{"id":2618,"date":"2026-06-24T13:01:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T13:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=2618"},"modified":"2026-06-24T13:01:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T13:01:03","slug":"google-home-smart-speaker-hands-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=2618","title":{"rendered":"The Google Home Speaker sounds good and looks great \u2014 but it\u2019s finicky"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Right out of the box, the new Google Home Speaker<\/a> passed a couple of important tests. Even with the volume at 100 percent and music blaring out of the speaker, it quickly ducked the audio and listened every time I said \u201cHey, Google.\u201d In fact, in two days of testing, the speaker\u2019s three microphones haven\u2019t missed a single wake word \u2014 except for the time I stage-whispered to it from the other room while trying to avoid waking up the baby, but I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s a fair test. I set up the speaker in the bathroom and chatted with it from the shower; Siri hardly ever hears me over the running water, but Google did pretty well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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These are the sorts of things any smart speaker should do well, but the basic interactions aren\u2019t always a given. They\u2019re incredibly important for the Home Speaker, which Google designed not just as a way to control your music and your smart home but as an ambient way to do all things Gemini: plan and manage your day, access information, even get stuff done. My colleague Jen Tuohy and I both have Home Speakers in our houses right now, but we\u2019ve only had a day or so to really test them; our full review, of both the speaker itself and the AI assistant inside it, is coming soon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Here\u2019s what I can already tell you, though: The Home Speaker is a pretty good little speaker. It pumps big, rich sound out of its mesh body, and gets plenty loud for such a small device. If you\u2019re using it as a kitchen speaker or for background music, I suspect you\u2019ll never need to hit full volume. (I don\u2019t have Google\u2019s previous speaker, the Nest Audio, handy for testing, but if memory serves, it was both louder and better than this one. And also much larger.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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My go-to small speaker has for years been a UE Wonderboom, and the Home Speaker holds its own against the similarly sized Bluetooth dynamo. The Wonderboom gets a bit louder, and has a little more emphasis on vocals and higher, while the Home Speaker brings out more of the bass. (To be clear, I do mean \u201cmore,\u201d not \u201ca lot.\u201d Small speakers, small thump-thump.) A song like \u201cSugar, We\u2019re Goin Down\u201d by Fall Out Boy is a fun test: The bass and drums drive the song on the Home Speaker, whereas it\u2019s all vocals and lead guitar on the Wonderboom. Which you choose will be mostly personal preference. Compared to something like the (also similarly sized) Amazon Echo Dot Max, though, there\u2019s no comparison: The Home Speaker is cleaner, louder, and just sharper in all areas. It makes the Dot Max sound like a really big phone speaker.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I really like the look of the Home Speaker, which presents more or less like a very colorful, softball-sized ball of yarn. It comes in four colors, but I got it in red, and I can\u2019t recommend it enough. Because there are no visible buttons or controls, and in fact nothing marring the look other than the white USB-C cable running out the back, the extra pop of color really works \u2014 and manages to avoid screaming \u201clook, a speaker!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The downside of all this minimalism is that it\u2019s not remotely intuitive how to use the Home Speaker. You can raise and lower the volume by tapping on the right or left side of the speaker, but the touch targets are small, and it\u2019s not even particularly obvious what\u2019s right and what\u2019s left. It\u2019s round! (Tapping the top of the speaker pauses and plays music, which works fine.) The Home Speaker\u2019s light ring, which glows when Gemini is listening or responding, is also somewhat hidden underneath the speaker, such that you won\u2019t see it at all unless it\u2019s up above your eyeline. That bit of visible feedback is really important for a smart speaker, and Google probably should have made it more prominent. I\u2019d also rather have the Echo Dot\u2019s volume controls, which are just plain ol\u2019 buttons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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You can\u2019t use the Home Speaker as a standard Bluetooth speaker, but you can use Google Cast to stream from other devices. You can also group a bunch of them together for synced audio around your house, or pair a couple to a Google TV Streamer and use it for better TV sound. A bunch of Home Speakers certainly won\u2019t replace your Sonos setup or your soundbar, but I\u2019d wager they\u2019re better than whatever\u2019s coming out of your TV speakers right now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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So far, I\u2019m impressed with this little speaker, especially for $99. But audio is only part of the Home Speaker\u2019s story. Google made this thing to get Gemini in your house, to bring a new way to control your home and run your life through its AI assistant. Google hasn\u2019t shipped a smart speaker in six years \u2014 whether this one\u2019s worth the wait will be all up to Gemini. And we have a lot of testing left to do.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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