Essential Home: Can it replace Google Home and Amazon Echo?
Well it wasn't too long back we were all hyped for the "Essential Phone". And now Andy Rubin keeps 'em coming with his company announcing their second brainchild, the Essential Home, earlier this week. This may seem a no-brainer with Google Home and Amazon Echo already dominating the market, but Essential packs something which really ups the game. Lets see how.
Overview
The Essential Home is your new smart assistant announced by Andy Rubin. The device is designed to sit anywhere in your home just like its Google and Amazon counterparts, but what sets it aside is its interactive "auto display", aiming to be set off by a question, a tap or even a "glance" as Essential says. Now that's really impressive.
Like the existing ones, Essential Home is said to do everything from controlling music, setting a reminder, checking your shopping list to answering most of your general interest questions.
Design
Design wise, Essential Home is a home assistant to be proudly flaunted. Featuring a sleek design and round display with no "boxes, tubes, or strange lights", there are currently no fuss about its specifications and pricing. What we know that it “does not try to make your home smart by anticipating what you need”, instead suggests you certain behaviors which it learned. Ultimately, its you who has the full authority over the final decision.
Concept
Much hasn't been spoken of the device itself. There is no current prototype, just a few nice renders to give you an idea of the concept in action. Also, the system mostly doesn't connect to the cloud and most of your processing data would be stored at home within the device itself. Guess that's what you get from a company which doesn't collect revenue from selling ads.
If you didn't know, Essential Home will be powered by the in-house developed Ambient OS. This will be their exclusive smart home platform, which Andy says, will be open sourced. “With the Ambient OS API, developers have access to available devices, services, and home information and can use these resources as the building blocks of their applications,” wrote Manuel Roman, Head of Engineering at Essential. Rejoice devs!! We can't wait flavors of it on XDA once released.
Final Verdict
Ambient OS being bling behind Essential Home is the prima facie selling point. It is said to be an API that knits most devices or services by constantly learning the layout of the home and the members within it. It is different from other smart home devices in the way it processes information, keeping them mostly within device rather than on the cloud. “Essential Home will directly talk to your devices over your in-home network whenever possible to limit sending data to the cloud,” writes Essential’s Business Unit Lead.
An article in Wired stated that Essential Home may start shipping later this summer, which is really not far off. So hold on, you might be looking at a review on the much anticipated smart assistant of the year on this very website. Till then, peace and have a great day.
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