Home - Smart Speaker with Google Assistant - White/Slate

I just wanted a good Bluetooth speaker and an assistant for low cost. I have hit the jackpot with Google home.

I was not a fan of a voice control before, but this have a potential of changing that! My family spent a whole evening talking to it, asking various things, it was real fun! Goole Home device is a size of a big coffee mug, with a detachable base (Google will start selling those bases as accessories in different colors very soon), base is magnetically attached to the device and could be pulled off by twisting it or just yanking it down. 3x2" speakers and hiding underneath along with a micro USB port that is currently not used for anything (I suspect micro USB is for service purposes only), no other ports are present. DC power port is at the bottom and Google Home comes with it's own DC power supply compatible with 110-240V input and giving 16.5 VDC out at 2 Amps. Google Home can't be powered by the USB. Power cord is 70" long and comes with a soft rubber strap to keep it organized. Top surface is touch sensitive and has a ring of 12 multi colored LEDs to indicate the device status, mute button along with a small power LED is at the back of the device. To start interacting with the Google Home - first thing you'll need is to pair it, it's a straightforward process, all you need is a phone or tablet (iOS or Android) with Google Home app running, everything is done from inside the app, you won't need to hop on different WiFi network or anything like that, I believe app is communicating with the Google Home via Bluetooth at the setup time (since the WiFi credentials are not yet known to it). You will be prompted to pick a Google Account you want the device linked to, then pick a source of the Music (out of: Google Play Music, Pandora (free account is OK), Spotify (paid account needed) or YouTube music (paid account needed)) and a source of News. Google Home would also look for any Chromecast devices on your network and will be able to pair to them (unfortunately it does not work with Android TVs yet). Now - the main thing - talking to it! To attract it's attention you could say "Hey, Google" or "OK, Google", it's pretty sensitive as I could talk to it from any corner of my 600sq ft living room and it could understand me perfectly. Alternatively - just hold your finger on top surface until 4 lights appear and say your command. Every command you say will be listed in the history inside of the Google Home app, you could even play your command back (so you know who said it!) and sometimes even look at the details of the answer such as URL it used to pull the recipe from. Google Home will keep a context of some commands like you could say "OK, Google, Who is Mr X?" and then "OK, Google, when was he born?" and it will know you asking about "Mr X" again! However if you ask "What's on my shopping list?" and then "Add potatoes" - it won't get it, it would read you some potatoes recipe instead. I'm hoping this will be improved soon! Speaking of shopping lists - you'll find it in the Google Keep app on your phone. Other things you can ask - weather, time, setting timers (you can set different timers for different things like 5 minutes for "potatoes", 3 minutes for "steak", etc), translations of different words and phrases to different languages. Sometimes "Home" will surprise you - like saying "Good Morning" will get you - current time, weather forecast for today and a news report from the news sources you've configured. However - it can's set reminders yet, hope that is coming! Music - "Home" will play music from the internet source you've configured and it could cast it to any chromecast enabled speakers you have. There is no direct audio output or ability to pair a bluetooth speaker directly to the Home device. Internal speakers of the "Home" put our pretty good sound for their size. Videos - anything you ask will be looked up on youtube and "casted" to Chromecast devices you have, it does not support Android TV yet, nor Roku or Apple TV devices. Smart Home integration - right now "Home" can control Nest thermostats, SmartThings and Philips Hue devices. I've tried Nest integration and it works flawlessly - you can ask what is the current temperature in the room, set the thermostat setpoints (even if you keep your Nest in Heat-Cool mode!). Unfortunately my home automation system (ISY) is not yet supported by the "Home" directly, but IFTTT is here to help! I was able to use "Google Assistant" channel combined with a "Maker" channel to control lights in my home no problem. I'm real excited about the possibilities this opens! Just be mindful about the security - don't let it disarm your alarm, unlock your smart locks or anything that could be used to gain unauthorized access. Another point - if you keep your "Home" near your home phone - someone could call it and once it goes to automatic answering - tell your Google Home to do anything. Few things to improve: multiple Google Accounts support (like maybe home and work, or different family members accounts), maybe add Exchange and iCloud account support as well (I use Office 365 at work and unfortunately "Home" can't access it), more device integration (Andorid TVs, Roku, etc) and open developer API of course! Overall - it's a wonderful start by Google! "Home" is a very capable device on it's 1st day and would only improve in the future!

When I purchased this I had a Amazon Echo and was trying to figure out which was better. I now have 3 Google Homes and I sold the Echo. Hands down no competition. Although Google doesn't have as many partners as Amazon, it won't be long before they catch up and surpass Alexa!

