| I use a Google Home Mini. Half the reason I originally bought it was to simply be able to turn the light and fan on and off without getting out of bed. The other half was music. Google Play Music was a godsend for a long time before they killed it. I can't stand Youtube Music and don't pay for other services, so I just don't use voice to listen to music anymore. Actually pretty angry and haven't given Alphabet a single cent since. I ask it the weather every day. It answers 'when will it rain' with an hour and/or day of the week it might next. I used to use it for relaxing sounds like rain, but one day they replaced the realistic rain sound with one that sounds to me like generated white noise only somewhat resembling rain, so it kind of annoys me now. I constantly set alarms and timers for various reasons. Reminders and calendar events also, which sync with google services of course so I get them on my phone. It can make notes. Any time I think of something in the shower and can't write it down I consider buying another one for the bathroom. I can ask it where my phone is and it'll make it ring. General queries are no more or less as good as what searching Google gives you at the top. Still useful when wondering something. I can ask it to define words or look for synonyms when I'm writing, without taking my mind away from the text. Or random stuff like 'what day of the week will September 22nd fall on,' 'how many days until Easter,' etc. I frequently use it as a calculator. Easier to just speak a lengthy list of numbers than to type them all. The most important thing about all of this is I don't have to move a muscle, and don't have to avert my eyes from what I'm focused on. Whether I'm passing out in bed, have my hands full while late for an appointment, or working hard at my PC, that's invaluable to me. Maybe not as important to everyone though. Do I recommend Google's assistant specifically? Not exactly, but I don't like the other options either. Alexa will constantly break my train of thought by advertising what it can do with suggestions and whatnot, which is a main reason I don't use it, but my housemate doesn't mind. Other assistants just don't seem as polished and useful. Google's interoperability with my phone is a big reason I use it. For $25 just get one for your desk and/or bedroom. There's still a lot of room to grow in this space before there's a better option without privacy concerns. |
I can totally empathize with not wanting to get out of bed in the morning, and getting it to ring my phone would actually be really useful. Like, embarrassingly useful :)
Thank you for sharing!