Google Home, a year later, lacks some core Google skills

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — A year ago, when it was first unveiled, Google Home looked poised to be a smarter, more intelligent digital assistant than Amazon’s Alexa.

That’s how it was pitched in its sneak peek demo at the Google I/O 2016 developer conference. But when it was released to the public in November, it didn't turn out that way. Many of the features didn't work as promised, and critics were mixed. The $129 speaker had potential, USA TODAY's Edward Baig and others said, though it was clearly playing catch up to Amazon's Alexa and the Echo speaker. Others were blunter: The Verge's Walt Mossberg called it "remarkably dumb."

Meanwhile, Amazon went on to run away with market share and new innovations.

Google Home review: In catch-up to Echo, but with promise

Since Home was first introduced, Amazon has added limited voice calling to Echo speakers, announced a model that includes a camera to help make fashion suggestions, and another new Echo, the Show, with a video screen for making video calls and watching video recipes, for instance.

So on the eve of I/O 2017, which opens Wednesday, how’s Home faring?

Better, but the gaps are still there. It's an excellent $129 speaker for listening to music (especially if you're a YouTube fan, since Google knows your music tastes) and using your voice to look up spellings, math, trivia and other Google-smart stuff. But it's still inexplicably missing life stuff like the ability to set a calendar appointment on Google Calendar (you can only check it), create reminders, or read your latest e-mail. Alexa can do the first two, using Google Calendar.

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What works

Since Home's debut, the product has been updated with new features and "services," little mini-apps you can use within Home, like Alexa's “skills.”

Two highly touted features include being able to start up a Hyundai Sonata and warm it up in the driveway from Home, and the ability to decipher six different voices from different accounts, which is something Alexa can’t currently do. For instance, mom, dad, son and daughter could all link their Google accounts (calendars, music likes) into one unit, and by saying, “OK Google,” awake the unit to be personalized for them.

One problem for many with the Alexa "skills" is that there are so many of them, it's hard to find new ones and keep track of them. As with Amazon's Alexa, Google's Home smartphone app has a listing of the "services," within the app, which is great. However, some work, and some don't.

The good:

—Games:  math, history and trivia quizzes, blackjack, tic tac doe.

—Exercise:  7-minute workout, 5 minute planks.

—Food ordering: Dominos

—Transportation: hear schedules for San Francisco’s BART and the Atlanta Rail.

What doesn't

We asked the eBay price service to find prices for a used Sonos Play 3 speaker or Canon 5D Mark III camera. It failed to come up with a response for either of them. (A quick search of ebay.com shows dozens of both are readily available.) But eBay on Home was able to tell me that a used iPhone 6S was worth over $200.

When we tried the Guitar Tuner service, it complained of an “internal error,” that never seemed to go away.

Finally, shopping is particularly weak, when compared to the e-tail superiority of Amazon.

Google says it can pull items from Costco, Bed and Bath Beyond and a handful of other retailers, but you won’t get very far. Home tells us that it can’t order anything over $100. "We think this amount covers most users needs," says Google spokesperson Nicol Addison.

Voice computing is perhaps the biggest trend in tech for 2017 (when we’re not being hacked) with Amazon paving the way. Over 70% of folks using smart speakers are on the Echo system, according to eMarketer.

In June, Apple could join Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Samsung by bringing its Siri voice assistant to a speaker, which some analysts have speculated could be announced at the upcoming Worldwide Developer Conference. Apple owns a headphone/speaker company, Beats, so it wouldn't be a stretch to see a shiny, colorful speaker start appearing at Apple Stores that you could also talk to.

So the pressure is on for Google Home to tackle some more of those everyday tasks promised us a year ago, plus pull out a few more wow services. Listen up, Google. Ok?

Readers — Home or Alexa? What's your take? Let's chat about it on Twitter, @jeffersongraham. Don't forget to subscribe to the new #TalkingTech newsletter https://www.usatoday.com/featured-newsletter/consumer_tech/ and the podcast at Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.