Hot Hot Hot..... Great find mate... :smiley:

can someone explain what music I'll be able to listen to on this? I have heaps of my own music on Google music, will this work? can I listen to BBC radio stations? thanks

tempting!

Just for those on the fence - loads of sites that explain what GH does and how it compares with AE

https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=ms-unknown&q=google+home+v+amazon+echo

is this not already posted?

Do I or don't I......still no support for hive:(

Can't decide what to do....is this going to be another gadget i play with for a couple of days and then forget about...?

just got hive recently to work with Alexa, and i would have considered nest if i thought about google home at the time.... though i read that you can control hive via IFTTT on Google home

£129 to turn your lights on no thanks.. Don't really understand these is it just an expensive light switch I have a lot of music but seems like it does not work locally seems a bit pointless.

Yes it needs a premium music account, Spotify or Google Play, I think Alexa is the same, needs Spotify or Amazon music. It's a bit rubbish to have to cast music from my phones Google Play app music library to Google Home, it may as well be a bluetooth speaker for that. Kind of defeats the purpose.

I have a Sony Android TV, has anyone had success getting Home to work with one?

I have my Home set up with TP link smart plugs and nest thermostat. If it wasn't for the nest i probably would have gone with Alexa and bought it earlier - look at what smart devices you have already and check compatability.

Apple are also developing a similar assistant.

This deal is the best out there at the moment for the Home.

cant decide if its worth getting this or alexa i have amazon premium, but this seems to do so much more

Damn OP. So tempting this. I can't see a £10 voucher though?
1.01% cashback at topcashback too.

Sorry found it on the front page. £100 spend means a £10 voucher. Shame I hardly shop at Argos and only have 1 month to use it.

Would be interested in what it can do with a Sony TV too. Bought mine in December. Android is so clanky on it.

Not arguing merits of either device. But for calrity IF you have Amazon prime this includes 2 million song library that Alexa will play without a specific music subscription. I have found it excellent it's like the greatest hits of all decades or styles.

Well I just ordered one and also have an Sony Android TV (slow and buggy). I'll pop to Argos on my lunch break to pick it up. What do you want me to test?

oh man i really shouldn't have but ive gone ahead and bought it :smiley:

Apparently with alexa you can now say 'set living room to red' instead of having to use scenes, but doesn't work on my echo or any of my dots. Is this just a US only update at the moment?

How are people finding these compared to Alexa?

I like how extensible Alexa is, it has a huge enthusiast community around it. But admittedly I just treat mine as an alarm clock 99% of the time!

Nothing in particular. Just mostly that it does connect and can do things by voice control.

Quick clarification, if your google play music subscription lapses you can still listen to music you've uploaded yourself. The trick is that by that point most of your playlists will probably include stuff you didn't upload :P

From one of the links - "Google Home integrates with Onkyo audio gear"

Shame they didn't choose a known brand to integrate with like Pioneer for example.

It looks like it's limited to what you can do with a regular Chromecast. It's very very limited though in that in order to cast to it you have to give the Chromecast devices name. Sadly since that's not changeable on my Android TV that means I have to give it's model number which is its name. EG..

"Cast cat videos to KD55X8509C."

Rolls of the tongue...
Pause and resume works without giving the device name.

According to this page Netflix will work with Android TV "soon". Sure enough telling it to "Play Better Call Saul on KD55X8509C" tells me it doesn't work yet with Android TV and to use my remote instead.

This is it - I can't see how a company that mainly concentrates on producing dairy products can also make good, reliable home cinema kit.

