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diff --git a/epicurious/best speakers for your kitchen.txt b/epicurious/best speakers for your kitchen.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe48256 --- /dev/null +++ b/epicurious/best speakers for your kitchen.txt @@ -0,0 +1,67 @@ +Music in the kitchen is as fundamental as salt and food just as flavorless without it. + +When I worked as a line cook music meant my sous chef's warbling, heat-warped Metallic tapes playing out of an old boom box we kept atop the dish sanitizer. Thankfully those days are well behind me and the rest of the world. + +Today a smart speaker can add a lot more than just music to your kitchen. Need a timer? Talk to your speaker. How about searching for a recipe? No need for a phone, your speaker can handle that too. Unit conversions? Check. Want to watch a video on the best way to slice up a mango? Yup, your speaker can do that. If you ask it'll even crank up the Metallic. + +###The AI Battle for Your Kitchen Goes to Google + +After testing dozens of assistant-driven smart screen speaker devices, or whatever you want to call them, I've found Google Assistant to be the best choice for the kitchen. + +When it comes to simple tasks -- set a timer for 10 minutes, play Charles Mingus, and so on -- both Google Assistant and Alexa work well. When it comes to common kitchen-related tasks though, like finding a recipe and following it, converting a measurement on the fly, or looking up a video of an unfamiliar technique, Google Assistant has the edge. Search results are (unsurprisingly) better, and the step-by-step mode for recipe directions, with the ability to pause, step back, step forward, convert a measurement or even call up a YouTube video mid-recipe creates a better experience. + +The main reason to choose Alexa over Google Assistant in the kitchen is if you already have Alexa-based devices in other rooms. If you're adding to an existing Alexa system, then naturally Alexa makes the best choice, otherwise though Google Assistant is the way to go. + +That's not to say Alexa has no place in the kitchen. Using Alexa with the Echo Show I was able to do just about everything I did with Google Assistant, save easily calling up YouTube videos. + +If your primary use for a voice assistant is simple -- listening to music, setting multiple timers, and adding items to your grocery list -- then either assistant will work well. If, on the other hand, you're just starting out in the kitchen and expect to need some extra help with recipes, want to be able to watch related videos on YouTube, or frequently need to convert measurements, I suggest going with a Google Assistant-based device. + +###Best All-Around Smart Device for the Kitchen: JBL Link View $300 + +JBL's Link View strikes the best balance between good sound, helpful assistant, and size. The 8-inch display is big enough for watching YouTube without squinting, but small enough to squeeze between that new air fryer and your mother's mixer. + +It lacks the "kitchen look" of Lenovo's equally capable Smart Display (see below), but provides, to my ear anyway, better sound. The Link View's dual speakers are covered in gray fabric and sit on either side of the LCD screen. The sound is not as good as the Sonos, but better than the rest of the devices I tested. + +The Link View is a very simple, unobtrusive device. There's no power button and no battery to worry about. If the Link View is plugged in, it's on. It's also splash proof, so there's no need to worry about wet hands either. Other than the screen, the only controls are a mute button, a volume rocker on top, and a kill switch for the microphone on the back. + +To interact with the Link View via the screen you just swipe up for the main menu. Tap to select and pull from the left side of the screen to go back to previous screen. I found the touch screen interface the fastest and easiest way to find a good recipe, but once you have the recipe you want, Google Assistant can take over, reading out ingredients, handling conversions on the fly, and skipping forward and backward through the steps. + +One thing that will vastly improve your experience, especially skipping around in recipes, is enabling the "start sound" response. This will play a tone when your Google Assistant is ready for you to tell it something. It's helpful when you can't see the screen. + +The always-on design is the only thing I don't love about the Link View. It makes sense of the general use case, but not so much in the kitchen. Most of my day I am not in the kitchen and don't need it on. Rather than waste electricity I unplug it. But then I inevitably forget that I did that and start talking to a piece of lifeless, grey plastic, wondering why it's not responding. If you're home all day and want to leave it plugged in, the Link View is happy to act as a photo frame or clock when you're not using it. + +###Best for Those on a Budget: Echo Show 8 ($129) + +Amazon's third-generation Echo Show is a direct response to some of Google's kitchen-friendly