Customer Ratings & Reviews

Glad I got this thing on sale. The features are 5 Star but the audio quality is. 2 star.

The speaker isn’t the same quality as my Harmon kardon or anywhere near it but it is still great.

Sound OK, No future Google Support. No ability to make phone calls, etc...Returned

Really did not like..very hard to set up and not very loud

Hard to set up and connect to phone, etc. especially if iPhone!!

Ok quality no base don’t spend the 150 per speaker

One thing that is for sure, Google and their partners need to make it is clear when third party Google Assistant devices will not support features that the regular Google Home supports. Not sure who should be more responsible for this (Google or Sony), but it is not fair to the consumer. The following is a list of things that I have discovered on the regular Google Home that are not available on the Sony (though there may be more): You cannot use the Sony to make calls like you can with the Google Home. There is no "night mode" which automatically lowers the assistant volume and dims the LEDs after a specified time of day. This is a great feature of the regular Google Home. You cannot change the equalizer settings (bass/treble) like you can on the regular Google Home. The gesture controls are cumbersome. The gestures rarely work well and it seems that the speaker gets confused easily by your gestures. The Sony does get very loud (though the audio is distorted at higher volumes) and at a normal volume it is easy to hear. It does a good job hearing me from across the room and the digital clock on the front is a great feature that the regular Google Home doesn't have. Unless you REALLY need a clock on the front of your smart speaker, I would skip spending hundreds of dollars on this speaker and just go with the regular Google Home at less than a hundred dollars. If Sony drops the price closer to that of the regular Google Home, it would change this review significantly. But at the current price, the Sony doesn't add much to the existing (and much cheaper) Google Home.

I have become accustomed to typing things in on my phone to get answers. Well now it's as simple as asking a question and getting an immediate response. Simply say "hey Google..." and you're off. Setup was amazingly simple and was done in about 2 minutes. It has a built in clock for easy display. Sound quality is good but not exceptional but the ease of getting to music is surprising. Overall I would highly recommend this for someone who is looking to add a personal assistant to their home.

This is mostly what you'll get with any voice-controlled assistant: a good, but not great, speaker; access to smart home controls; and web-based information retrieval. To those standard features, Sony added a couple of nice tweaks: a digital clock that's always visible through the front screen and touchless controls on top. I first tried to use the touchless controls like I was used to using the original Google Home assistant, by touching the top. After it behaved erratically, I read the instructions and figured out how to use it by waving my hand over the top of the speaker. I'm not sure what effort it saves over simply touching the speaker, but it is cool. Volume was difficult to control precisely until I figured out that if you point a finger at the top of the speaker instead of using your entire hand, it becomes much more sensitive. Of course, you can always use voice controls and tell it exactly what level you want, but where's the fun in that? One thing that Google is missing right now is integration with my Logitech Harmony hub. Other than that, all my smart home devices were relatively simple to add: Caseta wireless switches, Hue light bulbs, and a Nest thermostat. It also streamed from both Pandora and Spotify easily. This is a step up from the basic home assistant, but not a huge step.

Not quite what I’d expect from Sony. The speaker has the same Google Home features in terms of voice and smart home capabilities so nothing to comment on there. The first thing I noticed though, sound wise, is that the bass is quite weak. Where the Home carried too much bass, this is too light. It would be nice if there was a way to adjust it. The touch free feature is interesting but not sure if it’s a necessary feature as you can speak to the speaker. If you’re close enough to touch it, you might as well touch it. Plus changing the volume seems to be a bit touchy and jumps quite a bit. It is nice to have Bluetooth so you can play any audio without going through the Google app. Being able to display the time and set the brightness are nice features. Overall it’ll be used in the bedroom and mainly for smart home control. My wife likes to listen to radio on it and it’s as particular about the quality of sound.

This speaker with the Google Assistant built in is pretty cool. It comes in a very nicely boxed packaging. It would really wrap up nicely for a Christmas gift. I plugged it in and turned it on. Has only a couple of buttons on it. A voice immediatly told me to download the Google Home app which guided me through my wifi setup. The instructions on the app were clear and easy to follow. It learned my voice quickly. I haven’t really connected anything but my iPhone and iPad to try out the Bluetooth feature. Pairing was easy, but I did that using the quick start guide included with the speaker. Both devices paired smoothly. I’ve had fun using the google assistant to find and play music and give me my weather. She does frequently tell me that she “can’t help with that, I’m still learning.” The speaker is quite loud but easily adjusts. It picks up my voice in other rooms and seems to understand my speech better than “Siri.” Music is crystal clear and has a good tone. I’m NOT an audiophile however. I’m enjoying this new speaker and look forward to learning the limits of my “google assistant” while she learns my environment. I will say that I have a bit of paranoia about the access this gives to Google.

With all the smart speakers on the market today this one does have its key features that make it stand out above the others. Firstly, the aesthetics of this smart speaker are what I was originally attracted to as having the display is a huge plus for me and is a great convenience. The mesh of the speaker along with the chrome underbody is very elegant and not as harsh as the matte plastic look of other smart speakers. Next with functionality, Google Assistant is, of course, great and I had no issues with tasks and questions that I use in my own day to day activities. The speaker is also very good for being a smart speaker in this price range, obviously, it still isn't going to compete with those dedicated Bluetooth speakers in the $300-$400 range, but for sub $250 it is definitely respectable. The gestures are also a great addition as they are very convenient if you have your speaker in the kitchen or bathroom where your hands may not be clean to adjust the volume or change a song. Overall, this is a great smart speaker and I definitely see myself purchasing more in the future as I truly do enjoy the user experience this product brings over other smart speakers currently in the market.

fair sound but nothing special! I honestly expected a lot better from A Sony product but this was not very impressive at all

We replaced our Gen 1 Amazon Echo with this product and the experience has been interesting. We are an Android family and I though that we would prefer the Google product. However, while the unit was pretty easy to install and plays the digital-personal-assistant role pretty well, we did find it lacking in certain areas. First of all, I was surprised that I preferred the sound quality of our Echo. I have always had a high regard for the SONY brand and was expecting it to be the clear winner. We particularly noticed that with music, which we used quite frequently. Additionally we both felt like the Echo did a superior job recognizing our voices when the ambient noise level was a little elevated. Finally, the digital voice sounded more natural on the Echo. The Google Voice Assistant did seem to be better able at answering some questions that the Echo could only reply with "Hmmm, I don't know about that". I also appreciated the digital clock on the face of the speaker. On the other hand, I found the no-touch, hand gesture controls to be a bit of a gimmick. We also preferred the Echo's app to Google's. Another thing to be aware of is that if you have an Android cellphone around be aware that when you say "OK Google" that both your phone and this product will come to life. Makes sense but we didn't think of it until it actually happened. There is an easy work around - just address your SONY Smart Speaker with "Hey Google" instead. In summary, this is a capable product and some may prefer this unit's aesthetic or perhaps the SONY name to Amazon's offer. But with the Gen 2 Echo now available a little comparison shopping might be in order.

As I added smart home devices to my house the addition of a Google Home seemed a natural progression. I mainly wanted it to control lights around my home. Of course the Google Home does so much more and has become an essential device for me and my family. I quickly realized that one wasn’t enough. I wanted to also access to the Google Assistant on my second floor. Other than home automation control I constantly use the Google Assistant for music playback so I was very excited to learn that Sony was offering the LFS50G with Google Assistant built in. Nothing beats being able to simply request a certain song or artist and hear it instantly. Needless to say I expected superior sound quality from a Sony device so upon arrival I eagerly hooked it up. Setup was a breeze. Simply use the Google Home app on your phone or tablet and select add a device. I was up and running in a matter of minutes. I then connected it my my Spotify account and had tunes in mere moments. As I put the LFS50G through it paces it seemed pretty similar to my Google Home in terms of most functionality but I must say I was quickly underwhelmed in terms of sound quality. I just didn’t find the audio particularly remarkable in comparison to to my Google Home. Better yes, sensational no. Disappointed I moved on to explore other features. I do like the clock on the device. Let’s face it, asking Google the time is a waste of time when on this LFS50G one can just look and see the time. I was glad to discover that there is a dimmer button on the bottom of the unit to control the clock brightness because on high it was way too bright for a bedroom. I was eager to try the hand gesture controls on the LFS50G. Seems like a great feature for the kitchen or bathroom but implementation is a bit buggy with gestures being sometimes not registering and other times seeming too sensitive. Hopefully these functions can be improved with future updates. The unit is splash proof with IPX3-rated design for these wet environments. One feature that some will like is the inclusion on NFC for one touch pairing of NFC capable devices. I possess no NFC devices so was unable to test this function on the LFS50G. Overall the LFS50G is a stylish looking device which includes a number of unique features which the regular Google Home lacks. I personally was somewhat disappointed with the LFS50G but to many users the inclusion of NFC, splash proofing, and gesture control may be a game changer.

This doesn't would be amazing if it would stay on...I guess I got a faulty speaker because it just keeps shutting off. I need to repeatedly unplug it and plug it back in.

I constantly have to perform a hard reset and the clock doesn't even light up anymore. I've had the thing 3 months. Sounds like a can. Buy the google home instead.

Dang, this is a beautiful speaker. The clock glowing thru the speaker grate is mesmerizing. Sony really outdid itself with this speaker/assistant. The sound quality is just what you would expect from Sony, if you like the normal tone of a Sony speaker, you will love this one. It really can fill the room with sound. The chrome ring around the base makes it look elegant. i can't get past how good this looks. Pairing over Bluetooth is simple thru the Google Home app. Integration, even if you already have another Google Home, is flawless. Setup is thru the Google Home app. It is as easy as can be. This takes Google Home to another level. I am just floored by the rich sounds and the look of this thing.

I have had the chance to play with this for a couple of days and so far, I'm not really sure what to do with it. After setup, my kids and I had some fun asking questions and listening to the responses. We played music and had some fun dancing around, but it doesn't appear to sync with my calendar, contacts or email yet. This is my first time with a device like this so I imagine, the more I use it, the better it will become. I am pretty new to Google devices so that may be part of the problem. I was able to connect my Honeywell thermostat and a Wemo switch for smart home control, and play my Pandora music, but that's about it so far. The device itself looks better to me than the Google Home device and the sound is pretty amazing for a device this size. I like that it displays the time on the front and is operational touch-free as well. I did read that it is compatible with Philips Hue devices and I have a couple of things on order so I hope that I will get more out of this speaker when those items arrive. I will continue playing with this to see if I can figure out how to sync my Google calendar and emails because there has to be a way to do this or what would really be the benefit. I believe that this will get better after using it more and then maybe I will see the benefit of this. It would great if it could play books from audible or read recipes while we cook, but I have yet to find out if this is possible. For me the jury is still out, but I would recommend this only because its a new gadget and I like gadgets!! Lol. My wife however, isn't really sold on it and questions how secure something like this is when anyone can say "Hey Google" and have access to our information. As I have setup a family account for it, any information would most likely only involve what time the kids have Karate classes this week or the next showing of the Emoji movie.

I received this to add on to my already smart home. Its very well made and stylish almost apple like. The voice response is fantastic and blows away alexa, siri, and cortona! My kids and parents can't get enough of it! They all just sit around and figure out new questions to ask it. I would def recommend as a Holiday gift everyone will love! I do wish it had a built in battery for those time when i do want to unplug and take it outside. The speaker is loud and competes with the sonos play 1 for decibels. Set up was easy and once the app was downloaded took less than 5 minutes.