Bought it today and...
- regarding Google Play Music - you don't have to have premium; later in settings it's possible to set "Google Play Music - Free radio service available"... which looks like it plays randomly uploaded songs. It's possible to say to play next, but can't search for any particular song.
- for music from Youtube (without TV) you need Youtube Red (which is not available in UK at the moment)
- Controlling Youtube on my Nvidia Shield is pretty neat. "Ok Google, Play dogs videos" and it's there... didn't have to provide name of my device I want to play on
- So far didn't manage to play Netflix using voice command
- Does not work with my Google Apps mail nor Calendar
- didn't play with Philips Hue yet
- I want to love google home, but not today. Google assistant on Android Phone seems to be "fuller", i.e. it answers to my questions correctly, where Google Home says it's "still learning" and no problems with google music.
- but still... after one hour I prefer Google Home than Alexa - it's better now in my opinion and has bigger potential

I thought the april update was supposed to do away with the need for scenes now, and can now select up to 100 different colours?

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/140750-amazon-alexa-finally-lets-you-control-the-colour-of-lights-with-your-voice


"Technically, Amazon Echo devices did let you select pre-programmed "scenes" in order to change colour or to dim light. But now, thanks to an update that's gone live, Amazon has unveiled an Alexa-specific control so that all you have to say is "Alexa, set the bedroom light to purple" or "Alexa, make the living room warmer" in order to make your smart lamps switch to purple or go warmer, respectively."

Which sounds awesome, with 20+ bulbs my app is getting clogged with all these scenes.

From what I've read in these comments this device is practically useless without spending more money on extra subscriptions or installing specific smart lights/heating.

This is a great deal and I love these kinds of devices but I'll give it a miss.

wrong, you can say play on Chromecast, i do

If everyone on this site applied that logic no one would ever buy anything!

Another step in the progress of technology, and downfall of man.

Hey Google, what is a Mugwump?

Everything I've seen suggests that Echo is well ahead in the UK market, and the cheaper Dot seems like a better bet as an "investigation"

Wrong if you have more than one Chromecast on your network.

I thought they made Sofa's? :stuck_out_tongue::p

You can name each Chromecast, eg 'dining-room' and tell it which one or group to play via.

I don't know if this will work with home but I have it on my PC and a Chromecast audio is connected to my speaker so I can stream all my music from my PC to my speaker this way, I use media monkey but anything you play streams inc youtube. I did try a neet wifi box for this but I found this software and the chromecast to be more reliable. In theory from what I've read it should work with google home.
http://lifehacker.com/how-to-send-your-computers-audio-to-a-chromecast-1750297581
https://github.com/acidhax/chromecast-audio-stream

In their eagerness to tie you into a monthly music contract I think they've shot themselves in the foot. I have prime so for the moment Google home doesn't come close. I'm not also paying for a music services.

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I C&C-ed this last night.. literally hours before the offer went live so missed on the Chromecast (of which I already have two video and two audio BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT!)

The killer moment came for me last night after 3 hours of ownership... walking through the dining room to the kitchen.. "OK Google, what's the score in the Middlesbrough game?" and instantly it responded "At half time Middlesbrough are leading Sunderland by 1 - 0".. and then I said "Who scored?" and it said "Martin de Roon"

It floored me, the vagueness of my question and being contextually aware of what "Who scored?" was related to. Alexa, Siri and Cortana would not have a clue.

If it helps anyone you can use google home to play your uploaded music without the premium subscription if you've added them to a playlist
see
https://support.google.com/googlehome/answer/7030379?hl=en

(click on "Advanced voice commands for free and subscription services" => "Google Play Music..." )

"
Important:
Currently, you can't directly play uploaded or purchased Google Play Music content on Google Home. However, you can add your uploaded and purchased content to a playlist and play that playlist using the "Hey Google, play playlist" voice command.
"

Probably will get flamed/trolled/abused but thought I'd leave these here:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/09/internet-of-things-smart-devices-spying-surveillance-us-government

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/03/08/smart-tv-perfect-way-spy/

Is it true the new multi user support that has just been enabled for US devices does not work for British Home Devices?

You are correct this is not already posted.

It's fair to assume that anything like this is part of the NSA/GCHQ botnet. But then so is your mobile phone. It sucks but seems inevitable now, you will get spied on unless you ditch all technology completely.

