jbdragon

It's kind of sad when Apple started this whole Voice assistant thing with Smartphones, and then lags behind in this area for some things. Now I'm a Homekit house. It's great using Siri on my Apple Watch to control everything. Siri is with me everywhere I'm at because of it. But I'm the only one with the Apple Watch at my house. So anyone else is using their iPhones. For me SIRI in general works great. It answers my questions and does what I need it to. It's not playing Games and other crap like the others are doing.

This is the problem, Apple is really LATE to the game with the HomePod. We already know it'll be limited to Apple Music. It's a $350 item and that's the only option. Now for me, I want to play around with these devices, so I have Alexa on my Ecobee 4 I just got recently which supports everyone, I normally use Homekit with it, and I just got a Google Home Mini.

This is a BIG problem for Apple. I can get a Amazon Echo Dot or a Google Home Mini right now for $30. You can walk into a Best Buy and pick one up for $30. I can buy 11, almost 12 of these things for the price of a single HomePod. Where's Apple with at least a $60 Something SIRI device??? (Apple is almost always more money, so I doubled the price) This is a huge APPLE FAIL. It just is. So I've had some issues with the Google Mini, with connection issues. I'd have to reboot every day to get it working again. I just switched from the 2.4Ghz to 5 Ghz Wifi so I don't know if that will fix the issue I'm having or not. But the rest of the time it works great.

I havn't really gotten into testing, comparing yet. But I'll ask the Google Mini a question and then Siri the same question and compare the answers and so far it's a tie. Maybe even Siri a slight edge in the responce to the question so far. It was Easy enough to get it setup on my Ecobee 4, which only a few weeks ago gained Google Home Support. After having Amazon Alexa, Samesung's Smartthings, and Apple Homekit, along with IFTTT. It also now supports Amazon's Echo's ESP. (Echo Spatial Perception) which you want if you have more then one Echo.

For me, Apple has been in this game with the Apple Watch. I just lift my wrist and I can do pretty much anything those other devices can do, but not locked into a room by a power cord. But it's not a cheap $30 device. Or a normal $50 device. Apple has turned into Microsoft, ..SSLLLLOOOWWWWW to do anything. Look how long it's taking to get this $350 Homepod device out into the market. A Device I have ZERO interest in getting. The Google Mini sounds all right to me. I don't have the volume turned way up, just at a normal level and it sounds just fine, even for music.

One girl at work is buying 18 Amazon Echo Dots to give out as gifts!!! 18!!! I know as I ordered 6 of them for her which is the limit you can buy Online. Where's Apple???

For controlling my Ecobee 4, I think Siri works easy and So far Google works as good also, Alexa, kind of more of a pain. It's not as natural. I have to Ask or Tell it and to use the Ecobee, where Google and Siri are smart enough to know I'm talking about the Ecobee. Currently my Ecobee 4 is the only device I can play around with all 3 Voice controls, Siri, Alexia, Google. Early next year I'll have Voice control on some of my Blinds also which will also be able to use all 3. Why Apple can't have a small low cost Siri Box out now?!?!?! If ever?!?!? A Watch, it's a 1 person device. These other things, the whole family can use. The HomePod is not the answer. It's a Sonos Speaker with Siri on it. That's a far smaller market. I really just don't get it.

What's worse, Apple Announces their HomePod Speaker, and shortly after, here's Google with the Home MAX, and Googles comes out the same month the HomePod was suppose to come out, and Apple is delayed until Next year sometime. Apple has turned into a SNAIL and not in a good way. I just got a great 12.9" iPad Pro a couple months ago. I'm a Apple house, but come on Apple, the shine is wearing off on people.

Still nothing on the new iMacs!!! Those were suppose to come out this month. Is this another release a few on the last day of the month and say they came out??? What is going on. Is their head in the game anymore? I'm not going to be a blind fool to Apple.

I have to say, I ordered 12 of the Echo Dots Monday!!! I actually wanted to order 18 of them, but Amazon has a 6 limit on them. So I ordered 6 from my normal account. I setup a business account and ordered 6 more, and the person got someone in the front office I think to order 6 more, to get the 18 she wanted.

I have NONE. But I did just installed a Ecobee4 a week ago which has built in Alexa support. I got Alexa setup on it, but I also have Homekit setup on it as that's what I would be normally using and it works great. I can say, Hey Siri, set the temp to 68 and it'll do it, along with other things and I didn't have to do anything.

My Dad lives with me and was trying to use Alexa to adjust the temp and it wasn't working. I didn't know why off hand, though I could tell it to set a timer or show me the weather. Stuff like that. I'm a Homekit house and the stuff just works. As I thought about it today at work I realized I must have to setup some Alexa Skill. I just assumed Alexa is built in, that I didn't have to do anything. After all I didn't have to do a single thing once I got Homekit setup. I figured I had setup Alexa that it should also work, but it didn't. Found out there's a Ecobee Plus skill I needed to setup.

