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The Google Home Speaker sounds good and looks great - but it’s finicky
The Verge • • general
Key Points:
- The new Google Home Speaker demonstrates excellent voice recognition, consistently responding to "Hey, Google" commands even at maximum volume and in noisy environments like a bathroom with running water.
- The speaker delivers rich, balanced sound with notable bass for its size, outperforming the Amazon Echo Dot Max in clarity and volume, though it is slightly less loud than the UE Wonderboom.
- The design is minimalist and visually appealing, available in four colors, but the lack of visible buttons and small touch controls make it less intuitive to use, and the light ring indicator is not prominently visible.
- It does not function as a standard Bluetooth speaker but supports Google Cast for streaming and can be grouped with other Home Speakers for synchronized audio or paired with Google TV for improved sound.
- Priced at $99, the Home Speaker shows promise as a smart home device primarily designed to integrate Google’s new Gemini AI assistant, with full evaluation pending further testing of its AI capabilities.
