Good news, Gemini fans: Google's chatbot is fully integrated into its newest smart speaker, known as the Google Home Speaker, and it's almost here: You can preorder it today for $99.99, and it will officially launch on Thursday, June 25 If you were thinking of picking up an Amazon speaker with Alexa+ this Prime Day, Google may have just given you something to think about.
The Google Home Speaker is all about Gemini
The Google Home Speaker is the company's first smart speaker to ship with Gemini built in. That makes sense, seeing as the company's last smart speaker was the second-gen Google Nest Mini, which came out back in 2019—three years before ChatGPT kicked off the current generative AI craze. Fast forward six years, and tech (not to mention the world) looks a lot different.
As such, much of Google's advertising for its new speaker focuses on its Gemini-centered capabilities, which are quite advanced compared to the company's past digital assistant. The core benefit is the generative AI's contextual awareness: You can ask Gemini questions with logic (e.g. "Turn off all the lights except for the lamp on my nightstand"), string together multiple requests at once ("Dim the living room lights, play a jazz station, and set a timer for 15 minutes"), and make corrections to things you just said ("Turn off the lights in the kitchen; oops, I mean turn them on.")
Google also encourages users to ask Gemini "complex" questions, like "What's the weather like for my favorite team's next game?" Gemini should be able to intuitively determine when and where the game will take place and return relevant weather results. The AI also has "short-term memory," which means you don't need to repeat yourself when asking follow-up questions. Google's "Continue Conversation" feature keeps the mic live after a response, too, anticipating follow-ups, so you don't need to say "OK Google" after every interaction. You can also use Gemini Live mode to have a true back-and-forth conversation about whatever you want. Like Amazon's Echo speakers, the Google Home has a new "light ring" that will glow whenever it's "speaking" or "thinking," offering visual feedback. (You can still use a physical switch to disable the mic.)
Google Home Speaker audio and design
According to Google's tech specs, this new speaker comes with a 58mm full-range driver with "omni-directional sound." In other words, it has "balanced, 360º audio" that plays in every direction. Like other small smart speakers, the idea is to deliver a good sound experience wherever you place the speaker in your room. And, like Amazon's Echoes and Apple's HomePod minis, you can now pair two Google Home Speakers together—the speakers can route through Google TV Streamer for surround-sound audio, but can also connect to Home and Nest speakers so you can play music in multiple rooms.
The Google Home Speaker supports Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and Thread 1.3. It has 1GB of RAM, a 4GB built-in memory card, and a quad-core A55 2.0 GHz chip with an NPU, which likely powers Gemini's on-device processes. It looks similar to the Nest Mini, though a bit taller. Gone are the days of Google's "squished" speaker design. In addition to that new light ring, the speakers come in four colors: Hazel, Porcelain, Jade, and Berry. In short, it looks solid, but we'll have to wait for hands-on testing before we know how these speakers stand up to Google's claims—or other options on the market.
What do you think so far?
Google Home Speaker has some stiff competition
Google's newest smart speaker returns to a tech landscape that is very different than the one the Google Nest mini entered back in 2019. Google's main competition is still Amazon, though now, Echo devices are powered by Alexa+ rather than Alexa. Amazon has also heavily invested in its generative AI assistant, and, in many ways, the efforts appear to have paid off—especially for Prime users who don't have to pay Amazon's subscription costs.
Like all tech ecosystems, users invested in Amazon's platforms may naturally find themselves gravitating towards its speakers and services. But for platform agnostics out there, will Google Home Speaker with Gemini tempt them away from something like the Echo Dot Max, which costs the same $99.99? Both platforms offer conversational assistants with contextual awareness, but Amazon has the luxury of heavily discounting its first-party offerings for Prime Day.
And don't discount the other potential player in this space: Apple. While the HomePod mini is priced right, it's a very different product, since Siri's abilities pale in comparison to Gemini's or Alexa+'s. But that could change once Siri AI drops, or if the rumors are correct and Apple soon releases a smart home display. In short, at this point, the AI-powered smart speaker market is still up for grabs.
