I have owned six different smart speakers over the past three years. Some became central to how I manage my home. Others collected dust within a month. The difference usually had nothing to do with audio quality.
The Czech Language Problem
If you live in the Czech Republic and you want a smart speaker that actually understands you, your options are more limited than the marketing suggests. Most devices advertise multilingual support, but there is a significant gap between understanding a command in Czech and integrating properly with Czech services.
Google Nest speakers handle Czech reasonably well for basic commands. Setting timers, playing music from Spotify, and controlling smart home devices all work without much frustration. The voice recognition accuracy is good enough for daily use, though it still struggles with some names and addresses.
Amazon Echo devices are a different story. Alexa's Czech support has improved, but it remains noticeably weaker than Google's implementation. If you primarily use Czech-language services or want to interact in Czech, the Echo line will disappoint you more often than not.
The most important question to ask before buying a smart speaker: which services do you actually use? A speaker that integrates perfectly with your existing setup is worth more than one with better hardware.
What I Currently Use
After testing multiple devices, I settled on a Google Nest Mini in the kitchen and a Google Nest Audio in the living room. The reasoning was practical rather than brand loyalty.
The Nest Mini handles kitchen tasks well. Timers, unit conversions, quick questions while my hands are occupied. The audio quality is adequate for a kitchen where you are not sitting down to listen. It is small enough that it does not take up meaningful counter space.
The Nest Audio in the living room serves a different purpose. The sound quality is genuinely good for casual listening, and it handles multi-room audio with the kitchen speaker without the synchronization issues I experienced with competing setups.
What Disappointed Me
I spent four months with an Amazon Echo (4th generation) before replacing it. The hardware is excellent. The sound is arguably better than the equivalent Google device. But the integration with services I actually use in the Czech Republic was consistently frustrating.
- Czech language recognition accuracy was noticeably lower for longer commands
- Several Czech streaming services had no native integration
- Smart home routines that worked reliably on Google would occasionally fail on Alexa
- The Skills ecosystem felt less curated than Google's equivalent
None of these are dealbreakers if you primarily use English and Amazon's own services. But for a Czech household with Czech habits, the friction adds up over time.
The Smart Display Question
I tested a Google Nest Hub (2nd generation) for three months. The concept is appealing: a smart speaker with a screen for recipes, video calls, and visual information. In practice, I found myself ignoring the screen more often than using it.
The sleep tracking feature, which uses radar to monitor movement, was the one genuinely useful addition. But it was not enough to justify the price difference over a standard speaker for my use case. If you regularly video call family or want a kitchen display for recipes, the value proposition changes.
For more information on smart home ecosystems, RTINGS maintains a detailed comparison that is updated regularly.
Practical Advice Before You Buy
Before purchasing any smart speaker, spend ten minutes mapping out what you actually want it to do. The use cases that justify the purchase are usually simpler than people expect: timers, music, smart home control, and quick questions. If those four things work reliably, the device earns its place.
- Test the voice recognition in your native language before committing
- Check whether your existing smart home devices are compatible
- Consider where you will place it and whether audio quality matters in that location
- Factor in the ongoing cost of any required subscriptions
Smart speakers are not complicated purchases, but they are easy to get wrong if you focus on specs rather than actual daily use patterns.