Features: - Far field voice recognition to support hands free use - 2.4GHz/5GHz Wi-Fi support for high performance streaming - Simple setup with the Google Home app on iOS & Android - High excursion speaker delivers clear highs and rich bass for HiFi sound - Chromecast built in allows casting from compatible audio apps to Google Home - Multi room playback to sync music across speakers that have Chromecast built in - Check out these compatible services and more at g.co/home/services - YouTube Music, Pandora, Google Play Music, TuneIn, Chromecast, Nest, Friends of Hue, Smart Things What is in the box?: - Google Home - AC Adapter - Get Started Card - Quick "things you can say" card - Change your base card - Warranty/Safety Card (1 Year Warranty) Requirements: - For "turn up the thermostat", compatible smart thermostat linked to Google Home - WiFi connection - Electrical outlet - Compatible Android, iOS, Windows or Mac OSX computer or mobile device - Minimum OS requirements located at g.co/home/req Testing/Setup: Box is beautiful!!!!!!! Whoever designed this box is a wonderful person and knows what we "box people" want. The unit itself sits perfectly snug inside the box. Contents inside the box (quick reference cards, cable, etc.) is also made with quality material. Google Home itself is not heavy at all. The top portion of the device is a full touchscreen (not necessarily a screen). The material for the Google Home also has a great feel to it. Guess what... No fingerprints! The material around the base of the Google Home (speaker) is also nice material. The AC adapter is nice and the wire itself is flexible if you need to maneuver it around certain things. The power plugs in to the bottom base of the Google Home. All in all, the materials that were used to create this entire thing (box, cards, unit itself) is excellent. The voice recognition is accurate. I was in the kitchen and my device is set up in the living room. When I ask Google Home to turn up/down the volume; it hears you! Even if you slightly "slur" your words when talking to the Google Home, it'll still pick up what you're trying to say. I spent probably a good full 3~5 hours after setting it up and just messed with it, straight up talked to it. Setting it up was extremely easy. You literally plug it in and download the Google Home app on your phone and follow the on screen prompt. You can do so much with this device. Want to listen to Pandora? Tell it to play Pandora. You want Spotify? Ask it to play Spotify (if you have premium). Play a game? Ask it. Want news or weather? Ask it. Pretty much, it uses the Google engine to power this thing; meaning it uses Google's years and years of experience to help you do things. If you're someone that forgets to set appointments, what to buy when you're at the grocery store, setting up an alarm; Google Home will remember for you. Want to order an Uber? Ask Google Home to do it for you. If you have a Nest thermostat system or that fancy Phillips lighting system, Google Home can even be programmed to mess with those. So basically what I am saying is, if you have a smart home; get the Google Home to outsmart your smart home. BOOM! The range of things that Google Home can do is pretty magnificent. Of course, I have some cons as well. I still can't figure out if this thing is "messed" up or if it was Pandora. Basically, if I was trying to ask it to play a different station on Pandora; it wouldn't change. I ran into a couple occasions where my Google Home just stopped playing. When I tried to tell it to play Pandora, nothing. Another issue I have is the sound itself. The base is pretty good and the sound can get pretty loud. My problem is that it sounds a little *mono*. There's basically no surround sound effect, but that could be because the unit itself is not that big so it can't project a surround sound feeling. The thing that honestly got me upset the most is when it stopped playing and I couldn't get it back up and running. I had to open up the Google Home app on my phone and reboot the Google Home unit. If you have a Google Pixel by the way, prepare for both devices to hear you when you say "Ok Google". With these cons, I had to drop a star. Everything else blew me away though, everything from the quality of the device (the way it was built) to the things that it can do. I hope they update it in the future to make phone calls, that'll be awesome! Conclusion: If you're browsing the market for an Amazon Echo device or anything in that particular area, I would give the Google Home a shot. If you're looking for something that'll help you remember, someone to talk to, someone to play a basic game with (3 included/available right now), or trying to be a home DJ with your playlist and music; look into the Google Home. It offers more than what I just said like changing your temperature in your home, ordering a Uber, and looking up things via the Google search engine. It does a lot more too. I'm hoping with Google powering this things, they'll be able to update it to do other things like phone calls and maybe some more games and other *stuff*. Overall, I like the unit/device. OH!!! One more things... If you have a date you want to bring home to meet Google Home, you'll have a blast; especially if your date speaks a different language. You can tell Google Home to say whatever you want in that language. Its for the most part "accurate" but once you do long sentences, it kinda doesn't do it correctly. I tried a different language with my wife and she understood the first thing I said. Second thing (longer sentence) made no sense to her she stated. Anyways, give this things a shot and try it out for yourself.