With Homekit I can just say Hey Siri, Adjust the temp to 68, and it's smart enough to know to adjust the temp on the Ecobee. With using Alexa, I guess I have to go Alexa, Echobee temp to 68 or some such thing. I'll have to look up the things to can say to use it again.

To me, Homekit is better. it just works. I can open and close my Garage door by just saying Hey Siri, Open garage door and it opens!!! That's it!!! With one of my Homekit switches that I have hooked up that turns on/off the lights on one side of my garage, using Apple's Home app, I have it linked to the Garage door. When the door opens, the light comes on, when it closes the light goes off. It's great as I can see at night much better then what little light comes from the garage door opener. Best of all, I don't even have to use Siri. I can use the normal push button on the wall and it still works and the normal remote control in the car. It's linked no matter what. Since it's a switch. I can still use Siri to turn that light on/off, or manually push on the switch on the top or bottom to turn on/off.

I can do it anywhere, at anytime from my iPhone or better yet, my Apple Watch. Lift wrist, speak what I want done and that's it, it works!!! It's really pretty reliable. I just think the Echo's and even Apple's Homepod are old tech. It's a device locked into a room by a power cord. You are not going to have one in your car, or in your front or back yard, or away from home. Siri works everywhere I'm at. On the Apple Watch even better. Why people don't think Apple has already been in this game?!?! Apple's sold far, far more Apple Watches then Amazon has sold Echo's.

But Ya, I tried to order 18 Echo Dots for the girl at work, (With her own credit card), that have a 6 per person limit. So with a business account, I got another 6 for her, and then someone else got another 6 for her. I had order a couple of these in t he past for her, which she was sending to her sister who lives out of the country. So I've been ordering all these Dot's and I don't have a single one. She's giving them out as gifts. For $30, not a bad deal. But it's Amazon's Ecosystem. Looking at the reviews for most of the skills I've been looking at, it's been mostly 2-3 stars. So not the greatest. I'm going to get a couple like PLEX and try them out, but I have ZERO plans to own any other type of Alexa device.

The Ecobee 4 though is a really nice device. Right now you can get one for $199 at Amazon, but I saw them for the same price when I was at Home Depot Yesterday. That's $50 off the normal price. If you happen to have a few Echo's already, the Ecobee 4 now supports ESP. Which means only the Echo closest to you responds. Before the ESP support, you really did get a Echo as the Echo in your house and the Ecobee 4 would both respond at the same time.

I'm sure Amazon is selling a ton of these things as they're so cheap, trying to be the #1 company in this area. When you're on top, everyone supports your platform. Which only helps them. So far, not a fan, still think Homekit is better. I guess if you want to play games like Jeopardy, when then you can't do that with Homekit, have to use a Echo. Darn!!!! Home Control, Homekit I think is better. Answering my questions, Siri has been doing a great job for me in that area. I find it strange how so many complain about Siri, and I wonder if they're using the Same Siri I am?!?! I use it mostly on my Apple Watch these days. it's great. I just automated a couple of my blinds with MYSMARTBLINDS which you can get on Amazon for $99. They have a deal where if you get the $45 solar charger at the same time, it's FREE. So I got 2 kits and 2 solar chargers. Easy to install. I had no problem setting them up in the app. The down side is it's Bluetooth only, which I get because it runs on battery's which normally will last 6-12 months on a charge without the solar charger. You plug into a mini USB jack to charge back up. You can set it up to open and close on it's own, and a number of other things and then it'll work without your phone being around. There is a hub coming out March 2018, that will support Amazon Alexa to start, so not the end for me as I could use my Ecobee 4, but also firmware updates in time to support Samsungs SmartThings, Google Home, and Apple's Homekit, which I can't wait for. Then I can just go hey Siri Open computer room blinds and BAM!!! Alexa, you'll have to install some Skill and tell it however way extra to get it to open.

melgross said:

I just read about Apple’s patent for a foldable,screen. I hope they won’t be doing that. We just went through a big discussion about folding screens. More problems than benefits.

The iPhone X already has a foldable screen. As the center top part of the screen where the notch is as as been folded over. You can see this in pictures.

 Did anyone think that this wasn’t working to bypass Face ID? The simple fact is, who’s going to waste their time making a mask like this.  Well you know maybe the CIA will waste of time making a mask. But your every day, common criminal? I don’t think so. I mean if they really wanted to they could just hold the phone right in front of your face and unlock it right then and there, why waste time with a mask? That’s the whole point.

So someone comes in, drops your package off and it looks like they did nothing wrong. Then later they tell a friend that no one was home at such at such time. the delivery driver happen to see this and that, and then a week later you're robbed. The driver gets a piece of the action!!!