are 5 cools things you can do with it:
1 . Order an Uber
The Google Home and Amazon Alexa are both capable of ordering an Uber for you. This is helpful when wanting to order a ride to the airport or for a night out on the town.
From your Google Home you have to go to your Google Home app; go to Devices > Google Home Settings > More > Services > Scroll down to find Uber > and then you will have to log in to your Uber account to link it to your smart device. Once set up you simply just have to say, “OK Google, can you order me an Uber?” More easily, you can also check the status of your ride by asking “OK Google, where’s my Uber?” Simple and easy.
Similarly, with the Amazon Echo all you have to do is enable Uber voice app. You’ll be asked to link your Uber account. Once that is done, you will be able to make voice command, like, say, “Alexa, ask Uber to request a ride.” to order a ride on Uber.
2 . Read you news
Both smart speakers are capable of delivering you the latest news and stories of the day. You can catch up on local news, international news, sports, entertainment and so much more!
To setup your list of news sources on your Google home, read this short article . Once you have your news sources setup, you can say “Ok Google, catch me up,” or “Ok Google tell me the news.”
You can do the same thing on your Amazon Echo device. First, you would have to select your news sources then you can say “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing” or “Alexa, play my news.”
If you are looking for an easy way to browse and discover news sources to subscribe to, check out trebble.fm. It works for both Amazon Echo and google home.
3 . Make hands-free calls
Making hands-free calls is something we love to do, especially when we are a little busy. This nice feature works with the smart speakers. The Google Home can make calls to the contacts in your Google account. All you have to do is say, "Hey Google, call...the name of the contact" and it will dial on its own. The Amazon Echo has an edge and can make calls to numbers in your cell phone’s contacts, simply by asking Alexa to call a specific person. Then, you are able to talk and communicate right through your smart speaker.
If you own an Amazon echo, you can simply speak the number you want to dial. You can say “Alexa, dial (phone number)”. Alexa will repeat the number to you and ring it. When you’re done with your call, you can just say “Alexa, hang up.”
If you are using a Google Home, you can say, “OK Google, call <contact name>.” Google Home will then scan your contacts and place a call. If your matched contact has one number, Google Home will just call that one; if there are multiple numbers, you’ll be asked which one you want to call.
4 . Play white noise to help you sleep and relax
Both devices can help you relax and sleep by playing white noise. If you don’t like white noise, to sleep, there is a variety of other night noises you can try such as waterfalls and thunderstorms.
On the Google Home you can try it out, simply by saying, “Hey Google, help me relax,” or, “Ok Google, play white noise.”
You can do the same thing on your Amazon Echo by saying “Alexa, help me sleep,” or, “Ok Google, play white noise.”
5 . Ordering a pizza
We all love pizza. Is there anyone who does not? If you have a Dominos account, that is great! You can track your pizza order.
Google Home makes it easy for you. Just say, “Ok Google, talk to Domino’s,” and you can build a new order from scratch, place your Easy Order, reorder your most recent Domino’s order, and track your order using Domino’s Tracker.
With the Amazon Echo, you can order your Domino’s pizza using the Domino’s voice app. Once it is enabled, just say, “Alexa, open Dominos and place an order” to place your order or say “Alexa, ask Dominos to track my order” to track your order.
As you’ll guess the list of what your Amazon Echo or your Google Home can do is longer than this and thanks to the ability to use third-party services, what you can do with those devices is close to infinite. We hope you learned something new and useful that you can try out with your device.