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Google Home Hub

jd 5 years ago in Browsers Tablets Phones updated by Richard Kane 2 years ago 8

Could anybody do a quick comparison between ActionTiles and the recently released Google Home Hub?  Thanks in advanced.

Discuss

Hi jd,

Respectfully, this sort of question is quite premature. Google Home Hub hasn't been in the hands of consumers long enough for them to really decide if the experience is good or bad. And, indeed, the professional reviews are mixed. Of course, both ActionTiles and Google Home are continuously evolving.


But, on the Facebook SmartThings Users Group, I just posted this super quick bullet list of why AT is unique:

  1. AT is and will always have the opportunity to be more flexible in our area of focus: i.e., Tile based layouts, with custom colors, icons, and more. Customization will always increase. Adding more platforms is doubtless in our future too.
  2. AT can run on almost any device with a browser (including "your phone"!). No need to choose an expensive Google Home Hub or Echo Show.
  3. An AT Panel can be securely shared with other Accounts. Speciality features like this may eventually hit other platforms, but ... everything "eventually" may be a feature of "anything".
  4. Google and Amazons "end-game" is vastly different than ActionTiles. They are in it for the DATA and ADVERTISING opportunities. ActionTiles makes money the old fashioned way: By making and selling a quality useful piece of software at a fair price.
  5. and ... Let's see what customers say.

At under $30 (plus the tablet or phone of your choice), ActionTiles is a lot of power for a small investment. It may not be the optimal tool or experience for your particular household; but because it is a custom dashboard builder, that makes it valuable for a lot of different sorts of households.

We're actually glad to see convergence too. An Amazon Fire tablet running ActionTiles is *also* usable as a wake-word compatible Alexa device. Even the Echo Show can be asked to jump into Firefox to display and use ActionTiles.


So... This isn't and won't ever be an "either / or" situation: Both technologies have different roles in the smart home.

...Terry.

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Terry, 

Fair enough. Regards.

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I wish action tile can run on a google home hub as a home control alternative. The current home control of google home hub is not customizeable and the layout is far more inferior compared to action tile.

Now THIS would be something...anyone figured out how to hack that to work? As far as I'm aware there's no "go to this URL" on the Google Home hub.

I agree with Gigin.  The Home controls are very basic and can't do any customization. This would be a great idea to run the action tiles on the smart displays like google home hub or lenovo smart display. I know the smart home devices are in the early stages. I would be interested to see Terry's reply on this.  

ActionTiles works great in the Firefox browser of the Amazon Echo Show.

The Google Home Hub doesn't offer a browser (yet?).

Thanks Terry for your response.  Maybe we will get a browser support just like Echo show to expand the use cases with these smart displays.  

yes they haven't offer anything other than the home app on it.