GoKawiilRyan Haines / Android Authority
Gemini for Google Home has been rolling out for many months, but I wasn’t lucky enough to get it because I live in France. Despite doing all the sign-ups for the Preview program and using Assistant, Gemini, and all my speakers in US English for a decade now, the rollout didn’t make it to my four smart speakers and hubs. Then, a couple of weeks ago, Google announced it was expanding availability to some European countries, and I finally got to experience Gemini on my speakers.
And it has been horrible.
Are you happy with Gemini on your smart display/speaker? 160 votes Yes, I am 17 % It's okay, but could be better 31 % No, I'm not happy 53 %
Why is Gemini on Google Home and Nest Hub so slow?
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
It’s been months now that my smart Google speakers (two Nest Audios, one Nest Hub second generation, and one Pixel Tablet) have been misbehaving. I speak at a normal voice level in a room with a Nest Audio, and the Hub downstairs, far away from me, answers instead. Or, worse, all speakers around the house answer. I ask it to set a timer, but it spins endlessly and doesn’t answer.
My internet connection is, on average, above 500Mbps, and I have solid Wi-Fi 6 routers that handle connections between all my devices very well. There’s no reason that these speakers should’ve been misbehaving. And then I switched to Gemini, and I discovered that my previous issues were kids’ play. Gemini on smart speakers is terrible.
I have to have the patience of a tourist chilling on a beach in Cancun if I want to ask Gemini any questions.
Everything is slooooooooooow now. I have to have the patience of a tourist chilling on a beach in Cancun if I want to ask any questions. Gemini takes forever to listen, forever to transcribe what I said, and forever to answer. By the time it has decided to set my timer, I could’ve gone on Amazon, bought a small timer clock, got it delivered to my home, and manually set it up. I’m exaggerating, but you get the idea. Weather questions take more time than finding my phone around the house, pulling up the Pixel Weather app, and looking at the forecast. And forget about anything more complex. It’s an endless wait.
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