GoKawiilGoogle Home Speaker On its own, the Google Home Speaker is a solid option. It looks nice, sounds good, and Gemini works very well. But it's also not a meaningful upgrade over older Google speakers, and it doesn't fare particularly well against the competition. It's a good pickup if you need a new Google Home-compatible speaker, but it doesn't do anything to move the needle forward.
For the first time in almost six years, we finally have a new Google-made smart speaker. As someone who uses Google Home and has long preferred Google Assistant (and now Gemini) over Alexa, I’m thrilled. I’ve been impatiently waiting for Google to refresh its smart speaker portfolio, and the Home Speaker does precisely that.
And Google is going all-in on this refresh. The company officially discontinued the Nest Mini and Nest Audio, making the Google Home Speaker the only Google speaker option going forward. As such, it had better be great.
If you’re looking to get your first Google smart speaker or need another one to join your existing models, the Google Home Speaker is a good, perfectly serviceable option. But was it worth waiting over half a decade for? I’m not so sure.
What I like about the Google Home Speaker
Joe Maring / Android Authority
I know that sounds like a downer of an intro, but there is a lot that I really do like about the Google Home Speaker — starting with its design.
The Google Home Speaker is a bit larger than the super-compact Nest Mini yet significantly smaller than the Nest Audio. You probably won’t see any nifty wall mounts for the Home Speaker like there are for the Nest Mini, but it easily fits on any desk/table/nightstand. And despite its size, the Home Speaker doubles as a Thread border router for Matter smart home devices (something the larger Nest Audio doesn’t support). I also really appreciate the rubber base, which is super grippy and keeps the Home Speaker from moving around.
There are three touch control areas on the top of the Home Speaker: tapping the left turns the volume down, tapping the right turns it up, and tapping the middle pauses/resumes whatever you’re currently listening to. It’s the same control scheme from previous Nest speakers, and it works just as well here.
What also works well are the colors. You’ve got standard black and white options (Hazel and Porcelain, respectively), but also a bright red Berry and a calming green Jade. The Jade color is what I have, and I absolutely love it — partly because it matches the walls in my bedroom almost perfectly. I’d love to see even more colors down the road, but this is a great start nonetheless.
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