Go for Alexa, I saw on YT that Google Home plays ads before it reads the news to you.

I'm interested in how GH responds to questions. AE can be easily lost and confused.

I get lots of "I'm sorry, I dont know the answer to that" with the Echo

Home sounds like it'll struggle less with all of Google to draw upon

How does music sound on this? Is it easy enough to play stuff with spotify?

Just set up playlists for your uploaded tracks on your phone or PC, and it will work without a sub, annoying but it works.

And we've now gone full circle. I first said on page 1 if you have an Android TV you cannot rename the device and have to give the model name of the TV (which is its device name in casting). This guy then said you can simply say Chromecast but you can't if you have more than one. Now you're telling me I can rename again :smiley:

It's not too bad. Don't expect it to replace a proper sound system though. I have it playing music now in my bedroom/office and its great. Has bass so isn't tinny. Gets distorted at loud volumes. I have a Cambridge Audio Minx Go which I would say is better but that's almost twice the size and is nothing but a speaker.

Speaking of size I was shocked at just how small the device is. My Nexus 6P is taller.

excellent!! cheers!!

I have renamed my nvidia sheild to "tv" and works fine for youtube and google photos but not netflix which I understand is coming soon.

You can name each Chromecast. Wasn't referring to Android TV's as no experience of using one.

Aha. After some investigating the way to rename your Android TV you have to do it from 'About' in Settings. From there there is an option to rename. You just don't do it from the Home app like you do a standard Chromecast.

You can rename your Sony tv, just go into the tv's settings, then about, then device name.

https://www.cnet.com/uk/how-to/google-home-complete-list-of-commands/

lists of commands to google home

It works really well for home automation i.e. Nest, Smartthings+Ikea smart bulbs.

Sound is pretty good tbh, bass is a little higher than mid and treb but the sound fills a larger room well. Not used with spotify but works perfectly with google play music. The command to play a song is the same regardless of which service you use, you just set one as default e.g. "Hey Google, play The Beatles"

You can play all your own uploaded music by placing them. In Playlists or saying ok google play music BUT you cannot ask for a specific song by name or artist, no idea why Google has not enabled this as you can do this fromm all other android devices.

Yes you ask ok google play radio 1 or radio 2 & it will play that station.

Ahem, as long as the organisation wishes to support the link. Which is usually zero if someone else takes control. Not a great track record in the proprietary market.

Relying on it for controlling core infrastructure is too much of a risk and too heavy on the wallet for the prudent householder imho.

If you are into controlling stuff remotely - including music and garage doors - a RaspberryPi can do some for a fraction of the price. Not as smoothly or comprehensively. But as least you are in control of the devices and code rather than inviting GCHQ, NSA and your local neighbourhood hacker to leap over your firewall. What firewall you say?

Fair point but in the case of Nest its owned by Google so think you'll be ok using Nest devices.

Hive has IFTTT support so it's pretty easy to connect to the Google Home.

Yes - but you can only do that with a premium google music subscription. I did get it to play my own music with a free account but not reliably. After an hour on the phone to google support they realised I had the free service and said it shouldn't have worked at all.

It's crazy because you can play your own music to cheap chromecast audio devices using the app. But if you want to use the voice control you've paid £129 for you also have to pay a subscription.

My Google Home went back.

I've got a feeling Apple will catch wind of this and come out with a more expensive one that links to all apple devices and has a seperate app shop just for it.
iSay iDo i(programme your own activation word for each device, so they can run independant, or one word to activate all)

Anyways, before iWaffle.....just think Apple will see yet another opportunity for an App Store, linking iTunes and more sales or subs and also an easy platform (AppStore) and other companies to be creative on behalf of them using their device and yet another cut and a yearly update.

Being able to control iDevices with voice and no touch, the possibilities are endless :0)

Hot...

Hey Google, Hey Jude...

nonsense, as Newwales said you can play playlists from your free play account.

