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Comment by rufius | Hacker News Reader

While I do understand the author's point about the void - the particular example of the Amazon Echo and Google Home is something I really don't get. I find those devices invasive and irritating - I'm not sure I see the attraction.

That being said, I also hate talking on the phone so this may be more of an issue at interacting vocally with a device. It's somewhat lessened when I use FaceTime with my phone but only because I can see who I'm talking to.

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It seems to me that Apple attempts to avoid the "invasive" use of deep learning, while Echo and Home utilize it aggressively. Perhaps this is why Siri is seemingly lagging behind Google Now.

Another example of this is Photos apps - Google Photos constantly calls back to the cloud and showers you with computer curated albums, auto-slideshows and "remixes", and automatically tag peoples' faces, while Apple Photos does its learning on-device and buries the "creepy" facial/background recognition features deep in its menus.

On top of that, calling them category defining and comparing them to the iPhone is kind of crazy since they are niche products so far. Nobody I know has an Echo. The few people I know that have Chromecasts bought them only because it was a cheap way to wirelessly stream video from their computer to a TV for presentations. They didn't buy it as a substitute for a Roku or Apple TV.

I share the author's concerns about Apple's devices since about 2012 being underwhelming but I don't agree with their conclusion that Google and Amazon are filling the void. The distressing part for me is that as far as work computers go nobody is.

I have an echo. My parents have an echo and I'm giving one to my sister and her family this xmas.

It is absolutely a category, especially if you have a larger home where your phone isn't near you. Instead, you just speak to it and it responds without having to find a device instead. It's integration with an ecosystem in your home means it's the new remote -- one that's far more powerful.

Out of curiosity, did your parents seek out the Echo or did you buy it for them? I'll believe you regardless, but the comment about you giving one to your sister tends to be more of the story I hear when I hear about niche products "everyone has".

There's a slight difference in a lot of the tech that gets pushed as AppleProduct-Killers in that most of the time the products usually kill the Apple equivalent only on paper; historically, when push comes to shove, it's been iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks people seek out or ask for because they're still considered hot items. This isn't to dismiss the quality of other products, but it's also not the same as everyone wanting them specifically.

My parents sought one after seeing/using mine. My brother in law commented a lot on mine after being over recently, and I watched my friend's 3 young girls ask to it play various Kate Perry songs every 7 seconds (they now have one). It's a new, somewhat expensive device, so it'll take time for it to make its way into the mainstream. It's also not for everyone, but it is for a lot of people.

WARNING: Snarky Response

I just write it down on a notepad rather than buying a $150 device.

That said, you do you. If y'all like it, have at it and I won't be one to criticize the way you spend your money.

Wait, the point was to control things around the home, how do you do that by writing into a notepad?

Or play music, or set timers (especially in the kitchen), convert between units, set alarms (at night), or get random information like the time in various places? (I do all these things on a frequent basis)

I see Amazon Echo and Google Home as research devices, where the way they work is just what's easy to stick microphones and hardware inside and not look like a student project. The fact that Amazon are building a significant ecosystem where devices are controlled by the Echo is a happy accident but one where the article alleges Apple are also failing.

If voice control was significantly more capable it would make devices which are constrained in other input methods (e.g. the Apple Watch doesn't have a physical keyboard or the space for much on-screen input, legal restrictions on touchscreen use when driving) much more useful.

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