What Makes The Ideal Home Assistant?

Whether it’s below the surface of a cute robot assistant with some quirky name, or embedded into your favorite OS, a home assistant can come in handy.  But what differentiates one worth purchasing from one not worth paying for the likely 3 digit price tag?

1. Easy To Use

The ideal home assistant must be easy to use. You don’t want to have to take out your phone from your  back pocket,unlock it, sift though all your apps to find the corresponding one, then interact with a clunky UI, all just to access a  feature. There are better ways. Some devices use wake words that turn on the voice activated device, like Amazon Echo. Voice controlled home assistants are the best because all you need to do to access a feature is talk to it. It can’t get much simpler than that.

2. Useful Features

The line up of features is the key to the success of a great home assistant. Being able to connect to Spotify, to play music is a simple but great feature. Also the ability to notify you when an item is coming up on your smart phone’s calendar is another useful feature. And though ordering a Domino’s pizza may be getting towards the “glamorous but useless” end of the spectrum, it can still come in handy at times. But really who is going to actually purchase an item on a shopping site with their voice?! I sure wouldn’t. Basically if you aren’t going to use most of its capabilities, it’s a waste paying for the all the added technology behind it, so look further.

3. Positive-Nuetral Effect

The last key aspect of a good virtual home assistant is its helpful effect on a user’s day without really being noticed. Most likely if your noticing it or even being distracted, it’s a flat out failure. You want to find a helpful device that fits into your day so well. This way you barely know it’s there, even when its right in front of you helping you out in some way or another.

Teched Up Power Rankings | Virtual Reality

Here is a brief list of some VR headsets to consider when looking to buy one. 
4. Google cardboard – Cardboard is by far the simplest and cheapest VR headset out there. If your looking for a headset that you can insert your mobile phones into then cardboard is the best option. The Samsung gear VR is way overpriced ($100) for its cheap technology.(yes, it’s not much better made then cardboard, and the only key difference is that gear VR is better at blocking out light.) Cardboard is around $15 and you will get a solid VR expierence. You will get a good amount of bang for a little buck. Also great for VR beginners, however you can stay intrigued with it for only so long.

3. FOVE – Now for more the high end product line, FOVE is the world’s first eye tracking Virtual Reality headset. This means that the FOVE knows where you’re looking so yours eyes be used to control an aspect of a game. The FOVE has a 100 degree field of view, 10 degrees less then the Oculus and Vive. But as cool as the features may sound, I’m just not sure if the tech is there yet. That’s why I’m putting it below Vive and Oculus Rift. The FOVE will be priced at around $400-$500.

2. Oculus Rift – Oculus Rift is probably the most popular VR headset out there. However though it has a very similar spec sheet to the Vive, and definitely more convenience, Oculus isn’t at the level of Vive. At least yet. The game selection for Rift is way smaller then that of the Vive most likely because of HTC’s partnership with Steam. Nevertheless the Rift is an awesome product with a lot of upside. If you can afford the $600 price tag, then you will get a lot of entertainment out of this product. 

1. HTC Vive – The HTC Vive gives gamers a vivid experience that actually makes them feel like they are in a virtual world. One distinguishable feature is that the Vive is made to be used standing up and moving around. To better this unique experience Vive has implemented an awesome feature called Chaperone Mode in which objects the camera on the front of the headset sees, is translated into the virtual world that the user is experiencing. These additional features also mean that much more setup is involved for the Vive including sensors at the corners of the room. The Vive at the very least requires a computer with a GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon R9 290 graphics card and an Intel Core i5 4590 or AMD FX 8350 processor. The computer must also have 4GB RAM or more in order to support the VR headset. The Vive comes with two single-handed controllers, that can even tell when you squeeze the handle, which can simulate actions such as picking up some object in VR. And though the Vive itself costs $800 if your willing to pay for the Oculus plus all the necessary hidden fees including a proper CPU, Oculus Touch (A slicker but not as good Vive controller) etc, you shouldn’t have too much of a problem paying more for a better product, in fact the best in the market.