efforts. It will help you cook by setting timers, pulling up videos, or browsing recipes via Alexa. The launch event even featured a Echo Show 8 video call with chef Bobby Flay. + +Part of what makes the Echo Show 8 a good choice for the kitchen is the 1,280 x 800 screen resolution inherited from Amazon's larger 10-inch version. Taking that resolution and fitting it into a smaller body makes for a crisp, sharp display -- something of a first for Amazon. If you've ever seen the 10-inch Echo Show, or used a Fire tablet, fear not, the Echo Show 8 really is a nice screen. + +The sound is less impressive. The dual 2-inch speakers are loud enough to hear music over the usual din of cooking, but they're the weakest of the bunch. Unlike many Amazon devices, there's a physical shutter to cover the camera when you don't want it, and mute switch for the microphone, which both go a long way to keep Alexa out of your life when you don't need it. + +Speaking of Alexa, Amazon insists on using Fire OS, its fork of Android, on all its devices and this is the least appealing part of the Echo Show. It works, but it's limited in what it can do. Basic things, like getting recipes, setting timers, even, apparently, calling Bobby Flay work just fine, but if you want to add other skills to Alexa things start to fall apart fast. + +###Best For the Sound Obsessed: Sonos One + +If you are one of us for whom sound quality trumps everything else, the Sonos One is the best smart speaker. Yes, you'll miss the instructional videos and a host of other nice things about having an LCD monitor on your speaker, but you will have your choice of either Alexa or Google Assistant and the sound, the sweet, sweet Sonos sound, which somewhat makes up for the loss of a screen. + +Are they expensive? Yes. But if you have the money you won't find better sound. Chances are, if you're an audiophile, you probably already have a couple of Sonos speakers, which makes adding another to the kitchen a no brainer. In addition to the Sonos One, which happens to have a permanent place in the kitchen at my house, there's also the newer Sonos Move, which is the first portable, bluetooth-enabled Sonos speaker. The Move is also water resistant, making it a little more kitchen-friendly. + +###Other Worthy Possibilities + +- **Lenovo Smart Display**: Lenovo's Smart Display is a very nice speaker and screen combo. The JBL Link View has the upper hand on sound, but Lenovo is better if you plan to do a lot of video chat. You swivel the display to vertical orientation, which makes it more phone-friendly. It also has a nice bamboo wood grain back that looks very much at home next to my cutting board. + +- **JBL Link 20**: If you want Google Assistant, good sound, and don't care about the screen, the JBL Link 20 is a great speaker. It has the same Google-powered smarts as the Link View, but it ditches the screen for a more compact form factor and lower price. It's also completely waterproof, highly portable, and even floats should you find yourself grilling poolside. + +- **The Hockey Pucks**: The most bare bones options I tested are the Echo Dot and Google Home Mini. Both are roughly hockey-puck size devices, the primary difference being that the Echo has Alexa inside and the Home Mini has Google Assistant. Both offer mediocre sound, limited voice capabilities, and the design makes them prone to damage from counter top spills. + +Still, if you want a voice assistant and have limited space (both can hang on a wall, and in fact the Google Home Mini especially sounds much better this way) either of these will do the job. Both devices often go on sale for a low as $25, making them a good way to try out a smart device without investing too much. + +###How We Tested. + +I tested twelve speakers, some with displays, some without in search of the best option for your kitchen. As noted in the beginning though, best is very subjective based on everything from how you cook, to the size of your kitchen. To help a little with the latter I invaded some friends' homes to experience a very large kitchen and a very tiny kitchen, which is how I discovered that the Sonos One really shines in a large room and Google Home Mini is a great choice for a small space. + +I started by littering my kitchen counter with devices, shouting commands and throwing flour at everything until it all slowly ground to halt, assistant voices fading to crackles and warbles. No, not really. + +I addition to sound, I dug into what's possible using voice commands, the screens, and any companion apps where they exist. I had Alexa and Google Assistant track down recipes for Guinness beef stew, chocolate ganache, a potato galette, and a host of more difficult tasks like finding gluten or dairy-free recipes. I tried finding recipes for pressure cookers, Sous Vide, and other specialty appliances you might have. All the devices above handled these tasks with relative aplomb, except where noted. + +Choosing the right smart speaker for your home is more about which features you need, ease of use, and related technologies. These ended up being the deciding factors in my testing and this why there is not one best speaker, but the best speaker for you. diff --git a/epicurious/best tablets for your kitchen.txt b/epicurious/best tablets for your kitchen.