What is a smart assistant? And how do they help us? If you feel that everyone knows how smart assistants function, apart from you, then this article was written keeping you in mind.
We’re here to help you cut through the chase and let you decide whether a smart assistant is something you’re missing out on in your life. In order to do this, we’ll explain a little bit about the three major smart assistants – Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri – in the hopes to help you understand how you will be benefiting from incorporating smart technology into your life.
Table of Contents
What is a Smart Assistant?
A smart assistant is also commonly known as a virtual assistant. It is a type of software that’s installed in smart devices, such as a smartphone or smart speaker that has the ability to perform services or tasks, or even answer questions.
They’re the link between humans and smart technology software and are vital for controlling smart thermostats, smart plugs, and other similar smart home devices. In order to be able to communicate with a smart assistant, you’ll require a smart speaker.
What Are Smart Assistants Capable Of?
There are many things that smart assistants can do to help make our day-to-day life more convenient and easier. Here are some of them:
Offers a Hand-Free Control
Voice controls give you the incredible ability to interact with your smart assistant, without even having to lift a single finger. Whether you want to control wider smart technology or simply search the cloud via the internet to find the information you need, this hand-free feature will inevitably make your life more efficient.
Even though you can change these default settings, here’s how you can get interactive with your smart assistant. All you need to do is follow these voice commands, followed by the question you want to ask:
- Amazon Alexa: ‘Alexa…”
- Google Assistant: ‘OK Google…’
- Apple Siri: ‘Hey Siri…’
You can also choose to wake up the smart assistant by pressing a button. This depends on the type of device you’re using, For instance, if you’re using an iPhone, you can hold and press the Home button to activate Siri.
Answer Your Questions
The main use for a smart assistant is the ability to get instant answers to any questions you might have. A smart assistant will search the internet to find the information needed, before speaking it back to you.
Simply say the wake word, and ask your question. Among the three big smart assistants, Google Assistant is by far the smartest and such tasks and is the most user-friendly as well. Google Assistant has the ability to search through the vast knowledge of its search engine.
That said, all voice assistants are slowly but surely getting better at answering all kinds of questions with the right answers. In fact, Alexa lets you download ‘Skills’, that’s basically an app-like control program for completing particular requests, such as calling an Uber.
Become Your Personal DJ
Smart Assistants are able to tap into services like Google Play Music, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify, and become your very own personal DJ.
As long as you have a subscription to any of these music apps, you can also your voice assistant to play current trending songs. For instance, Alexa is capable of figuring out the sound you’re after in the Amazon Music app by you telling it a couple of lyrics from the song.
Set Reminders
This feature is perfect for people who have a habit to forget things. Smart assistants are capable to set timed reminders with a single voice command. This will sound an alarm and further notify you of what has to be done, and where.
When you set a reminder through a smart speaker, it’ll intelligently transfer this reminder into your phone as well. This never lets you forget anything even if you’re not home.
Many of these voice assistants can integrate with an existing to-do list and reminder apps that are in use on your computer or smartphone. Alexa, for instance, works amazingly well at converting voice requests to items that have to be ticked off in the superb Todoist app once they’re both synced with one another.
Establish Home Automation
Now, we all know that voice assistant can help set reminders and timers for you, but here’s where things really started to get extremely futuristic
If you have more than one smart device in your phone, like a smart lighting system or a smart TV, you can use a smart assistant to help control these elements by using your voice within the house.
Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri can lock your doors, dim your lights, control your smart thermostat, and many other things. However, do ensure that you’re using devices that support third-party manufacturers.
Conclusion
Well, there you go! It’s not hard to understand how smart assistants work, but it’s not surprising that people still get confused to date. A smart assistant is also a great new home gift for your family and loved ones. We hope you now have a better understanding of smart assistants, and how they work to better our lives!
