A new Google speaker arrives after a long quiet, carrying the name of the company's first home device and the hope of a more conversational house. Its sphere of fabric and light is handsome and sounds pleasant, though it no longer outshines the model it replaces. The question that lingers is less about the hardware than about who should pay for intelligence once a home has learned to listen, and whether a feature so central can stay locked behind a monthly fee.
Google's New Home Speaker Nails the Hardware, But Gemini Live Sits Behind a $10/Month Paywall
A slightly worse-sounding Nest Audio in a sleeker-looking, spherical body
Mark
So what's the core complaint here? The speaker sounds fine.
Mimi
It does. The reviewer likes the design and says the audio is good. His problem is that Gemini Live, the feature he sees as the reason for the device, needs a $10 monthly plan after six free months.
Mark
And that's on top of the $100 purchase price.
Luke
Right, and it's worth saying this is one person's opinion after a week. The plan prices are reported, but whether buyers will actually find it a bad deal is his judgment, not a measured result.
Mark
He also says it replaces the Nest Audio. How does it compare?
Mimi
Slightly worse on sound, especially bass. The Nest Audio has a bigger 75mm woofer plus a separate tweeter, while this has a 58mm driver. Against the Nest mini, though, it's a big upgrade.
Luke
Those comparisons are his ears. He doesn't cite measurements, so I'd treat the sound ranking as a listening impression.
Mark
What about Gemini itself? Does it work?
Mimi
Reasonably well. It stumbled on multistep questions, and some conversations stopped abruptly. When it worked, he found it impressive.
Luke
He doesn't say how often it failed, only "a few instances." We don't know if that's typical.
Mark
And if you skip the subscription?
Mimi
You keep music, timers and basic voice control. And if you already own a Nest Audio or 2nd-gen Nest Hub, you can use Gemini for Home without buying this at all.
Il Polso
- Google's new $100 Home Speaker replaces two older models, and the reviewer finds it a clear step up from the Nest mini but a step back from the Nest Audio's bass.
- Its headline feature, Gemini Live, sits behind a $10-a-month Premium Standard subscription after a six-month trial, and the reviewer calls the decision bizarre.
- Gemini Live is capable but stumbles on complex, multistep questions, and some conversations cut off without warning.
- Without paying, owners still get music and timers, leaving the speaker a better-looking but slightly weaker Nest Audio, and the reviewer says dropping the fee would make it a better buy.
A new Google speaker arrives after a long quiet, carrying the name of the company's first home device and the hope of a more conversational house. Its sphere of fabric and light is handsome and sounds pleasant, though it no longer outshines the model it replaces. The question that lingers is less about the hardware than about who should pay for intelligence once a home has learned to listen, and whether a feature so central can stay locked behind a monthly fee.
For a week, a reviewer at XDA Developers lived with Google's new Home Speaker, using it to play music and control a house of smart lights. He came away with a mixed verdict: the hardware is good, but putting the device's headline AI feature behind a monthly fee strikes him as strange.
The speaker arrives almost six years after the Nest Audio, during Google's broader Gemini push and just after the launch of Gemini for Home. It replaces both the Nest Audio and the Nest mini, and it shares its name with Google's original 2016 speaker. The reviewer wonders why such a simple device took so long to appear.
It is a clear upgrade over the Nest mini, with a larger driver and deeper bass. Against the Nest Audio, however, it falls short, especially in bass, though it still sounds good across guitar rock and hip-hop. Its design wins him over: a fabric-covered sphere with a soft glowing ring, simpler and more attractive than its rivals.
The real tension is in the software. Gemini Live, the conversational mode that makes the speaker feel next-generation, requires a $10 monthly plan after six free months. It can be impressive, but it still struggles with complicated questions and sometimes drops conversations mid-thought. Without paying, the speaker still plays music and sets timers, which leaves it a slightly weaker Nest Audio in a nicer body. The reviewer concludes that the speaker is hard to recommend at this price, and that removing the fee would make it a far better product.
For a week, a reviewer at XDA Developers used Google's new Home Speaker as his main way to play music and run a house full of Google Home-compatible smart lights. His verdict is mixed: the hardware is good, and the decision to put the headline software feature behind a monthly fee is, in his word, bizarre.
The speaker is odd in its timing. It arrives almost six years after the Nest Audio, in the middle of Google's Gemini push and just after the launch of Gemini for Home, the company's home-focused version of its AI assistant. It was first revealed nine months ago, and it carries the same name as Google's original 2016 smart speaker. The reviewer asks why a device this basic took so long to appear.
The $100 Home Speaker replaces both the $100 Nest Audio and the $50 Nest mini. That leaves Google's smart speaker lineup at three products: the new speaker, the 2nd-gen Nest Hub, and the Nest Hub Max. Against the Nest mini, the new model is a large improvement, with a 58mm driver against the mini's 40mm and much deeper bass. The reviewer adds that it should be better, since it costs $50 more than the mini, which came out in 2019.
Against the Nest Audio, it is a step back. The Nest Audio has a 75mm woofer and a dedicated 19mm tweeter, and the reviewer has long felt its wide soundstage beat its price. The new speaker still sounds good. He tried guitar-driven music such as Brand New's "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades" and bassier material such as Mac Miller's "The Spins," and both worked well. But the Nest Audio keeps a clear edge, especially in bass.
On design, he gives Google full marks. The speaker is a fabric-covered sphere, available in white Porcelain or gray Hazel, and he finds it more attractive than the Nest Audio, the Nest mini, Amazon's latest Echo and Apple's HomePod mini. A light ring under the speaker glows when you talk to it, which reminds him of older Echo devices. It is simpler than the four-light display on the Nest Audio and Nest mini, and he prefers it. Touch controls on top respond well: tap left or right for volume, press the middle to pause or resume. He mostly used his voice anyway.
The trouble starts with Gemini for Home. Google now sells two subscription tiers for smart home features. Premium Standard costs $10 a month, or $100 a year, and Premium Advanced costs $20 a month, or $200 a year. Buyers of a new Google Home get six months free. Standard includes doorbell and camera history, which matters little to the reviewer because he uses a Ring doorbell. It also includes Gemini Live, a conversational mode that has been on newer Pixel devices for a few years. To him, that mode is the reason the speaker exists.
He found Gemini Live reasonably capable but easy to confuse with complicated, multistep questions. Some conversations stopped abruptly for no apparent reason. When it worked, it felt like a next-generation smart speaker. Automations are also tied to the Standard plan. Being able to tell the house in casual language to close the blinds at a set time is a real convenience, and routines can still be built by hand, but making that process conversational is the point of Gemini for Home.
Without a subscription, the speaker still handles basics such as playing music and setting timers, as Google Home always has. That, in his view, makes it a slightly worse-sounding Nest Audio in a better-looking body. Gemini for Home already works across Google's smart home speakers, though Gemini Live does not support the original Google Home or Google Home Mini. Someone who, like him, owns several Nest Audios and a couple of 2nd-gen Nest Hubs can get the AI features without buying anything. The only advantage he noticed for the new model is slightly faster replies to complex Gemini requests.
His conclusion is that the speaker is hard to recommend at $100, with $10 a month after the six-month trial, particularly for people who already own compatible hardware. If Google dropped the fee, he writes, the Home Speaker would immediately become a better product. This is one reviewer's opinion after a week of use, and the pricing is the part Google can still change.
Citazioni salienti
If Google were to drop the subscription fee, the new Google Home would instantly become a better smart speaker.— XDA Developers reviewer
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