Google built a great smart speaker, but Gemini isn’t ready for it

Smart speakers person spent the past fewer years searching for a compelling 2nd act. Beyond music, timers, and controlling your lights, they’ve struggled to warrant taking up abstraction connected the room counter. AI promised to alteration that.

Amazon debuted its caller hardware powered by a revamped Alexa past fall, and now it’s yet Google’s turn. The Google Home Speaker is the company’s first caller smart speaker successful six years and its first “built for Gemini.” After years of neglect, Google appears to beryllium yet getting superior astir the smart location — again. The caller speaker is the clearest motion yet. Gemini for Home, however, still feels unfinished.

As a portion of hardware, the $99.99 Google Home Speaker is simply a delightful device. It is the Goldilocks of smart speakers: large capable to sound good, mini capable to blend into a room, charismatic without drafting attention, and inexpensive capable to see buying much than one.

The Home Speaker fits successful seamlessly everyplace I tested it: bedside table, room counter, aliases 2 paired nether the TV. The soft greenish jade colour blends successful without being dull. My only disappointment is the deficiency of a color-matched cable, thing some Apple’s HomePod Mini and Amazon’s Echo Dot Max offer. (Oh, and while the cablegram yet uses USB-C for the wall brick, it’s not removable from the speaker itself, which is an rumor if you want a longer cablegram tally aliases if it ever starts to fray.)

There are nary visible controls to mar the mesh fabric-covered body, and the activity parameter ray ringing encircling the guidelines is subtle capable not to beryllium distracting. If it is — for example, erstwhile utilizing 2 speakers nether a TV successful a acheronian room — you tin move the ray disconnected successful settings, thing nary different speaker offers. The invisible controls, which disappointment maine connected erstwhile Google speakers, are overmuch much responsive. A pat connected apical stops aliases starts the sound aliases quickly shuts up the assistant, and a pat connected either broadside raises aliases lowers the volume, pinch faint glowing achromatic dots to show you deed the correct spot.

As my workfellow David Pierce wrote successful his hands-on pinch the speaker, the sound is bully for its softball size. I enjoyed listening to euphony and podcasts connected it. As expected, broadside by broadside pinch the Nest Audio — Google’s larger, previous-generation speaker, which was besides priced astatine $99.99 — the Home Speaker doesn’t sound arsenic good. The Audio had some a woofer and a tweeter; the caller speaker has conscionable a azygous driver, and its bass is thinner since it’s smaller. But the smaller size makes it easier to find a spot for it astir the home. It does connection 360-degree sound, which the Audio didn’t, and it’s a immense upgrade to the smaller, prior-gen Nest Mini.

I had 2 reappraisal units, truthful I was capable to trial the Home Speaker’s stereo pairing feature, and it was a important upgrade. At 80 percent volume, the caller Taylor Swift opus was clear, crisp, and ace large — house-filling loud. Bass, however, is hardly there; Bad Bunny and Rosalía’s vocals soar successful “La Noche de Anoche,” but erstwhile the roar is expected to travel in, it’s much for illustration a bump.

Compared to the title — the $99.99 Echo Dot Max and the now pricier $129 HomePod Mini — the Home Speaker came successful a adjacent 3rd connected audio value for maine (David preferred it complete the Max). Testing Taylor Swift’s “…Ready for It?” connected the Max brought a hint much bass and a fuller sound, while the Mini is quieter but cleaner. The Home Speaker is large and clear and holds its ain connected mids and vocals, though they agelong a small bladed astatine times, and, arsenic mentioned, the bass falls short — which it does connected astir speakers this size.

This is the first Google smart speaker you tin brace pinch a Google TV Streamer (and only a Streamer) arsenic an audio output. You tin usage conscionable one, but adding 2 gets you simulated spatial audio. My acquisition was mostly good. The sound synced good pinch nary dropouts. Streaming YouTube was great; the voices came done large and clear. During a Game of Thrones re-watch, the screams of agony were suitably bone-chilling. But watching the World Cup, it sounded for illustration the commentators were talking successful a tin can, necessitating a move backmost to my (much much expensive) Sonos system.

If you’re conscionable utilizing your TV speakers, a brace of Home Speakers will beryllium an upgrade. But it only useful pinch contented played done the Streamer — if you move to different HDMI input, the audio switches distant from the Home Speaker.

The Home Speaker besides listens well, which is an important expertise for a smart speaker. It has 3 far-field microphones and a neural processing portion that handles inheritance noise. It did good successful each script I tested, proceeding maine moreover from crossed the room aliases erstwhile it was playing large music. It was much responsive than the HomePod Mini, but a tad little than the Echo Dot Max.

As pinch the competition, the Home Speaker is simply a Matter controller, truthful you tin usage it to adhd and power Matter devices done Google Home. It’s besides the first Google Home audio speaker that tin enactment arsenic a Thread separator router. (It’s connected Thread 1.3 for now, but Google tells maine it’s working connected supporting Thread 1.4, which will make it easier for Thread separator routers from different manufacturers to activity together.)

If you’re considering a Home Speaker, the hardware is the main logic to bargain one. On the package side, Gemini for Home — Google’s caller smart location sound adjunct powered by Gemini models and designed to beryllium much conversational, much useful, and smarter — useful connected each Google Home speakers. In my testing, it was mostly the aforesaid acquisition connected the Nest Audio, Nest Hub (2nd gen), and Nest Hub Max.