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a4f877d --- /dev/null +++ b/epicurious/best tablets for your kitchen.txt @@ -0,0 +1,65 @@ +Cooking has become a refuge in my digital day. There may be smart ovens, smart fridges, even smart toasters, all around our kitchens, but the fundamentals of cooking remain deliciously analog. Steel blades slice on wooden cutting boards, iron pans heat over fire -- does it get any more analog than fire? + +The processes may be forever analog, but the digital world is increasingly in our kitchens. We search recipes, watch videos of unfamiliar techniques, and share results with social media friends. Our phones can do all this, but after months of testing I've come to love the tablet in the kitchen. + +The larger screen means I can set it on a stand well away from water and flame and still see what I need to see. Virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant mean I can keep interacting with my tablet even while I'm getting messy, cutting up a chicken, kneading dough, or rolling out cookies. + +While the kitchen tablet is an obvious upgrade to make, which tablet is not so obvious. Unfortunately, unless you're really dedicated to Android, Apple has the upper hand in the tablet market. While Android phones can compete (in my view far exceed) with iPhones, the Android tablet market has just never taken off. Apple's hardware is better, more solidly built, faster, with better screens, and the software selection blows Android out of the water. + +There are a couple of Android tablets worth considering if you're on a budget, or just don't like iOS, but for most people, iPads are going to be your best choice in the kitchen and out. + +### The Best Tablet for Your Kitchen: iPad (2019) + +Apple's latest iPad is my favorite kitchen device. It strikes the best balance between form, function, and price. It's not perfect, but it's close enough for $329. You get the all-day battery life the iPad is justly famous for, the solid A10 processor with more RAM than previous models, and a screen large enough to read even when it's perched on a counter a few feet away. + +To get the best experience in the kitchen I suggest cranking up the font size in Safari and iBooks for easier reading at a distance. If you want your tablet to double as a music player, grab a Bluetooth speaker like the JBL Link 20 and stream Spotify from the iPad to a speaker while you cook. + +The iPad isn't waterproof. It isn't even rated for water resistance. For that reason I highly recommend grabbing a stand. The [Prepara adjustable stand](https://www.amazon.com/Prepara-IPrep-Tablet-Stand-Stylus/dp/B00ERE36R4){: rel=nofollow} is a solid choice, and it includes a stylus (you wouldn't want to draw with it, but it works as an alternative to greasy fingertips. If you want something simpler, the [Stump Stand](https://www.amazon.com/Stump-120V2BK-Stand-Black/dp/B004TSAMFM){: rel=nofollow} works well. + +While the entry model iPad is my top pick, it does have some shortcomings. My gripes with the iPad don't really affect its performance in the kitchen, where it holds its own against more expensive iPads, and bests the Android-based tablets I tested. + +However, if you plan to use your iPad beyond the kitchen, whether for browsing the web on the couch or watching movies on your next flight, there are a couple drawbacks to keep in mind. The biggest is that the Pencil support is limited to the first-generation Apple Pencil, which is still full price and awkward to charge. You'll also need to tote around an extra lightning cable because this iPad has not yet adopted the more universal USB-C charging standard. + +### The iPad Pro: A Worth-It Upgrade + +My kitchen tablet does double duty as an all-around family device. My wife uses the Apple Pencil to sketch quilt designs, my kids play Mario Kart, and I attach the keyboard and get work done on it. If your iPad is going to lead a similar double life, and you can afford it, I suggest upgrading to one of the Pro models. + +You get a more powerful processor that makes for snappier apps and a bigger screen that makes it easier to see videos from across the kitchen. The wider screen, combined with Apple's new iPadOS gives the screen real estate and tools to pair applications side by side. You can have your favorite cookbook open alongside your web browser. Flick your finger down from the top right corner to control your music and you've pretty much hit peak kitchen tech in my view -- everything you need, nothing you don't. + +The screen on the Pro models is much sharper, and brighter as well. The True Tone display makes food photography even more mouth watering, especially I noticed, with cookbooks in the iBooks app, where I could see a marked difference between the displays. On the iPad Pro colors were brighter, blacks