In the box there is the device itself, a power cord, and some papers like the quick start guide, etc. The set up was pretty straight forward. You plug it in, it will boot up and when its done booting it makes the same chime sound the Google Pixel does which I thought was a cool touch. You then have to install the Google Home app from either the play store, or Apples app store. For me this was from the play store. After installing the app you begin the set up. It will ask for various permissions for example location. The next step was a device search. It immediately located my Google Home device. It then sets up a temporary Wi-Fi hotspot while it connects. Once its connected it will do a connection test by chiming a sound from the Home. If you hear it you have connected successfully. It then asks you what room the device will be in. You have the standard options like Living room, etc. For me I scrolled all the way down and chose “other” and manually entered a room name. The next step was connecting to the same Wi-Fi network that your phone is on. For me it automatically had the correct SSID and password so I didnt have to enter it. In the box there is the device itself, a power cord, and some papers like the quick start guide, etc. The set up was pretty straight forward. You plug it in, it will boot up and when its done booting it makes the same chime sound the Google Pixel does which I thought was a cool touch. You then have to install the Google Home app from either the play store, or Apples app store. For me this was from the play store. After installing the app you begin the set up. It will ask for various permissions for example location. The next step was a device search. It immediately located my Google Home device. It then sets up a temporary Wi-Fi hotspot while it connects. Once its connected it will do a connection test by chiming a sound from the Home. If you hear it you have connected successfully. It then asks you what room the device will be in. You have the standard options like Living room, etc. For me I scrolled all the way down and chose “other” and manually entered a room name. The next step was connecting to the same Wi-Fi network that your phone is on. For me it automatically had the correct SSID and password so I didnt have to enter it. After that initial set up you then get to the “Meet your Google Assistant” steps. This was locating my address, selecting whether or not I wanted email notification, and choosing my music service. You have several music service options like Google play Music, Youtube, Spotify, and Pandora. In my case I used the Google play music. After this it went into an audible tutorial on just a few of the things it can do. For example giving you the weather, time, setting alarms. If you are bored it can also tell you jokes, read poetry, sing songs, and you can even play games with it such as trivia, mad libs, etc. These could really come in handy if your bored. During this step it also told me I had a free 6 month subscription to Youtube Red which I thought was pretty cool. One of the main things people will want to do with this of course is play music. It is very easy. You can choose specific songs, albums, or even just ask it to play random music from a certain genre. For example I said “OK Google, play me some dubstep”. It then played some dubstep from a google play music station. I was honestly surprised at how good music played from such a small device. The bass was much more than I expected. The highs, mids, and vocals are all very clear as well. In other words it sounded great. Another useful feature that I'm sure a lot of people will use it for is of course Google searches. It does this very well and because it is connected directly to Googles network it is very accurate, and can do a lot more than you might think. The searches are also contextual meaning you can ask it something, then continue with that topic without having to specify that topic again. For example you could ask it “How old is George Clooney”, then say “what are some of his movies” without having to say “What are some of George Clooneys movies”. It will know the subject you are already asking about. But you do have to say “OK Google” before each, it wont work if you just ask the question without first saying “OK Google”. This is of course so it wont always be talking when you are asking someone else near it a question. It has to be activated with “OK Google” or “Hey Google”. The device itself looks a lot like an air freshener. Its very small and can fit pretty much anywhere. It comes with a grey base, but this can be swapped out with optional bases that are different colors to match your houses theme if you want to. The top of the device is also a touch pad. You can use this to control music, adjust the volume, or start and stop searches with a tap. The microphone on it is very good as well. I was surprised at how it heard me perfectly. Even when it is playing loud music you can say “OK Google” to stop, pause, go to next or previous track, or even adjust the volume. It will also connect to any Chromecast devices you have. I dont have any at the moment, but it would for example connect to any external speaker system you had if it had Chromecast. You can then choose to play music from your speaker system instead of the Google Home device. It can also connect and control lights, and thermostats that are network connected. Our house doesn't have any of these yet, so I guess at the moment our house isn't “Smart” yet. But the Google Home is a step in that direction for sure. At the moment it does have some limitations. For example when trying to make calls or send texts it will say “I cant do that YET”. The “YET” I am assuming means it will be able to soon. I'm sure with updates and time there will be a lot more this little device can do. But even now it is quite handy. The Google Home is great device that will smarten up any home. One of the main things people will want to do with this of course is play music. It is very easy. You can choose specific songs, albums, or even just ask it to play random music from a certain genre. For example I said “OK Google, play me some dubstep”. It then played some music from a google play music station. I was honestly surprised at how good music played from such a small device. The bass was much more than I expected. The highs, mids, and vocals are all very clear as well. In other words it sounded great. Another useful feature that Im sure a lot of people will use if of course google searches. It does this very well and because it is connected directly to Googles network it is very accurate, and can do a lot more than you might think. The searches are also contextual meaning you can ask it something, then continue with that topic without having to ask it again. For example you could ask it “How old is George Clooney”, then say “what are some of his movies” without having to say “What are some of George Clooneys movies”. It will know the subject you are already asking about. But you do have to say “OK Google” before each, it wont work if you just ask the question without first saying “OK Google”. The device itself looks a lot like an air freshener. Its very small and can fit pretty much anywhere. It comes with a grey base, but this can be swapped out with swappable bases that are different colors to match your houses theme if you want to. The top of the device is also a touch pad. You can use this to control music, adjust the volume, or start and stop searches with a tap. The microphone on it is very good as well. I was surprised at how it heard me perfectly. Even when it is playing loud music you can say “OK Google” to stop, pause, or even adjust the volume. It will also connect to any Chromecast devices you have. I dont have any at the moment, but it would for example connect to any external speaker system you had if it had Chromecast. You can then choose to play music from your speaker system instead of the Google Home device. It can also connect and control lights, and thermostats that are network connected. Our house doesnt have any of these yet, so I guess at the moment our house isn't “Smart” yet. But the Google Home is a step in that direction for sure. At the moment it does have some limitations. For example when trying to make calls or send texts it will say “I cant do that YET”. The “YET” I am assuming means it will be able to soon. Im sure with updates and time there will be a lot more this little device can do. But even now it is quite handy. The Google Home is great device that will smarten up any home.

