The smart speaker ecosystem may currently be dominated by Amazon but Google is now catching up one smart device at a time. Last year, the Mountain View giant released Google Home to compete with the Echo but the smaller Echo Dot had lacked competition in the market. However, the tables have turned when Google debuted a smaller Google Home smart speaker at its "Made By Google" event in San Francisco. Called the Google Home Mini, this new stone-shaped speaker will compete fiercely with Amazon's best-selling Echo Dot, which has quickly become a presence in consumers' homes.

With Google now poised to capture a slice of the budget market, it's time to compare the similarities and differences between the Home Mini and the Echo Dot to discern which one is better than the other. It helps you make a better buying decision at the end of the day. So let's take a quick look:

The Google Home Mini and Amazon Echo Dot don't exactly differ in size, but their design and aesthetics vary greatly. The Home Mini adopts a stone-like flat design while the Echo Dot falls in line with the circular pill shape of its older brothers. In terms of detail, the Echo Dot is almost 10mm smaller in diameter and height than the Home Mini's convex fabric top. Google Home Mini

In the materials department, we're already familiar with the plasticky look and feel of the Echo Dot, which doesn't match the crafted beauty of the Home Mini. Google also boasted about developing this durable fabric, which allows light and sound to easily pass through, internally. It took them over 157 tries to perfect the gray chalk color. Google Home Mini Controller