The Google Home Hub is a big idea in a compact package. Bucking the trend of larger and larger smart displays, this latest container for the varied talents of the Google Assistant occupies a smaller footprint than most of its rivals demand.

Cute style makes for a less-threatening smart display; Google Assistant is as capable as ever; Smart home controls are easily laid-out and convenient; Aggressively priced; No camera should please privacy fans

Speaker isn't the best for music playback; Absence of a camera may frustrate some

Setting aside the hype, Google Home amounts to a slightly more capable take on Amazon's voice-activated Internet of Things (IoT) device, the Echo. assistant This is not necessarily a bad thing, but those hoping for more from Home, especially in the Google Assistant department, will likely be at...

Sleek looking; Actually officially available in Canada; Reasonable price tag

Google Assistant sometimes disappoints; Multi-user support isn't available in Canada; Sound quality is lacklustre

For all intents and purposes, Google Home is pretty much a year old and needs to do more. In the U.S., the smart voice box has already been on the market long enough to give app developers time to implement the actions, but so far, the added value is limited to few areas.

Good music control; Accurate voice recognition; Integrates smart home devices from many different manufacturers

Does not use any Phillips Hue scenes; Too few compatible apps

If you already frequent Google.com to look up stuff on the Web, why not fill the vast white space on that page with news you read and online tools you need Google Home, a personal Web page service, can wrap together all sorts of content so that you don't have to type long URLs and visit multiple...

Google Home is easy to set up and maintain; organizes feeds within a clean page layout; integrates Google tools and third-party content

Google Home offers only six tabs to organize content; Google tailors search results to your lookups while you're signed in

Alexa is still the queen of voice assistants. Google Home is learning fast, and it does some things better than Alexa does. If you have a Google Play Music account and multiple Google accounts around your household, Google Home will give you a smoother multi-user experience.

Attractive design; Removable color bases; Well-rounded sound; Multi-room audio

Still fewer skills than Amazon's Alexa; Doesn't work as a standard Bluetooth speaker

This smart home device is basically Google's answer to Amazon's extremely popular Echo device and for the most part they are incredibly similar. Both will help you with various tasks and answer questions about weather, news, sports, etc.

Stylish – will blend into home nicely; Dozens of features; Can stream content straight to your TV (YouTube & Netflix; Connects with other smart home devices; Customizable design

More expensive than Echo Dot; Average audio quality; Need Google Audio device to connect with other speakers

When I tried an Amazon Echo a few months ago, my main problem was Amazon's lack of an ecosystem. Amazon doesn't really make productivity apps-or any apps at all outside of media and shopping. Pretty much everything you asked "Alexa" to do got dumped into the Echo app.

The "OK Google" hotword performance is absolutely incredible; It always answers, and all your other hotword capable devices hive mind together to intelligently pick a single device to respond to you, A great media product; For audio there's a loud, crisp speaker, and a great mesh audio capability.

Most of my favorite voice commands from the Google app don't work-no reminders; messages; or creating calendar events; Do you want to know exactly what voice commands are supported for each service and function Nobody knows!

There's little question that some sort of voice response device that controls a home tech ecosystem is inevitable. Google Home is the best of them today: The best physical design, the best database behind it, the most "natural" because it can retain the context of the last couple of exchanges.

Attractive design; "conversational" search; backed by Google's immense database

Large power brick; conversational search is still limited

Google Home is a worthy rival to Amazon Echo that plays nice with Google software and hardware, but it lacks some key features of its competitors.

Integrates with your Google tools; Controls Google Cast-enabled devices; Booming bass

Limited add-ons at this point; Lacks balanced sound; especially on vocals

My Google Homes and Home Minis are way more useful than I ever thought they would be. The more stuff you add like more speakers or Chromecasts or smart outlets, the more useful the system becomes. I upgraded to two full size Google Homes up from a pair of Minis and I'm very happy with them.