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The tech elite love voicebots. Google Home is a game-changer, a way to search by voice for recipes when you’re in the kitchen. Amazon Echo and the Alexa voicebot help you order products and check the weather. I’m eager to see how Apple will make the HomePod a must-own product.
And yet there is a long way to go.
Over the past few days, I let several “everyday users” try all of the voicebots in my office.
These are folks who do not care that much about technology. They use the same small subset of apps on their phones — pretty much Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. They don’t read about tech news and don’t care. If there comes a day when a car drives itself, they will barely notice.It’s an interesting experience listening to non-techies interact with voicebots.
One of my biggest discoveries is that they don’t seem to realize the bot cannot hear them from across the room. Most of us know you have to be in the same room or even nearby. I keep a Google Home, an Amazon Echo, and my iPhone 7 Plus on my desk at all times. From the hallway or the kitchen in my house, I know the bots (and Siri on my phone) can’t really hear me.
But normal users don’t think about that. They think a “talking robot” can hear you just as easily as a human being from the next room, especially if you talk louder….
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