These are the top five reasons not to buy a smart speaker.
Apple just introduced the world to its HomePod, a speaker that focuses on music first, along with Siri.
It's up against Amazon and Google.
But here's the thing: there are plenty of reasons to stay away from smart speakers in general.
Let's get to it.
At number five, you're paranoid.
Yeah, you.
A lot of people get irked when they find out a device is constantly listening to them.
Sure, the speaker only starts talking to you when you use the activation word, but it's microphones are on unless you mute them.
If a speaker with ears scares you, avoid smart speakers.
And number four, the money.
The Amazon Echodot is a very low cost smart speaker at $50.
However, it can easily become a gateway into spending a bunch of money on other smart devices just so your smart speaker seems more useful.
Mm-hm.
It would be nice to control my tv with an Echo.
Maybe I need to get a Harmony remote.
Maybe I need a bunch of smart bulbs while I'm at it.
What about some smart outlets?
I should get some of those too.
And number three, it's still awkward.
Do you like yelling at tech, because you'll be yelling at your smart speaker.
I'm not saying the Home or Echo have problems hearing.
In my experience, the problem comes in the understanding part.
Getting wrong answers from a smart speaker is less than ideal, and before you know it, you're yelling at your speaker to stop giving you useless responses.
And number two, you've got Bluetooth speakers.
Does your favorite music service work on that piece of hardware?
Who cares, if you just have a regular Bluetooth speaker?
If whatever service you like runs on your computer, tablet, or phone, you can just send that audio over without much difficulty.
Bluetooth is standard and good bluetooth speakers are pretty cheap these days.
And the number one, you got a phone.
So you've got a bunch of smart home tech in your home, odds are you can control your whole house using apps on your phone.
Now the question becomes, do you have a smartphone?
Of course you do.
Interacting with your phone, it's relatively simple and usually works as you think it would.
Wanna ask about sports courts or get other information?
Fire up a browser or search on your phone.
And the crazy thing is, you'll probably get all the information you need.
[MUSIC]
What's that?
You don't care and you still want a smart speaker?
Check out our reviews at cnet.com.
I'm Iyaz Akhtar and I'll see you online.
Especially you paranoid guy.
