Currently, Google and Amazon are the two major players offering smart speakers in India, and today we are comparing their most affordable smart speakers, the Google Home Mini and the Amazon Echo Dot.
The Google Home Mini was launched in India on 10th April 2018, and it costs Rs. 4,499. The Amazon Echo Dot launched in India on 4th October 2018, and it too costs Rs. 4,499. Earlier, the Amazon Echo Dot was available only on the invite basis, but now the speaker can be bough without an invite.
Amazon is currently offering Rs. 1,000 off on purchase of two Echo Dot speakers, and Rs. 3,000 off on purchase of two Echo speakers. Google is currently not offering any discounts on its Home Mini speaker. Apart from Google Home Mini, Google also sells the Google Home in India, and it costs Rs. 9,999. Similarly, Amazon also sells Echo and Echo Plus, and they are priced at Rs. 9,999 and Rs. 14,999.
Google Home Mini vs Amazon Echo Dot: Specifications
The Google Home Mini has a circular design with a fabric finish over it. The speaker measures 98mm x 42mm, and it is available in Chalk, Charcoal, and Coral colour variants. The Google Home Mini does not offer battery backup; it runs via an AC adapter and consumes 9W of power. The device has a microUSB port, which is used as a power supply port. The Google Home Mini has Wi-Fi ac/b/g/n and Bluetooth v4.1 wireless connectivity.
The Google Home Mini has a single speaker that puts out the sound in 360 degrees. The speaker has a 40mm driver, and because it is a single speaker, the audio output is mono (stereo combined into a single channel). The Google Home Mini supports HE-AAC, LC-AAC, MP3, Vorbis, WAV (LPCM), Opus, and FLAC audio codecs.
The Amazon Echo looks very different from the Google Home Mini; it has a cylindrical design with a glossy finish. Similar to the Google Home Mini, the Amazon Echo Dot too doesn’t has battery backup; it uses an AC power adapter that feeds power through the microUSB port of the device.
The Amazon Echo Dot has dual-band Wi-Fi, but it does not support Wi-Fi ac. The speaker has Bluetooth connectivity, but Amazon has not yet provided info on the Bluetooth version used. The Amazon Echo Dot has a 0.6-inch speaker and a 7-microphone array. The speaker can also output the audio to any other audio device through its 3.5 mm audio output port.
Google Home Mini vs Amazon Echo Dot: Practicality and Features
The Google Home Mini has Google Assistant, and the Amazon Echo Dot has Amazon Alexa. Both the speakers can find the answers for you using the internet. Both the speakers can also perform tasks like setting a timer, setting the alarm, notifying weather and traffic conditions, etc. However, the Google Home Mini can also find the route transit times, which the Amazon Echo Dot can’t.
Coming to the main functionality of the speakers, which is the audio output. The Google Home Mini works on Chromecast, which means that the apps supporting Chromecast functionality can output the audio to the Google Home Mini speaker. A few such apps are Google Play Music, Saavn, and Gaana. The Google Home Mini also supports apps like YouTube, Netflix, and Google Photos, where the device can communicate with these apps and display their content on the nearby TVs.
The Amazon Echo Dot can play audio from apps that have Alexa integration. A few such apps are Saavn, Amazon Prime Music, and TuneIn. In comparison to Google Chromecast, the Amazon Alexa has very less app support. However, the main drawback of the Alexa is that it doesn’t support YouTube.
Google Home Mini vs Amazon Echo Dot: Verdict
Google Home Mini and Amazon Echo Dot have similar hardware specification. However, the Google Home Mini has more app support along with the support for YouTube, and we think app support is what matters the most in a smart speaker, which is why the Google Home Mini is the winner of this comparison.
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