Google announced a new device for your home, the Google Home. In short, the Google Home is a wifi connected speaker that appears to be a first generation personal assistant. Mario Queiroz, the executive behind the project. Queiroz was in charge of the Chromecast.
The Google Home is a competitor to Amazon’s Echo. For starters, it’s a speaker that’s always listening, can play music and can connect you to services like Google Assistant, Gmail, Google calendar, Google Play music and other Google Cast services (Such as Spotify). The device can communicate with a Chromecast to play music or stream video through your television.
Asking Google In Your Home
If you have other household things connected to your wifi, such as thermostats or lights, the Google Home will be able to control these using your voice. Being able to ask the device to search information online will be useful. No doubt you’ve had questions pop up in your day to day life but failed to search for the answers. Without needing to stop what you’re doing, you’ll be able to ask Google Home when your favorite team is playing, how to convert measurements or anything else.
Queiroz claims the speaker will be better than Amazon’s Echo. The speaker on the Echo has received bad reviews. Queiroz has said the device will fill the room with “strong bass and clear highs”. The quality of the speaker will only be known when the device is available to be reviewed.
The design of the Google Home is good. It’s a smart device that sits somewhere in a room. There are LED lights underneath to let you know the device is working. Multiple devices are also able to be used in the home in different rooms.
Others Thoughts about Google Home
An issue with the Google Home is its lack of APIs. Developers won’t be able to develop apps for this, which is something that the Echo allows. Lacking the ability to customize the device to your needs is a big negative. Another negative is the inability to have multiple user accounts. Homes usually have a few people living in them, so only having one account would make some things difficult. Living in a large family or in a share house means having to share a Google account. Not useful if you’re searching for something private or want access to your emails.
The Google Home could be the start of something. It is a first generation device and given time it is likely to evolve into a must-have household item.
