Google’s first smart speaker in six years arrives next week

Google’s first smart speaker in six years will begin shipping on June 29, with a few surprises its promised spring opening window. Pre-orders for the Google Home Speaker open today, June 17.

Nothing has changed hardware-wise in the nine months since $99 speaker announced. It also has a slightly curved design, with touch buttons on the top and a light ring on the bottom to indicate status. And it still comes in four colors: porcelain (white), hazel (black), jade (green), and berry (red). The last two are US only.

The Home Speaker is Google’s first dedicated audio device Gemini For Home. You can use Gemini Home on other Google Nest speakers and smart displays, but Anish Kattukaran, head of product at Google Home, said this device delivers the information better. In a press release earlier this month, he said the speaker runs local modes for noise cancellation, tone cancellation, and sound isolation to ensure Gemini can hear commands even in background noise.

Gemini for Home has been available on Nest speakers for several months through an early access program. Compared to Google Assistant, Gemini is much more useful when talking. It can understand the rules of natural language, solve complex questions, and follow if you make a mistake, or change your mind mid-sentence. It can also talk back and forth less often without needing to repeat the wake-up call.

Google Home speaker is smaller than Nest Audio, Google’s previous wise words. Kattukaran says the company felt the long Nest Audio was difficult to install in the home. Google doesn’t say that the new speaker is comparable to Nest Audio. In fact, the company emphasizes that it’s “a huge upgrade over the Nest Mini.” It has 360 audio, so it should sound the same from anywhere in the room.

You will be able to combine two Google Home speakers for stereo sound, or connect them to Google TV Streamer editing tool and use it for round-the-clock audio. This is not something that Google has provided in its previous announcements.

The speaker is a Matter and Thread border router, so it can help you connect smart home devices like lights, locks, and plugs to your Google Home. However, it is running Thread 1.3 at installation, instead of new Thread 1.4.

Considering there are no hardware changes, why did it take so long to unlock the device? Kattukaran says Google has used this time to improve Gemini Home – improving the latency of smart home rules and media startups by up to 40 percent, processing more than 25,000 reports, and sending them. more than 50 new features and improvements.

If you buy a Google Home speaker before September, you’ll get six months of Google Home Premium included. Google Home Premium starts at $10 a month and includes Gemini Live, which Kattukaran calls “the most interactive experience you can have with Gemini.” It also opens up AI-powered searches on Google Nest cameras, so you can ask the speaker when they last saw your cat, and Google Home Brief, which summarizes what happens in your home at the end of each day.

With the Google Home Speaker, Google is making its strongest case yet for Gemini in your smart home. I will be testing if it lives up to that promise when the speaker arrives next week.