More houses than not own a voice assistant now – he could be on an intelligent speaker or a smartphone, a television or even a coffee machine. But how much these smart home assistants are used is very different.
Most people will probably not go any further than asking about the weather forecast or setting timers. Others might have taken them into a smart home ecosystem and checked the lighting, cameras and thermostats in their houses.
But every voice assistant has a wide range of additional functionality – here are just a few tricks that the three main players (also known as Google, Alexa and Siri) can do, which they can try at home …
Amazon Alexa
(Photo credit: Amazon)
Alexas oh so practical birthday tracker function makes Alexa the ultimate organizational tool. Add details with “Alexa, ask the birthday tracker to add Emma's birthday”. Then every month you can ask a whole series of questions on birthdays, remember memories, find out how old someone will be on his next birthday and so on.
If you have some of Amazon's hands-free system in your house, you can use Alexa's decent drop in the function to connect to you by saying: “Alexa, in the living room” ideal to call the children for dinner or to remind them that they have to do their homework.
Google Assistant
(Photo credit: Google)
When you have finished the milk, Google can create a shopping list for you. Download the Googlekeep -app on your smartphone and link it to your Google account. Then ask Google to “create a shopping list” and then “add milk to the shopping list”. When it comes to making your weekly shop, you will find the list in the app.
Another great feature is a must if you tend to forget where you place things to store it safely. So if you say, “Hey Google, remember that the replacement keys are in the console drawer from next door,” Google tells you where you are when you have to find them.
Apple Siri
(Photo credit: Apple)
To be honest, Siri's skills are limited compared to the other two, but Siri still has a few nice tricks in the metaphorical sleeve. The HomePod and HomePod-Mini-Smart loudspeaker have built-in temperature and moisture sensors so that you can ask the device to let you know how warm or moist it is in the room in which it lives.
And if you have a siri-capable iPhone and lay it at home, just scream: “Siri, where are you?” And it sounds a warning and vibrates to help them find it.
Universal tricks that every voice assistant can do
- Calendar management All voice assistants can plan appointments and remind them that they never forget important events.
- Call friends and family If your voice assistant has access to your contacts, you can tell him who you should call your phone or an intelligent speaker.
- Smart heating If you have an intelligent thermostat, you can control your heating via your intelligent assistant. Switch on and off the heating, the warming by a few degrees and so on …
- General updates From weather forecasts and traffic reports to headlines you can like.
- Music & more Stream music and podcasts, listen to the radio, look at a television program. A voice assistant can immediately sort all of her entertainment.
- Intelligent lighting If you have invested in some intelligent light bulbs, you can adjust the lights, dim, change the color and so on – all through voice control.
- Video doorbell If your smart hub contains a screen, you can see who is on the door when the doorbell rings. If you do not do this, you will see it through your television screen, provided that both have Wi-Fi functions.
Echo hub (latest gene) | 8 “Smart Home Control Panel with Alexa | Compatible with thousands of devices
This Smart Home Hub Wall-Hungry Panel from Amazon is equipped in black and white. As well as 8-inch touchscreen and voice control, you have it as a practical additional control panel for all your smart home devices.
The Google Nest Hub is available in four colors and has a 7 -inch touchscreen for simple control (although you can also use voice commands).
Apple's little smart speaker is equipped in blue, yellow and orange as well as midnight and white colors and enables you to control all devices that you have linked to your Apple Home Ecosystem.
Would you like to learn more about the functions to which your voice assistant is capable of? Try online – Enter the name, followed by “functions” and find a variety of tips and tricks that you can try out at home …