Google has released a new $99.99 smart speaker with appealing design and good sound quality, but its AI assistant Gemini for Home remains sluggish and incomplete in real-world use. While the hardware itself is competitive with rivals like Amazon's Echo Dot Max and Apple's HomePod Mini, the software—which requires a $10 monthly subscription for advanced features—struggles with response speed and reliability, potentially limiting the upgrade incentive for existing Google Home users.
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Google released the Google Home Speaker, its first new smart speaker in six years, priced at $99.99. The device is designed to work with Gemini for Home, Google's new conversational AI assistant for smart homes. It supports Matter and Thread smart home standards and can pair with the Google TV Streamer for audio output.
Why it matters
As a hardware device, the speaker earned strong marks—clean design, good sound for its size, and responsive touch controls. However, Gemini for Home remains slow and unreliable in practice; complex requests took around 10 seconds to execute, whereas a competing service completed the same task in under three seconds. Several features are also paywalled, starting at $10 a month, which may limit appeal for users seeking a straightforward smart speaker upgrade.
What to watch
The speaker costs $99.99 and comes in four colors (jade and berry in the US only; hazel and porcelain available elsewhere). Gemini for Home is available on existing Google Home speakers too, so users upgrading from older models may find little software incentive to switch hardware. The device is the first Google Home audio speaker that can act as a Thread border router.
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