We recently picked up a Ring Doorbell in Casa del Rogers. We wanted something easy to use that would avoid missed packages and send alerts to everyone who lives within the walls of our home when there's someone at the door.
But it raised an issue — our mish-mash of smart speakers around the house that have traditionally just been about music streaming no longer feel as high-tech. Or, indeed, as useful.
The parameters
There's space for a more premium option in a couple of rooms in the house, but for the most part, we need affordable.
I've got a couple of different things that I need our new smart speakers to do. First up, we need them to be inexpensive. After all, we're going to be filling our home with them, so we can't go spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars on each speaker for each room. There's space for a more premium option in a couple of rooms in the house, but for the most part, we need affordable. Parameter one.
We need wide compatibility with smart devices as a second parameter. We've got an assortment of different smart lights and other devices around the house, and there's our brand-new Ring doorbell that needs to work. A smart speaker, and indeed, a voice assistant, that works with all of them, is paramount.
Thirdly, we need something easy to use. I am relatively technologically competent, so setting up and using devices is fairly easy. My parents are older, so they need something that's easy to use.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly to me, I want something that's going to sound good. I want something more than just a simple smart speaker, given that it's likely to be the only way to listen to music in certain rooms around the house.
So, with our criteria set out, let's go through our options — and whether I'll be adding them to our house.
Option 1: Amazon Echo and Alex
We've all heard of the best Alexa speakers (and now Alexa+), and the Echo speakers that power it. They're a well-known system of smart devices that works with, as far as I can tell at least, just about every lightbulb, thermostat, blind opener and smart doormat under the sun. They're a popular choice for many users, whether they wield an iPhone or Android.
It's all thanks to Alexa at the core of the experience, which has only been improved by Alexa+ and all of its AI updates that have recently dropped. As for how useful it'll be in the Rogers household, there are a couple of different points that might make us choose Amazon's smart system.
It's effortless to use. We've loved using our Ring Doorbell, our first introduction to Amazon's smart environment, and it was simple enough to set up that it took less than half an hour from drilling holes in the wall to fully working. Echo devices are similarly simple, so they'd be perfect for my less-technologically-minded parents.
The wide device support would work wonders for our disparate system, and their lower price and sheer range of available devices would be a massive boon.
Where do they fall down? The sound quality. From my experience, they sound fine, but no more than that. Still, that's 3/4 different parameters filled — making them a very viable option for our villainous lair.
- Final Rogers Home Score: 3/4
Option 2: Google Nest and Google Home
Google Home is one that I'm also familiar with after my year with a Pixel device in my pocket. It's helped me play around with different speaker systems and projectors as I build a home movie center, and it worked pretty seamlessly with the Android device that lived with me.
That said, I wasn't a massive fan of the Gemini settings, which served to irritate more than actually help. It was responsive, but I'm not sure I could see myself using it all that much to control the various devices around the house.
I also found setting devices up more annoying than it perhaps should have been. Compatibility would also be an issue, with some of our devices around the house not working with the best Google Home speakers or needing an extra hub to get working.
At least the cost would be kept down, always a bonus — and one criterion fulfilled.
Finally, the sound. Like the Echo speakers, the Nest speakers sound fine, but not exemplary. I'm not entirely sure that, given our household's reliance on iPhones, Google Home is going to be all that useful — so no Nest speakers for us.
- Final Rogers Home Speaker Score: 1/4
Option 3: HomePod and Siri
The HomePod line is one that I'm more familiar with than any of the options on the list. I've had a (now broken) HomePod, and there's an aging HomePod mini that lives in the kitchen for timing duties and the odd musical accompaniment. That means that my parents would find it easier to use than some of the other options — after all, they've been asking Siri questions for years now.
Setup would be relatively straightforward as well, although compatibility with devices around the house wouldn't be quite as widespread. There are devices that wouldn't work as seamlessly with Siri as they might with, say, Alexa.
Price would be a consideration as well. While the HomePod mini isn't expensive, it's more than some of the cheaper options out there — adding one to each room would very quickly become rather expensive indeed.
The advantage here , though, is that we'd get some lovely sound quality in return, thanks to Apple's well-judged sonic engineering. Compatibility with the iPhones around the house would be a bonus as well.
- Final Rogers Home Speaker Score: 2/4
Option 4: Sonos and... Sonos?
This is one we'd get a leg up on — we've already got plenty of Sonos devices around the house. None of them are connected to a voice assistant however, with the Sonos option only really used to change the volume on the Sonos Arc Ultra that lives in the lounge.
One of the big boons here is that we could easily link our Sonos speakers to Alexa, so we could use them along with some Echo speakers for a whole home setup. Setup would still be easy (beyond the irritating application), and we've had them around for so long they're part of the furniture already.
Price would hold us back from adding more, though. They're very expensive devices, with the cheapest costing $200. Still, sound would be more than enough for me — Sonos speakers always sound excellent.
- Final Rogers Home Speaker Score: 3/4
What are we going to add to the house?
It sounds like there are two that we're going to avoid — Google and Apple. Neither are bad smart home systems, but they're not going to work with our specific use case. Still, if you want Gemini or Siri in your home, the corresponding smart system is going to work best for you.
For us, though, it's looking like a blend between Echo speakers and Sonos devices running Alexa. We've got plenty of the latter already, and buying a few of the former won't set us back very much, especially if we buy them during the upcoming Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales.
Check back to see how I get on with our new smart home — and whether it was the right choice after all.
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