These are Mono not Stereo on the inbuilt speaker so won't be great for music or radio.
Unless you don't mind that of course.

but you can do this with a smart phone or watch?

i really dont see the point to these? why not "ok google" to your smart watch, phone or tablet?

Or sony (;

Neither of those are probiotic mind....:stuck_out_tongue:

On the amazon echo that i have and it was only £50 You can upload 250 songs onto amazon music cloud and you can play them without a subscription when you get bored of them just change your tracks you uploaded phoned up Google and was told you need a subscription to play your own music

Will AMAZON price match? :-)

LOL, only that muppet Bojo could come out with something like that.

You just create playlists from your libary, which is free and no need for a subscription to google play.

Have a word with Argos where you bought it. They could do a refund and then you could re-purchase which will get you the Chromecast. If they won't "play ball" just re-purchase and return the un-opened one as if it were the original purchase. You'll have to give the £10 voucher back though from yesterday!

Google is generally better than many other service providers. But that is all. They have dumped a lot in their time without much notice. What have they committed to on this? 4/5 years?

I don't know. Do you? If I was buying I certainly would want it to last the lifetime of the products it controls with a guarantee that service charging was capped.

Most electrical/electronic household items are good for ten years these days. I have some over twenty.

If you have Prime and want to listen to music go with Alexa because tons of music is included in Prime subscription.
Google Home doesn't do much more than Alexa (yet) especially in the UK.

Hive can be controlled with SmartThings and ST can be controlled with Google Home.
On the other hand I switched to Honeywell Evohome 2 years ago mainly because the seamless zone support.
In addition it is integrated with almost everything, including Google Home and Amazon Echo.

It's not cheap but if you want to control your multimedia devices buy a Logitech Harmony. Not yet working with Google Home in the UK but it's coming, already live in the US.

Return and buy an other ;-)

Nice find OP, heat added.

I didn't know this, now I'm not sure which one to go for even more now :confused:

Argos are actually really good at returns and exchanges, helped me loads of times!

Couple of questions, i have an Android phone, and OK Google, launches the phones search, can the people who have the home, say if their phone perks up for a command when you say OK Google.
Also does anyone know if the home will work with the YI LED lights?

Use "Hey Google" instead so it doesn't get mixed up.

Any chance for those who bought from John Lewis that they would match this deal of the free chromecast?

It's a very funny type of mono though really as it's got 3 speakers so really spreads the sound around the room with great mid range and trebles. It does distort a bit over 75% but it's much nicer than any Bluetooth speaker I have used as using wifi and a bigger frequency range than Bluetooth speakers allow. It's good for spoken and I find music great. Stereo through 2 speakers side by side in my mind isn't any real upgrade on a bigger mono speaker in same space. I would not put a left and a right speaker together.

I didn't realise I wasn't working here? That's odd got mine in the USA at Christmas been using since and somehow got it working logitech harmony. I enabled something maybe in ifttt, so when say ok Google turn on the TV it starts up my projector, amp, turns your right source outputs, boots my Android box, turns off my living room lights, and a hallway one. (home says enjoy movie time). I ask it to turn of the TV it turns of my gadgets turns lights back on low.

My phone perks up but then just flashes up text to say answering on another device when answering on the home. Only activated on this phone a few days ago it's not bothered me yet will test this.

Any reason this is £80 more than Amazons dot? worth it or not?

eBay will be flooded with them in a month when people are past their 30 days returns and are fed up of them

Same reason the Amazon echo is £100 more than the dot, they both have a decent Speaker the dot doesn't.

I was the guy who voted hot just to take it from 996 to 1001.

The market is a bit of a minefield at the moment so folks need to 'ask' what they want from these devices.

I opted for the Amazon Dot for around £50 (I think I got a tenner off around black friday 2016), I ended buying a 2nd Dot.

Having one Dot in the main room and one in the bedroom makes a big difference to the user experience.

