Google Home, an Amazon Echo rival, was announced on 18 May 2016 and we were given a demo in the UK on 4 October 2016. Google Home is a voice-activated speaker which lets you have a conversation with the Google Assistant. It’s only available to buy in the US at the moment. Here’s what you need to know about Google Home price, release date, specs and features.
See also: Android 7 (& how to get 7.1 Nougat now ) | Daydream VR | Android Pay UK | Android Wear 2.0 | Google Wifi
Update 6 February: In an advert during the Super Bowl for Google Home in the US, owners repeatedly say the \u00ab\u00a0OK, Google\u00a0\u00bb wake phrase which triggered real users’ devices in their homes. Unlike the recent Amazon Echo news coverage which caused Alexa to order a doll’s house for quite a few viewers, the worst that could have happened this time was that the lights would be turned on, dimmed or music turned up. You can watch the ad below:
If you live in the US, you can buy a Google Home for $129.
Unfortunately for us on the other side of the pond, Google has \u00ab\u00a0no plans\u00a0\u00bb to launch Home in the UK (or any other country for that matter) but that doesn’t mean we won’t see a UK launch in 2017. We’ve seen several Amazon products launch first in the US and then in the UK later on.
If you’re impatient, don’t be tempted to import a Google Home as many of the services are unlikely to work in the UK and the warranty will be void, too. (Google has made the latter part very clear.)
Given that the Amazon Echo costs \u00a3149.99 ( buy now ) we expect Google will rival Amazon’s product if it does decide to sell it over here. Don’t be surprised if Google Home actually costs a lot less, though: as we’ll explain below the specification is very similar to the company’s \u00a330 Chromecast streaming stick with some additions to the design. As soon as we get UK pricing and availability we will be sure to update this article.
Google Home also comes with a free six month trial of YouTube Red, a way of watching ‘YouTube ad-free, save videos offline, and play videos in the background’. This isn’t available in the UK either.
Google Home is a bit like Google Now on an Android phone but operated entirely by voice. It can answer questions and carry out basic tasks such as setting timers, alarms and sending messages. It’s integrated with Google’s services, such as Google Play Music, Google Cast and the new voice assistant, Google Assistant.
In other words, it’s Google’s version of the Amazon Echo. Amazon Echo is a cylindrical home audio speaker that integrates a personal voice assistant called Alexa, which is very much like Siri, Cortana and Google Now on your phone or tablet. It’s always on and always connected, with Wi-Fi allowing it to sit on your home network and access cloud services, and Bluetooth letting you stream music from mobile devices. Google Home works in a similar way to the Chromecast, so you can choose a song from Google Play Music and it will play on your Google Home device. Also see: Funny things to ask Alexa ; funny things to ask Siri.
Mutliple Google Homes can be placed around the house so you can use it wherever you are. As well as working when you’re close to the device and there’s little ambient noise, Google has also worked hard to ensure excellent far-field voice recognition, which means it will work just as well if you say \u00ab\u00a0Ok Google, reserve a table at Pizza Express for four at 8pm tonight\u00a0\u00bb from across the room while the TV’s on.
You don’t always have to start the conversation. Home can playing an alert tone, and you can respond with \u00ab\u00a0Ok Google, I’m listening\u00a0\u00bb. Home will then read out the alert such as, \u00ab\u00a0Your flight is delayed by 30 minutes\u00a0\u00bb and also give a short traffic report. On the back of that, you could ask the assistant to change your dinner reservation.
In some ways Google Home is very much like the Chromecast – no doubt because the same team worked on its development. Both run the same Linux-based OS, and share many of the same specifications, including the same dual-core ARM-based microprocessor, 4GB of RAM and a dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi chip. Google has simply added a mic and speaker, a plastic top with LED lights, and a fabric or metal bottom, which could mean it is relatively cheap to produce.
Google Assistant is the new conversational ‘bot’ that was announced at Google I\/O 2016. It’s an extension of Google Now but, a bit like Siri, allows better two-way conversations. Google says this is due to advances in AI and machine learning, giving the all-important context to conversations. One example given was booking cinema tickets. You could say to the assistant, \u00ab\u00a0What’s playing tonight? \u00a0\u00bb and it would understand you want to know which films are showing at your local cinema. After displaying a few titles, you could say \u00ab\u00a0We’re planning on bringing the kids\u00a0\u00bb at which point the assistant shows family-friendly films.
You could then say \u00ab\u00a0Ok, let’s see Jungle Book\u00a0\u00bb, and the assistant could purchase four tickets and display a QR code you can show at the door. But the conversation could have \u00ab\u00a0gone many different ways\u00a0\u00bb, said Pichai.
We discussed the Google event right after it happened on our podcast. Listen here:
Instead of choosing a film from the selection, you could say \u00ab\u00a0Is Jungle Book any good\u00a0\u00bb and the assistant would check reviews, display ratings from IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, and offer up the trailer to watch.
Google Home is merely one way of interacting with the Google Assistant. You’ll also be able to use it on your (Android N) phone, in your car with a compatible Android Auto head unit and also on your TV (a hint that the Assistant may come to the Chromecast or Nexus Player ).
The small home device has interchangeable bases, in various colours, metal and fabric finishes, allowing you to tailor it to your decor, making it ideal for different environments around the house.
Under the interchangeable grill there is a speaker. There are three speakers to be precise, one low-end driver and two ‘dual-passive’ drivers aimed to deliver a complete frequency range. We have yet to hear it in a home (having only seen it at demos) so can’t comment on these claims, but the speakers will play your favourite songs and allow the assistant to talk to you. Also see: Best Bluetooth speakers.
The device itself is smaller than you might think: you can see the scale in the photo below. This means Google Home should be discrete in pretty much any room.
At the top of the device, there’s a ‘display’ which has four small LEDs which allow you to interact with the device. It doesn’t have any buttons on top but uses dual microphones to listen for your voice.
The device has a single button located on its shell, allowing you to mute the microphone – useful for times when you don’t want it responding. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have an SD card\/microSD card slot or a USB port – so you won’t be able to plug and play your own music through a physical device.
You can set alarms, set timers, alarms, create shopping lists, and Home will also support other smart home devices such as the Nest thermostat (owned by Google), lights and other connected devices. We’re excited to see the possibilities in the future, with Google wanting to open the device to other manufacturers and allow you to even order flowers or hire a car straight from your Google Home.<\/p>\n