The Google Home Speaker Delivers Great Sound, But Mixed Gemini Performance
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The Home Speaker is the predictable upgrade you’d expect from Google. Solid sound quality from a small footprint, along with the added benefits of Gemini. However, Gemini’s performance can be irregular, with some responses being faster than others.
While the Google Assistant was a great AI feature, Gemini is a robust improvement in nearly every way and continues to be. As Google continues the Gemini-fication of all of its products, the next stop is its smart speakers. Since the last smart speaker, the Nest Audio, launched nearly six years ago, a new one is a bit overdue.
This is the newest $99 Google Home Speaker, the company’s latest smart speaker built for Gemini AI. Visually, it’s a bit taller than the previous Nest Mini and more closely aligned with Apple’s HomePod Mini and Amazon’s Echo Dot Max. Since the Nest Mini and Nest Audio are now officially discounted, this is the company’s only entry-level speaker at the moment.
However, along with a more powerful AI come three tiers of the Gemini For Home subscription plans: a free plan, a $10 monthly standard plan, and a $20 monthly advanced plan. After a full week of testing this and comparing it with the Nest Audio, we’re ready to tell you whether this is an actual upgrade or merely a partial one with Gemini.
Compared to the company’s previous smart speaker, the Nest Audio, the Google Home Speaker delivers big sound with fewer internal components. The newest speaker touts an omnidirectional 58 mm full-range driver, as opposed to its predecessor’s 75 mm mid-woofer with a 19mm tweeter.
The 58mm driver pumps out big sound in this small-ish speaker.
Despite being outperformed by the Nest Audio, the Google Home Speaker does provide big sound and bass for its smaller size. Testing the two with a variety of music genres, I found the bass output on the Home Speaker to be close to or mildly surpass that of the better-equipped Nest Audio. The overall output can effortlessly fill a relatively small space, thanks to its 360-degree driver. Also, the speaker’s mic does a good job of picking me up over music or kids screaming in the background or foreground.
As with other Google smart home speakers, the Home Speaker can be put into groups to work with the company’s other smart speakers. It can be paired to provide spatial surround sound for Google’s TV Streamer 4K, which is a nice additional touch. Unfortunately, we only got one to test, so we weren’t able to test this feature.
While most of the speaker’s experience is Gemini-based, you still need to use the Google Home app for the initial setup. Setting up the Google Home Speaker is relatively simple. You begin by opening the Google Home app, tapping the ‘+’ icon in the top-right corner, selecting the device scan option, scanning the QR code at the bottom of the speaker, designating a place for your speaker, and selecting a Wi-Fi network for your speaker. Now, unless you’re using the smart home features or grouping it with other Google smart speakers, you probably won’t use the Google Home app regularly.
Gemini is a modest upgrade over Google Assistant, but it also introduces new bugs.
With Google Assistant, you can do things such as run Google searches, add items to your shopping list, and control your smart home—all verbally. Now with Gemini, you can do the previously mentioned features in addition to things like getting answers for multiple requests at once; changing or correcting your request mid-sentence; accessing Gemini Live conversations for your queries and brainstorm sessions, as well as conversational search of your video footage; and getting verbal summaries of what your Nest or smart home camera captured throughout the day. The latter of the two features requires Google’s premium subscription.
However, I found the processing speed to be relatively fast but not consistent. Using the ‘OK, Google’ wake prompt usually wakes the speaker up in the blink of an eye. However, some responses took up to five seconds to formulate, while others were instant. I’m not sure if there’s any rhyme or reason behind the inconsistency. To verify my findings, I checked my router and tested the same queries on my Google smart displays powered by Google Assistant, and I got more reliable results.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to test out the Home Speaker’s smart home capabilities for searching home security footage and controlling smart home products. At the moment, my humble abode isn’t quite the smart home one would assume a TechGuy would have. Hopefully, I will update this review in the near future if that changes.
If you live in the Google smart home ecosystem, the Google Home Speaker is a welcome addition or update—if you own any of the company’s previous smart speakers. Although I wish the attached cord were a bit longer, the smart speaker looks good wherever you place it in your home.
While the Home Speaker’s audio capabilities are impressive, you’re buying it primarily for its Gemini abilities. If you’re already a subscriber to Gemini’s paid tier, you’ll truly enjoy the Home Speaker’s full potential. If not, your speaker purchase includes six months of Google Home Premium, giving you half a year of experience with the premium tier for free.
At the end of the day, I would consider the Google Home Speaker a partial upgrade because of the additional features Gemini brings to the table. Since Gemini is the main selling point and at the heart of the speaker, it’s not without its problems. Throughout our testing, Gemini’s response speed was inconsistent, with some replies faster than others. I wouldn’t say it’s a deterrent if you’re interested, as I’m certain this issue can be addressed in the near future.
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