Google Home is a colorful answer to the Amazon Echo

Alexa, Google’s aiming to steal your throne.

Google announced on stage at its annual developer conference a smart home device called Google Home that will directly compete with the Amazon Echo speaker, the current darling of the budding tech category.

The device, which looks similar to Google’s OnHub Wi-Fi router and works alongside its new Google Assistant software (similar to Alexa’s virtual assistant), will serve as master of ceremonies to your smart home. 

Like the Echo, Google Home is a speaker that will answer questions and complete tasks, like dim the lights and play music. But the company teases this device might even be smarter, thanks to its ability to change colors and keep the conversation going via a learning algorithm. 

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Google Home, developed by its in-house Chromecast team, wants to be an entire control center for the house and supports Google Cast, which integrates with other speakers you might have in your house. 

But it'll also help manage grocery lists, order dinner and update you about flight delays. Meanwhile, with the help of built-in search, it can answer questions typically "difficult for other assistants to answer," such as asking for an athlete's jersey number and following it up with something like, "Where did they go to college?" 

It will also get to know you better over time "with your permission, of course," the company said. In theory, Google Home could learn your preferences and interests, and serve you up information accordingly.

In the days leading up to the Google I/O conference held at its Mountain View, California-headquarters, the device -- reportedly codenamed “Chirp” -- was believed to be in development but not expected to get stage time at the event.

Because it won’t make its official market debut until the fall, the move to hurry the announcement highlights pressure from Google to up its smart home presence. The category has quickly become dominated by Amazon’s Echo speaker in just less than two years (the company has reportedly sold about 3 million units).

But Google isn’t the only tech giant playing catch up to Amazon. It’s rumored Apple is hard at work building a smart home app for iOS 10 ahead of next month's annual Apple Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC). If it's legit, this would give Apple smart home users a much better way manage smart locks, lights, blinds and so on, without having to use a specific app for each gadget. As of now, Apple’s smart home platform is too siloed -- without a gadget like the Echo or Google Home (or without a master app to control everything in one place), the process will be too complicated for consumers to readily adopt.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

But both Google and Apple will be tasked with building up its partnership repertoire, too: With the Amazon Echo, you can control your smart lights, order an Uber or Domino's pizza and get a weather report, all from a single source.

But if the promise of Google Home is any indication, Amazon might have to work hard to keep its lead.

BONUS: A first look at Android Wear 2.0

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