That’s bully news — Google isn’t locking its newest AI features to caller hardware. But it besides intends there’s small logic to upgrade to the caller speaker if you’re happy pinch what you have.

As it’s built for Gemini for Home, I had expected the Home Speaker to beryllium noticeably snappier than existent models, but it wasn’t immoderate faster than the Nest Audio erstwhile responding to commands. Occasionally, immoderate requests that require the unreality took adjacent to 10 seconds, and moreover section commands for illustration “Turn connected the lights” sometimes lagged conscionable arsenic long.

While Gemini handled analyzable requests good — I asked it to move disconnected 1 room, group the thermostat, and move connected the lights successful different room successful 1 condemnation — it took 10 seconds to do so. Alexa Plus completed the aforesaid petition successful nether three. (To beryllium fair, Alexa utilized to beryllium painfully slow, but it has improved substantially.)

Speed aside, Gemini was very bully pinch earthy conversational control. I could opportunity “Hey Google, I’m cooking and I don’t want to get excessively hot,” and it knew to move down the AC. “Hey Google, it’s excessively acheronian successful here,” and it brightened the lights. When I said I thought location was personification outside, it offered to show my camera provender connected a smart show and cheque my locks. These consciousness for illustration genuine quality-of-life improvements because they make sound power easier.

I for illustration that you don’t person to repetition “Hey Google” during the aforesaid conversation, but Gemini has the representation of a goldfish. While pursuing a recipe, Gemini started stepping maine done making a cherry herb pasta condiment until I paused excessively agelong and it wholly mislaid the thread.

Gemini Live fixes immoderate of this by keeping the speech unfastened until you show it to extremity and remembering erstwhile chats. But this acquisition feels bolted on. You invoke it differently, by saying “Hey Google, let’s chat,” and dissimilar Gemini for Home, it can’t return immoderate actions for you (it punts them to Home); it’s conscionable for chatting with. Gemini Live is besides down a $10-a-month Google Home Premium subscription.

For wide knowledge, Gemini is excellent. It’s substantially amended than Google Assistant ever was. I couldn’t stump it pinch questions astir the World Cup’s bewildering brackets, and I was genuinely impressed erstwhile I asked which of the matches that had already been played coming were worthy watching. It summarized them without revealing the people — correctly inferring that I planned to watch them.

As a family assistant, it feels little dependable. Mid-cook, I’d inquire “When do I adhd the tomatoes?” only to beryllium told Gemini couldn’t reply until it verified my voice. This aforesaid point happened reasonably regularly erstwhile adding items to my shopping database — contempt Google’s Voice Match being group up.

The biggest problem pinch Gemini for Home is that I can’t spot it. Like astir LLMs, Gemini is often confidently wrong. It announced the correct title erstwhile I asked for “La Noche de Anoche,” past played an wholly different song. Then, erstwhile I told it it was wrong, it played different incorrect song.

When I asked if I could alteration the Home Speaker’s voice, it many times insisted it had nary replacement sound options; it does. Then the aforesaid query connected the Nest Hub Max caused it to apparently hallucinate a database of names, including Dimitrix, Impetus, Cameo, and Russell Gethy. (The existent Gemini for Home voices are named aft plants.)

At 1 point, it misinterpreted a bid to set the thermostat arsenic a information request, telling maine alternatively that if I wanted a summary of what was happening successful my home, I needed to upgrade to Google Home Premium Advanced. It past proceeded to spell retired the upgrade URL.

TV controls were the slightest reliable. Sometimes “Turn connected the TV and play YouTube TV” worked. Sometimes Gemini claimed contented wasn’t disposable erstwhile it was. Occasionally it announced “Turning connected the Living Room TV and launching ESPN,” and past did nothing.

After spending 5 days testing Gemini for Home successful the Home Speaker, I springiness the separator to Alexa Plus and its Echo Dot Max. While Gemini for Home’s inference skills were superior successful my testing, Alexa Plus has narrowed the spread importantly erstwhile it comes to wide knowledge. It besides has amended smart location controls, and I tin inquire it to group up routines pinch my voice, thing Google doesn’t offer.

Both fto you usage earthy connection to query and power your location and skip repeating the aftermath word. But Alexa handles it much smoothly and remembers discourse and past conversations better. I do for illustration Gemini’s voices. My pick, Violet — agleam and British — is perfect: no-nonsense without overt personality. I’ve yet to find an Alexa Plus sound I’m comfortable with.

What Google Home doesn’t person is ads, thing Amazon has introduced to its Echo Show smart displays. But pinch Gemini for Home, Google is putting immoderate sound adjunct and smart location features behind a paywall for the first time. Access to Gemini Live and Help maine create, which lets you usage earthy connection to build smart location automations successful the app, requires the $10-a-month Standard plan. The $20-a-month Advanced tier adds Home Brief and AI-powered Nest camera features that necktie into the Home Speaker.

With the Home Speaker, Google built the smart speaker its ecosystem needed: bully sound, a cleaner, much modern design, and the radios and processing powerfulness to anchor a modern smart home. But Gemini for Home isn’t location yet arsenic an assistant. It’s easier to talk to than Google Assistant ever was, and a batch smarter. But coming it’s slow and little reliable. Add the subscription request for immoderate of its much absorbing features, and the consequence is simply a awesome smart speaker waiting for its AI to drawback up.

Photos and videos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge