Customer Ratings & Reviews

I own the "original" Google Home Mini (i.e. the little one before it became Nest) and was impressed on day 1 of its volume and sound quality (and moderately impressed by its Google Assistant responses). Google set a high bar for me back in 2017(?) as far as sound quality in a tiny form factor is concerned. Consequently, I was eager to get my hands on and test the newest speaker release especially now that Gemini has replaced Google Assistant. Unfortunately, for a device 3x the original size, I don't see an improvement in audio quality (and feel it is not as good) but I do see a bump in "assistant" quality. It isn't that this device isn't a good Google smart home speaker, but because of its larger size I expected a more robust audio experience. The out-of-the-box experience is a bit muffled and distant, in my opinion. EQ-ing the music source improves the experience somewhat. The new model does bring a slightly deeper bass, but at the expense of crisp vocals...in my opinion. I have since tweaked the more/less bass and treble slider in the Google Home app for the device and found a satisfactory, but not great, setting for music. Adding the speaker to my existing Google Home experience was a piece of cake. Connect the device to the power source (included--and requiring a 30W power source which is included in the packaging) then open the Google Home app on your phone and click add a device. Your phone will do all the work from there including joining your network and your Google Home environment (with an option to rename the device and join it to a room or speaker group). HOWEVER...we did experience an oddity after setting up the device. Once the device was joined to the network and Google Home, I assumed I was done setting it up. I casted some music from the YouTube Music app on my phone to the speaker. I moved about the house a fair amount--enough to put at least 50-100' of home/walls/garage between me and the speaker at several points. The YouTube Music app on my phone stopped interacting with the Home Speaker (stopped updating the tracks or controlling volume) but the device kept playing my playlist. At that point, I could only control the speaker via the Google Home's "device" controller. Google Home showed the proper song title, volume controls, etc. but the YouTube Music app on my phone had control. I have experienced this phenomenon with older Google cast devices such as the early generation audio and video "chromecast" dongles but assumed it was due to outdated hardware. This was a minor disappointment, me as I prefer to use the YTM app rather than the device's Google Home controls to navigate my music selections. Another oddity after setup was that my Pixel 9 and my wife's Pixel 8 BURNED THROUGH BATTERY for the first 24hrs after I plugged the speaker in. On both phones, we saw the speaker was stuck in a "loading song" loop even though we had quit streaming music on it several hours earlier. We each had to manually kill the YouTube Music and Google Home apps on our phones to return to normal. The problem has not yet reoccurred, so it was likely a one-off problem. Gemini works as well as you would expect it to--which is notably better than the older Google Assistant. You can't really credit the device for that, as it is Google AI working behind the scenes doing all the research and work for you--not the speaker. Nonetheless, I appreciate that the speaker dims audio output when you speak to it and listen to its reply. For the record, I asked the assistant for a 10-day forecast for a city I will be in next week and the response was thorough--we'll see how accurate the forecast was in a few days, but I will not be packing a raincoat as a result of the response! I also asked the device to add a meeting to my calendar for Monday at 1p. Because I have 3 live GMail-based accounts, I was curious to see if it would assume a particular calendar (it assumed my personal account over my work account) or ask me which calendar to update. Given I have about 6 always listening "Google Assistant" devices in my house, Google continues to do a pretty good job of figuring out which device is supposed to listen/respond/act. When I am in the kitchen (one room away from the new Google Home Speaker) where my original Google Home Hub lives, the kitchen knows to respond to a request to set a timer or turn on the TV rather than my phone or the new office speaker...or the old home mini speaker which is also in the office for the sake of this review. Not sure how Google Home figures all of that out, but I am pleased the device's "listening" capabilities didn't override anything my Google Home system previously learned. A few other thoughts related to other reviewer comments about the speaker: - I have not experienced latency between request and response - I have not experienced (but have not yet asked a ton of questions/commands yet) any disconnect between Google Home requests and legacy equipment - I have found interacting with Gemini to be very conversational; virtually no misunderstandings if I stumble or change my mind about a command or question mid-sentence - The speaker still has touch volume controls but no longer has the 4 illuminated dots to let you know how low/high your volume is--or if it is muted - I keep my prompts very simple, logical and straight-forward and have NOT experienced "AI hallucinations" where Gemini assumes something it shouldn't - There is no "on" light to let you know whether or not the device is powered and connected but if the device is muted, there is a "muted" light that will display; the speaker base illuminates in multiple colors when you talk to it or when it is "thinking"--that light can be controlled by the Home app Final thought... I did activate the 6-month Google Home Premium trial included with this device ($10/mo after trial, supposedly) because I have Google doorbell and floodlight cameras and wanted to see the difference between the free tier and the paid tier. Basically, I get a true video history rather than "just the last 4 hours" for my Google camera devices. Additionally, you get facial recognition for the cameras and a "sound detection" that can alert you remotely (?) if your fire alarm or carbon monoxide alarms go off as well as emergency calling from the speaker devices. I would recommend the device because it is properly priced for what it is even though I am a bit disappointed that the larger footprint didn't lead to a more positive, robust audio experience. [I would not recommend the speaker for an audiophile.] The Gemini integration is a definite improvement, but I do worry about some of the initial glitches returning (i.e. YouTube Music getting stuck or only the Google Home app controlling the music).

In the box you will find the speaker and AC adapter. The cord itself is attached to the speaker. If it ever fails the whole unit will have to be replaced. Definitely a design flaw. There is a sliding control on the bottom to mute the microphone and you can just tap the top or sides of the unit to play/pause or for volume control. Why not just use the voice control? Setup was fairly easy as I already had a Google speaker and the Home app on my phone. It did make me install it twice as I initially declined Gemini and it didn’t like that. Once you upgrade to Gemini you cannot go back to the regular Google Assistant. 6 months of Home Premium were included with this unit (by 9/30/26). Home Premium includes sound detection for breaking class and smoke alarms and Gemini Live which has more integration. Even with the basic Gemini version you can still integrate with your other connected devices; i.e. Nest. Conversing with Gemini Live is more conversational. I asked what was happening in my town today and it provided a list with local activities. It also mentioned the parade at noon, but it had already finished. It should be able to distinguish what has already occurred. As with most AI, Gemini needs some more time to fully be useful. Volume level at 10 is not that loud. Speakers should be able to go louder than this. While I don’t usually use level 10, there are times I need the speaker to go louder. Especially when using as a timer. Sound quality is very good but not as good as a high-quality speaker. I played my Sirius XM subscription and it sounded very good. Dancing while cooking is always fun. I do like the Google Home Speaker. The competitor doesn’t know how to provide a dew point, but Google can. That’s important in the muggy Midwest. Time will tell how Gemini improves.

I have a multiple Google nest hubs, regular google home speakers and now the new Google home speaker with Gemini. I love Google and all the help it gives me around my house. I was pretty excited and wondered why it seemed so long before Google launched new hardware in this space. I think I know why now… they really had nothing new to add. The Gemini software upgrade was pushed to all my “old” google speakers and hubs which I must say I am soooo grateful that they did that. It was wise on their part as well though, if they made me buy all new speakers….maybe I would have tried something new. I digress. The new speaker is well built and the biggest thing I noticed (which was about the only thing as well) is the sound is really really good for a speaker this size. I drifted away from streaming music on my old google speakers because other audio options were way better…but now, at least in the one room I have it in, I might start streaming again. Podcasts also sound really good. Foolks…that’s about it… then bring in the subscriptions….oh great, just what I need another 10 to 20 dollar subscription to get what I can get for free from other AI’s. To be fair Google seems to be the most balanced ideological and probably the smartest one… but you will have to decide if its worth 10 to 20 bucks a month. If you have the google video camera platform it might be… but for me it is not. It’s an Ok upgrade and it’s built well. If your just jumping into the home speaker arena, I don’t think you will be disappointed. The lack of exciting new features and the paywall really dampen my enthusiasm.

This speaker is a much-needed upgrade from the previous Nest model. The sound is much clearer, and Google Assistant/Gemini understands you much better.

After a very long time, Google now has something akin to a successor to the Mini home speaker. Yet while it’s a welcome addition to the Google product ecosystem, I cannot help but wonder if Google could have simply made an updated refresh of the Mini instead. Physically, the Home Speaker is significantly larger than its old Mini predecessor. However, its larger size means the speaker can be bigger to produce better and fuller audio. The volume control is similar to the Mini with one side decreasing volume and its opposing side increasing volume. There is a center touch to pause or resume playback of current media. Powering the Home Speaker is an integrated USB-C cable connected to a small USB power block. I have attempted to use a 3rd party USB power charger as an alternative but it didn’t work for my case. I find it a little strange it didn’t work, but using a 3rd party USB power block will have varying degrees of success. I also would like it if Google did not integrate the USB cable directly into the speaker itself. Cables can fail and not being able to replace said power cable is a big miss. Audio playback is decent and definitely an improvement over the Mini. Mids and highs are decent but low frequency range is lackluster. Any tunes that you expect those low frequencies to pop or punch, you’ll find it seems like it took a back seat instead. Google touts it being able to pair with its Google TV Streamer, which is a nice touch. But as someone who cares a little more about audio fidelity than most average joes, I don’t think it’s a good fit. The fact that movies and shows will make good use of the low frequencies (especially action movies) will only support the sub-par low frequency performance of the Home Speaker. Okay, so if media playback is not a good idea, what’s left? Well, as long as the Home Speaker isn’t used as a primary driver for media playback, it’s a great device for accessing Google’s digital assistant (formerly Google Assistant, now called Google Gemini). And if you have several smart devices that integrate with Google’s Home ecosystem, then it’s an excellent companion to help control those devices. Honestly, I like the new Home Speaker. The audio is an improvement. But pricing is questionable. At MSRP, I don’t know if it’s worth it. The Nest Mini can be had for less if you can find it. If you seek a smart speaker just for Google’s digital assistant and capabilities, it is difficult to recommend the Home Speaker. But it is good if you need it to do more than that. The Good: decent mids+highs, decent sound, can pair with Google TV Streamer, The Bad: lackluster lows, integrated USB power cable, hit/miss using 3rd party USB power/charger block The Ugly: future cable failure Verdict: flip a coin