Original article excerpt
Server-side extracted preview paragraphs from the original source.
The Google Home Speaker is designed for Gemini for Home and its more conversational smart home assistant.
The Google Home Speaker is designed for Gemini for Home and its more conversational smart home assistant.
If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
Google’s first new smart speaker in six years starts shipping on June 25th, narrowly missing its promised spring launch window. Preorders for the Google Home Speaker open today, June 17th.
Nothing has changed hardware-wise in the nine months since the $99 speaker was announced. It has the same slightly squished round design, with touch-capacitive buttons on top and a light ring at the bottom to indicate status. And it still comes in four colors: porcelain (white), hazel (black), jade (green), and berry (red). The last two are US-only.
Google’s first smart home speaker in six years, built for Gemini for Home. It has 360-degree sound; two can be paired for stereo, or used with a Google TV Streamer for spatial surround sound. It’s also a Matter controller and Thread Border Router. It requires a Google Home Premium subscription for some features.
The Home Speaker is Google’s first audio device designed specifically for Gemini for Home. You can use Gemini for Home on other Google Nest speakers and smart displays, but Anish Kattukaran, chief product officer for Google Home, said this device delivers the experience best. In a briefing earlier this month, he said the speaker runs local models for noise cancellation, echo suppression, and sound separation to ensure Gemini can hear commands despite background noise.
