Home Mini (1st Generation) - Smart Speaker with Google Assistant - Chalk

Google Home Mini is a versatile miniature rendition of Google Home with a smaller, yet surprisingly good sounding speaker. Similar to it's larger sibling, simply call out "OK Google" or "Hey Google" and speak your request. The strong suit, not surprising, for this Google assistant, is to address a question that can be answered by Google search engine. That is where it really shines & blows away it's competition. For this reason I recommend owning at least one of these or one of the full sized Google Home, if you prefer. If you already own a competitive virtual assistant, I recommend you buy this Google Home Mini. Owning both one or more Google Home Mini's and a competitive assistant make perfect sense. Each has a specialty and can do specific tasks better than the other. Owning BOTH offers you the best of both worlds. In addition to voice controls (that I prefer), tap the top to pause or resume music playback, and you can tap and hold to activate the Assistant. To adjust the volume, you tap the sides of the device. Or best yet, simply SPEAK your command! I recommend the Google Home Mini!

The google home mini is, in my experience, a very handy little device. I originally came to Best Buy only to get a chromecast because I needed a way to stream Netflix and Hulu to my old (and cheap) tv, but I snagged the mini as well when I saw it was on sale for just 30 dollars. I had some Best Buy rewards too so really, it was just an impulse buy. I wanted one and now could afford it, so why not? Novelty as I thought it would be, it has proven me so wrong. I use it to pause and play my tv, I use it to stream my music (and it sounds pretty good for the size), I use it to find out the time when I don’t have my phone on me, and I use it to just play around with. It can’t do some things yet, like stream Hulu to my tv, and if it’s playing anything it has a hard time hearing me, but it makes up for this in how well it recognizes my commands. Siri is awful about not understanding what I am saying, and Alexa is often the same, but google assistant allows me to speak very naturally. I am soon getting two for my grandmother in both her room and the kitchen. The broadcast feature will be very handy.

Started my Smarthome/apartment with the Philips Hue Light Kit (white kit) and ended up adding more color bulbs are well as light strips. Wanted something to control them all besides using my phone. Google Announced the Google Home Mini and with the holiday sale price only be $30 bucks I decided to buy three of them( one for the livingroom, Bathroom and Bedroom). I ended up enjoying them. Set up is very easy and simple. Setting scenes, Turing lights on or off and asking questions is a joy. Not to mention that it can make phone calls, set timers and alarms and it even tells you the latest news stories for the day just by saying “Hey Google, good morning”. It can also recognize my voice versus my girlfriends voice so if I said “play my new music play list” it will play the music from my account but if my girlfriend says the same thing it will play from her account. Not to mention that It connects to other smart devices like nest, cameras and many other things. It’s a great way to kick start your smarthome.

I was a bit hesitant on picking up another assistance device. I have 2 Echo Dot and was kind of disappointed that it could not go out to the internet and look up answers to my questions. I've done my research on the Home mini and bit the bullet. Got home, set it up and was pretty amazed at how straightforward it is to set up the device. Connect it to your wifi, say "Ok, Google," "Hey Google" a few times and bam! All Done. I also connected my Philips Hue device to the Home app. I'm amazed at how well it picks up sounds. Even in a noisy environment. My Echo Dot couldn't even pick up my voice; even in multiple locations. I put the Mini through my test. Asked it a few questions that the Echo couldn't answer and the Mini didn't break a sweat. The mini answered all my questions. Initially, this is what I was looking for. I'll be replacing my existing solution shortly! The speakers on the Google Home MIni is so much better than the Dot. You can actually play some music with better clarity than the Dot. Bass is lacking but it's doable. I'm very surprised. If you want a Home Assistance device, pick this up over the Echo Dot. It's so much better and you can do so much more than the Echo lineup.

Purchased one of these for myself because, I mean why not, everyone else was. Got it home and thought "Ughhh how hard is this going to be to setup" So I turned on the shower for it to warm up and in 45 seconds had the thing playing music. Was one of the most simple processes I have ever had to do. Now I use it each morning to "Hello Google, Play Wake UP Music" and it just always picks great jams for my shower in the morning, actually changes how you leave the house looking forward to the day. Ended up purchasing 2 more, one for sister in law and one for parents for xmas gifts. I was a hero.

This speakers sounds good and loud enough for the price, also it looks quite stylish, and its assistant is very helpful too. I personally use it as a nighttime music machine and wake up alarm, on occasions asking for stuff i need to know also. It does the job, the only bad thing about it is that it has to be connected to WiFi to stream stuff, not doing it directly from the phone.

Google Home Mini is a versatile miniature rendition of Google Home with a smaller, yet surprisingly good sounding speaker. Similar to it's larger sibling, simply call out "OK Google" or "Hey Google" and speak your request. The strong suit, not surprising, for this Google assistant, is to address a question that can be answered by Google search engine. That is where it really shines & blows away it's competition. For this reason I recommend owning at least one of these or one of the full sized Google Home, if you prefer. If you already own a competitive virtual assistant, I recommend you buy this Google Home Mini. Owning both one or more Google Home Mini's and a competitive assistant make perfect sense. Each has a specialty and can do specific tasks better than the other. Owning BOTH offers you the best of both worlds. In addition to voice controls (that I prefer), tap the top to pause or resume music playback, and you can tap and hold to activate the Assistant. To adjust the volume, you tap the sides of the device. Or best yet, simply SPEAK your command! I recommend the Google Home Mini!

Answers at my fingertips. I bought this item for fun but I have to say I really enjoy having it. So if my family is sitting in the living room and we had a question, this agreement, or just simply want a quick answer about anything, Google helps resolve it. It's like having a trivia answer card at your fingertips. I'm still trying to figure it out so that I can make doctors appointments, phone calls, reservations at a restaurant, etc. it was an expensive item so I don't regret buying it. I am a little anxious and maybe even paranoid about all the talk of how google can and will record your conversations but honestly we're not the CIA, criminals or have deep secrets so let it record, I have gotten in the habit of unplugging it at night or if I want to have a private conversation. I can't say, that I will be so glad when Google ads other features such as calling 911 if you have an emergency or need help but I guess that is to come in the future.