I never understood how people find setting a timer on their phone so excruciatingly difficult that they need to buy a $100+ device they can speak to to do it for them. Or perhaps it's another case of shiny object syndrome.
- Hands are full or dirty while cooking. Voice activation is more convenient. True for not just timers, but every other aspect - music playing, controlling home devices like lights, watching something on YouTube, etc.
- The above also applies to any case where my hands can't readily access my phone, such as wanting to listen/change music when showering.
- As the other commenter said, sometimes the timer needs to be "room-specific" rather than on my phone (which stays with me)
- The device has a decent speaker, so makes a convenient Spotify device. The voice activation is sufficient, though I can also control the device via Spotify on my phone if there's occasional blips.
- Combined with smart light switches, I have convenient control over various aspects of lighting in my home
- Combined with Chromecast / Google TV, it provides voice activated access to pause/play/change what I'm watching.
- Basic internet queries, such as how long it will take to drive somewhere or when a certain place will close, work well also.
None of these use cases _individually_ is so amazing I'd spend $100+, but the combined total value is great for me.
- Don't need to control home devices or watch shit while you're cooking. If I really want to queue up a video I just do that before I start cooking.
- Don't need music while showering, who cares, showering takes 5 minutes
- Again just like "oh it's for music"
- Yes I like controlling smart lights but I can just hold the power button on my phone and tell it what to do instead of bothering with a speaker in every room
- I just put the remote nearby? or use the remote on the phone? What's so hard about pausing TV with a phone/TV remote?
- Basic internet queries, a.k.a., the smartphone I always have on me
OMG if I can't control my music in the shower I'll literally melt.
People are willing to spend <$100 on a smart speaker and then never pay again. Meanwhile, Amazon is trying to make providing a free cloud service make sense by bundling it into Prime in hopes of being able to raise the cost of Prime as much as possible.
So I acknowledge that some people prefer this, but I think it's dumb enough that if I was a hypothetical investor back when these technologies were new I would not have gone anywhere near them.
I was additionally referring to my previous comment in the thread, which was not just about the users of smart speakers but the functions they perform. My overall opinion is that smart speakers have limited value. I was pointing out how everything you might prefer to do on them has an existing or easy alternative or just isn’t much of a solution.
I acknowledge that people are allowed to have their own preferences but I still think they’re a dumb preference and I’m exercising my preference to dunk on that preference just like I’ll prefer to criticize anyone who says the Jeep Grand Cherokee is a good purchase.
Also maybe try a longer shower or a bath. Its usually the most relaxing part of my day and I would hate to be in and out in 5 minutes
If I'm in a bath I can use my phone. A regular bluetooth speaker is sufficient. There is no need for a voice assistant.
A long shower is not relaxing, that's the opposite. It's not relaxing to stand in the same place for a long time. I can't even hear the music that well in the shower through the speaker, there is water in my ears.
It’s generally quite useful to react to other people persistently buying something you don’t feel the need for by learning what they value. For example, smart speakers are quite popular with parents who either have their hands full (literally), don’t want the distraction of a screen, or want something for the gap measured in years where a kid can talk but does not have a personal computer. That’s certainly not universal, but if you think about similar contexts or needs you might come up with some good product ideas which could be worthwhile even if they never ship in the billions of units.
People will still use it, since it mindlessly gets you on the road and looks like it knows what it is doing, which makes it the path of least resistance - and that will beat out better results for most people most of the time.
The same applies to Alexa and ilk - if you have it than it is easier to use than to do things any other way. Even if there are all sorts of mess ups on the way, it still will become the default action of anyone who tries it.
As they say - "Even a bolt of lightning will follow the path of least resistance, and it's not combating laziness or lack of focus"
Don't ever dismiss the power of inertia [or whatever this is called]. A listening AI agent that can perform tasks takes advantage of inertia.
But yes, even just setting timers while washing dishes or hands covered in flour is worth it. My retired parents have a kitchen timer stuck on the side of the fridge and still use Alexa for cooking timers. There is literally no interruption to your flow.
Like, the solution is to put your phone in your pocket. I don't get it. Unless you are walking around naked most of the time, the solution is a device you already own.
That's something I like a lot about Apple's smart home setup having the option of having the Apple TV as the hub. I don't want or need a smart voice command speaker considering I already own the hardware capable of such things. I have no use for a low quality shitty speaker device that sits there and does nothing useful besides take voice commands.
It works great and I'm not tempted to get out my phone as much. Being able to call out multiple timers while cooking and change the music is so nice.
I just have this hilarious picture in my mind of all these smart speaker users constantly balancing random objects in their arms as if they are not allowed to have their hands free or else they'll melt. Setting a timer on the microwave or stove you already own is fucking impossible. No way I can do that! I gotta install an Internet-connected microphone and speaker in my house for that!
https://www.thermoworks.com/extra-big-loud/
A house guest sneered at the several timers in my kitchen and asked why I don’t use my phone. I like having timers assigned to the kitchen.
I get that not everyone would want this. I'm ok with that.
I don't think that is useful enough to allow Bezos to listen to everything in my home, but will absolutely enable this feature in a product like Home Assistant.
It's been there for half a year or so; just add either OpenAI or Anthropic LLM integrations to Home Assistant, and you'll get a better personal assistant than anything Apple, Google or Amazon ever released.
The magic really is 1) SOTA LLMs that are good at understanding what you mean, and 2) no commercial bullshit that's degrading functionality (like having to say brand names to do stuff).
I'd switch to a comparable Siri or Home Assistant clock if such a product was available.
I don't usually have my phone on me, but even if I did I need to at least unlock it to enable voice commands, which instantly kills any notion of it being truly hands-free.
but it's nice to use your voice so you don't contaminate your phone. (preparing chicken and such)
the kitchen is pretty much the only use-case for voice assistants imo.
I don't worry about getting mine dirty because I just wash the watch when I watch my hands.
you don't always have hands free to fiddle with a watch.
more often than not, both hands are doing something, and setting a timer is... timely.
You can still hold something in the hand that the watch is strapped to.
sometimes you're putting something in the oven, sometimes you're mixing something (holding the bowl and whip)
tons of instances where two hands are in use and voice commands help.