So two rooms covered sub £100.00

Dot works with Nest (basic commands but thats fine)
Wemo switches.

I'm a SONOS lover, dont watch TV at all, so looking forward to Alexa and SONOS integration.

I'm a Google Play Music subscriber, I use with SONOS, also have Amazon Prime.

These devices don't change your life, they just make things a little easier.

I do think these devices could be life changing for blind or disabled folks.

Voted hot, but would advise looking at the Dot, as two rooms covered are better than one and Alexa was first to the market.

the fact that it is a smart home hub (sort of) is very encouraging

wonder can these things be personalised, don't fancy saying Google all the time (Tim would be OK)

Just giving the goverment another method to monitor you. :man:

I love my gadgets but i still have not bought one of these or a smart thermostat. I can normally very easily justify buying a gadget for myself but with these i just cant. The smart thermostat does naff all apart from making your phone a remote control. These i can see after the initial asking a few questions not getting much use, for some reason the thought of talking to activate something seems more of a chore than pressing a button :man:

Can't see the £10 voucher? Is that still live?

Tried it has lots of potential but assumed I could make and take calls and get notifications via my mobile but you can't and no solid plan to do so, hence gave it back and just use Google Assistant on my mobile for now

Echo Dot has a speaker too.

Free stuff because they are pointless and s-hat, at least Alexa has a name and not hey google ! In the long run they will be smart and AI will cost jobs, but for now it's just annoying and dumb

I wonder if Apple will come up with some similar device this year? I already use Siri to control my lights, set my alarm, tell me what day it is etc... but I have to get my phone out to do it. If they do, itll no doubt be twice the price of the others though :disappointed:

I'm waiting for the version you connect to your brain so you don't even need to speak to do anything.

A few people are asking what it's like with Android TV. I've had the TV (2015 Sony) for 2 years and the GH since UK launch.

Unfortunately. Its not great... at all. I needed to manually update the cast app to 1.21 (i think?) to get anything working. Built in chromecast is different to an actual chromecast. That means 50% of the time, if you're in another app and want something to cast to the TV, it wont load it. When I say 'something' i mean youtube or google play music. Thats it. Netflix wont cast to Android TV and you can control the TV in any way (channel, volume etc). Big let down in that respect.

However, I would still recommend the GH as a product. Think its a cracking device, much better than AE. Trivia questions are great (i like to google...), works well with all existing smart plus (TP-Link), Nest was a doddle to set up.

Wouldn't it just be cheaper and a whole lot easier to put a CD on?

Amazon's Alexa device was never touted or advertised as a search engine tool to ask random questions of. It is, however, excellent at general knowledge just by using its native link with wikipedia. GH is a better search tool, but frankly, that is all it is better at.
It cannot play audiobooks - Alexa can
It cannot machine read e-books - Alexa can
It cannot even add calendar entries to a Google calendar - Alexa can

One other point - Amazon will never push advertising to or through Alexa. It isn't their business model. It is only a matter of time before adverts are pushed through GH whether you want them or not. Google only ever produce products or services that can be monetised through advertising.

Cheaper...? maybe, but not always
Easier...? No

It tells jokes too...

What did the magic tractor do?
It turned into a field.

I went for the Google home over the Amazon as all my gear is Google. Nexus phone, tablet and Chromecast. My music is on play as well although i needed the free 3 month trial until I've sorted playlists etc.

I bought GH from Argos on release day. Does this mean I could buy this deal, then return the new GH using the receipt from the initial purchase?

I was in exactly the same boat, went to my local Argos last night and explained to the guy that I wanted to return and re-buy, but ideally he would just give me the chromecast and the voucher (like amazon do if you contact them after a change). He said no as i had told him that there was nothing wrong with it and their policy didn't allow you to use it and return it. so I went to a second store, stated it didn't work well with my WiFi and music accounts, instant refund. Then had to buy from third store.

Not ideal and it took me an hour, but i have already used the voucher and was looking out for a chromecast, so was worth the effort.