Okay so the intelligence of Google Home and it's speaker quality are great. I am the kind of person that sees a speaker with a new feature and I have to try it. It is a running joke at work because I have a speaker for every room of my home and at my work desk. That said, Google Home makes working at home so much fun. When I first opened the box the setup was simple, quick and I got so enthralled with all the fun stuff it does that I realized two hours later I hadn't turned on a TV in the house. Prompt "Okay Google, sing to me", or "Okay Google, tell me a joke", some funny features to show your friends. Or the crystal ball feature is fun as well! The fun doesn't stop there though, it can hail a cab for me, tell me what traffic looks like, tell me the weather, and best of all recipes. My Google Home is in the kitchen and when I asked for a enchilada recipe and she knew the process of making them I was floored. So yeah... Christmas couldn't wait and I am glad that I added Google Home to my home and kitchen area. It is going to sit neatly on the counter and really bring life to our family gatherings this holiday season. I absolutely cannot wait to show everyone what Google Home can do with all the apps and features I haven't even tapped into.

Google Home setup is very easy which is similar to chromecast setup. Install Google Home app in iOS or Android device and whole setup can be done in less than 5 mins. I was able to configure Nest Thermostats easily to control the room temperatures from Google Home. Googledesigned the Home to integrate with the rest of the connected products (currently very few devices likes Net, Philips Hue and Samsung Hub) in your home. It is looks like a small device and easy to put this anywhere in your home kitchen, bedroom, living room, etc. On top of the Home is a touch-sensitive panel, which can be used to control the device volume, play and pause music, and activate its listening mode. There are colorful lights embedded in the panel that come to life whenever the Home hears its wake word or is responding to a command. Top panel has two far-field microphones, which let the Home hear voice commands from across a room. The Home become active with a wake word, which is either the familiar to Android users 'OK Google' or the easier to say 'Hey Google.' This always-listening feature is what makes the Home so useful. There is also a mute button on the back of the device that turns off the listening feature entirely. The bottom half of the Home has one speaker with two passive radiators. It designed the speaker to get loud enough to fill a room without distorting at full volume. It has loud output and sound quality is better to an average Bluetooth speaker. Home is integrated to work with Google Play Music, YouTube Music, Spotify and Pandora. Google is offering 6 Months Free YouTube Red music subscription. Also, you can wirelessly cast audio from your phone or laptop to the Home. It is disappointing that it does not have Bluetooth connectivity like Amazon Echo. A simple "Hey Google, what is the weather tomorrow?" will fire up the weather information right away. Also, you can adjust the volume, temperature, Philips hue lights with voice commands. If you want more volume or better sound, the Home can send its audio to a Chromecast Audio connected speaker, by just saying "Hey Google, play this on Chromecast Audio." You can also group multiple Home units together and play music though all of them simultaneously. The data from Home does send back to Google and stored with all of the other data in your Google account which can be reviewed at myactivity.google.com. The single account limitation also makes it very difficult to use the Home in a family setting. With the current state, Google home is not great and effective and it might be useful when we have more integrated devices to work with Home in future.

I mainly use Google HOMe as an extension of the radio. It would be helpful for listening to the news. Don't know what to use it for, now that I've stopped listening.