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    SMART HOME SPEAKERS

    by Words: Alex Cox Dec 28, 2017 7 minutes

    Photography: Neil Godwin

    The hidden talent

    Three big names in smart assistants, but only two on test...

    AMAZON

    Amazon’s aggressive licensing of Alexa means it’s made its way into a number of new devices recently, though not all of them offer the same full control or range of skills that Amazon’s own Echo range has. Bear that in mind when buying.

    GOOGLE

    At press time, Google’s own devices are the only way to use the advanced smarts of Google Assistant at home, but there are more coming – the company opened the Assistant up to other companies in mid- 2017, so we’ll see more in 2018.

    SIRI

    Apple’s been taking its time bringing a Siri-based smart home speaker to market; Homepod was originally slated for a winter 2017 release, but has been delayed until early 2018 for more refinement. It promises superior audio, but it’s going up against some strong competition.

    Sonos One

    £199, sonos.com

    Sonos’ reputation speaks for itself: it may have been one of the first to market with multi-room audio, but it’s retained its place at the top by producing some absolutely fantastic speakers. Unsurprisingly, this first smart

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