I don't really like being so duplicitous, but didn't feel like paying the early adopter tax so early, I wish they just operated like Amazon in this regard

You'll need the subscription even to use playlists of your own music. Basically it shouldn't work with Google Music at all without the premium subscription. That was confirmed to me by google.

Google Home with Netflix and android tv is coming shortly. However with google photos and youtube works fine, better still iot integrates with samsung smartthings which open up a whole new world of automation!

Wrong, subs is not needed with your own library music, have had mine since UK launch and it works fine with my playlists.

That's what I thought when I bought it and indeed I got it working - though not reliably. I could say "play jazz playlist" and it would start streaming - but would stop after a few tracks. After an hour (really) on the phone with google support I mentioned that I didn't have premium. Oh - they said - well that's why it's not working. In fact it shouldn't work at all. They were baffled that it streamed even unreliably.

If you've got it working reliably then that's great - you're luckier than me. But I did find it stopping more and more often - and at any point google can fix this "bug" and it'll stop working completely.

Of course - hopefully at some point they'll officially allow you to playlist your own music for free in which case I may consider buying it again. But I've not seen any word on when that is.

In your opinion...

I got my smartthings connected to the Harmony which GH can control, like turn on Sky and other activities. I think Harmony European support is coming soon.

Oh Ok, I have only tried it for the odd music track through my playlist, but not listened to it continually track after track. Will try it out this weekend to see if there are any issues as you described. I know you can't specifically name a track and play it.

I have Harmony (via smartthings), Nvidia Shield, IKEA smart bulbs (via smartthings and IFTTT) and Nest all working with Google Home. Its cool to say turn on Sky tv, lights, show photos of my holiday on TV, turn the temp up, works really well. Even the wife has started using it!

The stereo effect doesn't go through well at such a small size, so in practice it makes no difference whether is stereo or mono. Even a 120 cm soundbar isn't good at reproducing stereo effects.

Would be interested to know how you get on. It seemed to work perfectly for me at first so I spent a while setting up playlists. But then I noticed it just stopping. The app would say it was playing a track but no sound (either on the Home itself or other chromecast audios).

That was when I called support and eventually they told me it shouldn't work at all. That was a dealbreaker for me.

Go out and buy a cd player. Come home and fit it to existing sound system. Then go back out and find somewhere that sells CD's. Buy Ed Sheeran's new album. Get home, take wrapper off and press button to open and switch on cd player. Put cd in. Press button to close cd player. Press play. Turn off after 2 songs when you realise the album is crap. Go back out to look for another cd.

Or.... "Alexa/Ok Google, play Damn by Kendrick Lemar"

Your choice I guess.

Or just stream Spotify from your phone to a bluetooth device........

All this voice activated bolloxx seems like.....well, bolloxx

you can rename them, iv got lounge tv, and bedroom tv, go to home,settings,about,3rd down is tv name, click it and click change

google play music works on the home without a subscription, but you will need to upload your own music with music manager on a laptop. you can upload 50.000 of your own songs all for free.

A few posts have said the FREE GPM is flakey, can you 100% confirm FREE GPM works with this device ie a few hours seemless play.

I'm assuming it only works with Playlists.

ie
Hey Google play Abbey Road by The Beatles DOESN'T work.

Great deal. IFTTT has some great recipes for Home including Hive.

I did a write up here of how to use Home to take notes in real-time with Google Sheets with IFTTT.

That is it in a nutshell, much easier, except don't put on Ed Sheeran.

google play music works on the home without a subscription, but you will need to upload your own music with music manager on a laptop. you can upload 50.000 of your own songs all for free.[/quote]How did you make it work? I created a few playlists but I couldn't start any on Home using voice control.

google play music works on the home without a subscription, but you will need to upload your own music with music manager on a laptop. you can upload 50.000 of your own songs all for free.[/quote]
How did you make it work? I created a few playlists but I couldn't start any on Home using voice control.

