Most of you have probably heard of Google Home and Amazon Echo thus far, two competing devices which serve as your personal voice-guided assistants. Google had talked about Google Home back during Google I/O in May, and the company had finally launched the device not long ago during their Google Pixel press conference. The Google Home speaker is now available for purchase for $129 in the US, and it has been that way since November 4th when the device became available in the States.
That being said, the Amazon Echo has been available out in the market longer than Google Home, and it seems like these two devices could get some competition soon. According to a new report, Microsoft is planning to create a HomeHub feature and include it into future Windows 10 updates in order to compete with both the Google Home and Amazon Echo. According to The Verge, this feature is currently in planning stages, and Microsoft is going to roll it out in updates due in 2017 and 2018, which means that the HomeHub feature won’t be included in the Creators Update which is coming soon. Now, a recent report stated that this feature will ‘crush’ both the Google Home and Amazon echo, but the source thinks that will not be the case, as this feature will offer a somewhat different functionality. According to the source, HomeHub will basically be a feature which will run on all Windows 10 PCs, and will let you call upon Cortana anytime you want.
Now, if reports are to be believed, Microsoft is trying to create a ‘family environment’ for a PC by including this feature, and it seems like the company will dedicate a whole department to making this feature great, and the HomeHub feature will have a ton of functionality similar to the Google Home, as you will be able to schedule appointments, launch apps, access various data using your voice, etc. So, the HomeHub feature is meant to improve PC’s functionality in a way, as it will allow you to use it as your personal assistant in addition to everything else. Now, the HomeHub feature could be included in third-party hardware which would compete with Google Home and Amazon Echo directly, though it remains to be seen what happens, as these are just rumors at this point, and it would be wise to wait for Microsoft to give us all the necessary details before we compare HomeHub to anything already available out there.