richer, and the sharpness made for clearer images. + +The other advantage of the iPad Pro comes when you take it out of the kitchen. The speed boost of the faster processor becomes apparent when browsing the web or playing games. And if you do any drawing you'll really appreciate the thinner air gap -- that's the space between the pixels of the screen and the glass that covers it, it's much less on the iPad Pro -- which makes it feel more like drawing on paper. + +### The Fire 8 HD and Fire 10 HD: Best Budget Option + +If you want a screen in your kitchen and you don't want to spend a lot of money, Amazon's Fire tablets are your best bet. Skip the 7-inch model, it's not much bigger than your phone and the screen is difficult to read at any more than arms length. The 8 and 10-inch models are nicer, I happen to like the 10 the best of the bunch. + +One great plus to the Fire 10 HD is Alexa. Thanks to some recent software upgrades Amazon has rolled out, you can treat your Fire tablet like any other Alexa device. It won't wake up by voice command, but once you've got it out of sleep mode, Alexa is there to do your bidding. Ask for recipes, search videos, set timers, and play music without ever lifting a finger. + +Bear in mind that the Fire 10 HD isn't the fastest device around. It's adequate for most tasks, browsing the web, watching video, but it's nowhere near as fast as even the entry-level iPad. The screen is also not nearly as sharp, but that's to be expected in a device that retails for less than half of what you'll pay for the cheapest iPad. + +The other thing to keep in mind with the Fire devices is that they heavily push Amazon services. There's no Android Play Store, rather you download a more limited selection of apps through Amazon's own store. There are ways around this, but they require some tech expertise. + +### The Galaxy Tab 5s: Best Pure Android Tablet + +If you want an Android tablet without the Amazon, the Galaxy Tab S5e is your best bet. This is Samsung's answer to the iPad. It can't compete on battery life unfortunately, but it's powerful enough to hold its own again the iPad. + +In fact this might have been my top pick were it not for the Achilles's heel of Android tablets: software. You can use Google Assistant, which is my favorite of the smart assistants, but there just aren't many Android apps that take advantage of the larger form factor in truly useful ways. While nearly every app I tested did work, many were still just scaled up phone apps. + +It was a painful reminder that the Galaxy Tab S5e, while a nice piece of hardware, struggles to get past the old "it's a bigger phone" criticism of tablets. + +That said, if you take the time to hunt out tablet-friendly apps, or only plan to use a web browser and ebook reader anyway, then the Tab S5e is the Android device to get. + +### How We tested + +I tested seven tablets, three iPads, three Fire tablets, and two Android tablets. I also called in a few stands, to make sure I didn't end up with a tablet in a puddle of water. + +I started with battery tests because no matter how nice your tablet experience is, if it doesn't last through dinner it's useless. To test battery life I streamed a video through the web browser and looped it until each device died. For most part, I ended up with results very close to what the manufacturers claimed, which was encouraging. The exception to this rule was the Galaxy Tab S6, which did not make the cut. + +Next I tested out how far away I could read the screen and how much I could enlarge the font and still get the info I wanted on screen. I also browsed my collection of digital cookbooks, called up saved recipes in Evernote, and browsed the web for new recipes. + +The last aspect I looked at was digital assistants. If you want a dedicated smart device in the kitchen, have a look at our guide to [smart speakers](https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/the-best-wireless-kitchen-speakers-some-of-which-are-more-like-tiny-tvsandnbsp-article). None of the options here best those when it comes to digital assistants. Still, Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant are all there if you need them. Google Assistant is the best of the bunch in my testing, returning the most useful results the fastest. Alexa is the next best and Siri, which it may have popularized the assistant, seriously lags behind at this point. + +### The Takeaway + +If you want a dedicated kitchen tablet without breaking the bank, grab the new Apple iPad. If you want a new tablet that will spend some time in the kitchen and some time doing other things, consider spending a little more for the iPad Pro. The nicer screen, faster processor and version 2 Apple Pencil make the Pro the better, if more expensive, device. If you budget is tight, the Fire 10 HD is the way to go. It's not fancy, and you'll have to deal with Amazon's customized Android experience, but at this price, there's really no other options. If you want an Android tablet, grab the Galaxy S5e, again there's really no other choice. |