How did you make it work? I created a few playlists but I couldn't start any on Home using voice control.[/quote]ah i just say play music, iv just said play a certain song and it says not available in my area, i can chose any album to play tho on google play music on phone and then cast to home, once the album you want is playing it then works via voice,

How did you make it work? I created a few playlists but I couldn't start any on Home using voice control.[/quote]


Hey?

Absolutely my opinion... but it'll be proved correct. It's already happened "accidentally" - its only a matter of time...

google play music works on the home without a subscription, but you will need to upload your own music with music manager on a laptop. you can upload 50.000 of your own songs all for free.[/quote]How did you make it work? I created a few playlists but I couldn't start any on Home using voice control.

These devices are not only for playing music, so a CD/DVD/MP3 player is not an alternative.

It does make a difference. If it doesn't for you then that's fair enough.

Seems daft to bundle it with the chromecast rather than chromecast audio.

I've been on this site ages & never heard mention of Onkyo :wink: What do they do then people?

I have the amazon dot, and you can listen to up to 250 tracks of your own music via cloud for free. Also this works really well with my Bluetooth speaker.

You can use Plex with Alexa.

US was first to get it. UK is next - within a few weeks according to the tech I asked on Google's online chat.

This post mentions a £10 voucher. I can't see any sign of that.

Great price with the freebie however I still can't justify this while buying this while owning the AE dot even though GH is set to overtake Alexa in the near future. I sure this may further price crash due to other Alexa owners in the same mindset as me so reducing GH sales.

May have expired as it ends on the 2nd May. Not sure if it is at 11.59pm on the 2nd or 00.00am on the 1st. Argos are never clear about this on offers.

After talking myself out of it I finally caved yesterday afternoon. So far I am not impressed when I compare to my Echo Dot. Non of the conversational stuff has worked, there must be a setting issue which I need to correct because when I ask to show me my wedding pictures for example GH replies that they have been cast to my TV but they haven't, same as videos. Only thing which it beats my Dot with is multi room so far with my Audio Casts. Saying OK Google doesn't flow as well as saying Alexa. At the moment I much prefer my Echo Dot.

I wonder if Argos will refund?

Wonder if you're having the same issue I am. Mine worked perfectly with the supplied Chromecast until last night. Now when I ask Home to cast to it, Home confirms it's casting but nothing happens on the Chromecast, it just sits on the idle screen with the pretty pictures. All other devices can cast to it fine and my Home can cast to my other Chromecasts fine. Just seems like these two aren't 'talking' any more.

I only get pretty pictures although GH says its casting the info to my TV. I can cast from my phone to the TV however not via the GH as of yet. Also its possible that it was my internet however the picture quality was no where near as good as what my Firestick produced. I will have another play tonight and see what happens.

I decided to leave it last night and go back with a clear (non-beery...) head. Reckon it might be from using the 5Ghz band and the Chromecast being tucked away behind my receiver in a cabinet. I'll try changing one or both to 2.4Ghz when I get in and see. Failing that I'll factory reset the Home.

I will have another play tonight and report back.

Had a look through the Home app on the train home and under the device list noticed a duplicate of 'tv' (the problem Chromecast's name). Deleted it, got home and lo-and-behold all working fine again. Might be worth a shot if anyone's having similar issues?

mine has randomly just started working and picture is back to normal. must of been issues with my internet yesterday. a much better experience this evening, conversational things are better but very hit and miss. I prefer the casting option even by phone than using the apps via my Xbox or amazon fire TV, simple and just works. let's see how we get on over the next few days.

I have four, and just bought another with this offer. I have them across my house. It gets better and sometimes worse.

The main thing for me, it's multi-room speaker, you create a group and play (or cast)... Alexa is a mess with more than one because they don't understand each other.

Google makes big improvements, then makes silly yank focused silliness, like introducing google express, which doesn't exist in europe for shopping list management instead of google keep. Boggles the mind.