HomePod was released in February 2018. When you play a track in any genre, the result is a rich, balanced sound. It also becomes very loud (without loss of quality). Playing at the normal volume at one end of my apartment, I heard great music from the other end, about 35-40 feet and a couple of walls. Siri even warns you when you ask her to turn on the full volume, which is nice.

  But that’s really all that HomePod offers. As for smart voice assistants, the HomePod can hardly be categorized as Echo and Google Home. Siri leaves much to be desired and tries to answer even basic questions, often claiming that she does not know how to do what you asked.

  And, despite the fact that Apple has excellent sound quality, it does not mix well with other services. This means that you can listen to iTunes all day, but you cannot connect the speaker to other applications such as Spotify and Pandora. The workaround is to stream them to your HomePod from your phone, tablet, or Mac. But when you do this, you will not be able to ask Siri to play a specific song or playlist, unless this happens through iTunes, which deprives you of the magic of speakerphone.

  Pros: Best for listening to music, great for Apple lovers, works with devices compatible with the Home Kit.

  Cons: the most expensive, most limited services, Siri is not as smart as Alexa or Google Assistant, it does not work with Android or Bluetooth.

Google Home was released in November 2012, two years after Echo. This not only gave Google time to see how Echo was received but also allowed them to identify areas in which they could improve Amazon’s design and features. With Echo, you often have to use very specific commands to perform key tasks, but Google Assistant understands more spoken language. It even remembers your last question, allowing you to ask additional questions without restarting them completely.

  What really sets Google Home apart from Echo is the ability to customize phrases and command responses, which requires a bit more grease to set up, but it also has great potential for things that only Google Home can do. You can also buy things online and from a wider range of retailers than the Echo, which only Amazon uses (obviously).

  Pros: the most intuitive smart assistant, customizable skills, interchangeable shells, available options, uses Google searchю

  Cons: requires more practical tuning to configure, not so much compatible applications and devices (for now), but Echo, more expensiveю