Home Hi-Tech Android World ,,,,, Finally, the business of smart speakers also begins in Italy, which have been confined for too long to regions such as the USA, UK, or in any case in regions bordering our borders. If it is true that the release of Homepod is still awaited in our country, users can finally test the potential of a virtual home assistant included inside a speaker: Google Home Mini
First of all, the due clarification on the differences between Google Home and Google Home Mini . The two speakers sold in Italy have the same smart features. The main difference, besides the form factor, is mainly the quality of the speaker, which is absolutely superior on the larger Google Home model. Beyond this difference, Google Assistant works identically on both devices . Among the main differences, of course, also the price: Google Home Mini costs 59 euros on the official store, while Google Home has a price of 149 euros.
Google Home mini review: aesthetics
The appearance of the Google Home Mini is undoubtedly one of the positive factors of the peripheral. Available in three different colors, silver, black and coral, it has a rounded shape, an absolutely minimal appearance, and small dimensions, therefore easy to hide on any shelf or desk in your home. There is only one cable to connect to connect, the power cable. The one supplied is particularly long and, probably, no extension cable will be needed to reach a socket at home. On the back there is a switch, which is not used to turn the speaker on or off, but only to disable the microphone. In this way you can decide not to activate the loudspeaker with voice commands.
There are no other physical buttons on Google Home Mini (except for a small button hidden on the bottom, useful for resetting), but there are two touch buttons on the upper surface, which allow to lower or decrease the volume of the device. Also on the upper surface, there are also four LEDs, which allow you to immediately understand if the speaker is listening, and what is the volume set on the peripheral.
Unboxing
Before even seeing in detail what are the features offered by Google Home Mini, here is a photographic unboxing of the device, as it is delivered to your home.
Google Assistant functionality
Although Google Home is (also) a speaker, before even talking about its audio quality, it is good to pay attention to the capabilities of a digital assistant. Those who buy Google Home, in fact, will not do it mainly to have a new speaker at home, but to take full advantage of the potential of the Google assistant. First of all, it is good to highlight the fact that Google Assistant on Google Home expands the functionality of the assistant compared to the counterpart present on smartphones and tablets. Although many of the functions are shared, it is only Google Home that enables home control in Italy of connected peripherals, such as smart lights, thermostats, and more. Be careful, however, after activating a Google Home on your account, it will be possible to control the lights in the house, and other connected devices, even from a smartphone. In this case, the home control is not exclusive to Assistant on Google Home, but a first configuration is still needed to enable the same functions on a smartphone.
On the contrary, however, there are functions that Google Assistant can perform exclusively on Google Home, such as playing music on a Chromecast audio speaker in the house, or playing Netflix and YouTube on a Chromecast in the house. It is possible, exclusively with Home, to start or stop the playback of YouTube and Netflix also on Android TV, such as Xiaomi Mi Box, which Cyber Layman has reviewed at this address.
Obviously, the capabilities of Google Assistant already known on smartphones remain unchanged. It will then be possible to talk to your speaker to ask for weather forecasts, sports results, make currency conversions on the fly and, in general, everything you could already ask the voice assistant on your smartphone.
Google Assistant quality
Google Assistant works well, in the sense that the microphones of the Google Home speaker receive commands with extreme precision. Even when the speaker plays music it is almost always possible to give the command “Ok, Google” successfully. The standard features work well and you will almost always get a congruent response to requests for music playback, playlists to start a connected audio chromecast, weather forecasts, sports scores, and so on and so forth.
The home control also meets expectations, but only in basic functionalities and always after due initial configuration. In our case, at least initially, we were able right away to turn the lights off or on in the various rooms, but only in the case of the “turn off studio light” commands and not also “turn off the studio light”. After a subsequent reconfiguration, however, we have improved the situation: we are able to successfully give the command “turn off the light in the bedroom”, but if we want to control the light in the studio it will be necessary to use the expression “turn off the light in the studio” and not ” of study”. Small oddities, perhaps due to some imperceptible errors in the configuration, or perhaps in the young age of the Google assistant.
Furthermore, although the various scenes of our Philips Hue lights are present on the Google Home app, such as “Northern lights in the kitchen”, we were unable to activate these scenes directly from Google Home. To do this we had to use IFTTT, an app that now supports Google Home voice commands also in Italian. Using IFTTT, then, it is possible to create shortcuts to activate the various Philips Hue scenes via Google Home.
In short, Google Home understands the commands well, but currently requires a particularly careful configuration, and the use of apps such as IFTTT to fully stand out. In any case, to be a really young device in Italy, linked to an equally young Assistant, the start is certainly positive, with services that quickly welcome the new Google device for the home, such as EvoHome WiFi.
Audio quality
As already mentioned, the main difference between Google Home and Google Home Mini is the quality of the speaker. The Mini we tested has sufficient sound quality. It is by no means an audiophile device from this point of view, and if you wanted to buy a speaker with the same musical quality, without the Google Assistant, you would probably spend 35 or 40 euros. All in all, therefore, the cost of 59 euros is justified, also because Google Home Mini can work like any other bluetooth speaker, pairing with the smartphone via BT.
The volume of Google Home Mini is very high, especially considering the size of the devices, and even at maximum volume no distortion is perceived. The basses are lacking, or in any case, they are scarcely appreciable. The result is a fairly (not totally) cold sound. On the other hand, Google Home Mini seems to have a more full-bodied and deeper sound at not too high volumes, while as soon as you raise the bar you realize a sufficient sound quality, but not very high.
In any case, the sound is clean, appreciable and absolutely justified by the cost of the peripheral. In any case, for those who prefer to use Home as a speaker rather than as an assistant, the advice is to focus on the larger model, rather than the Mini.
Accessories compatibility and services
Conclusions
Google Home Mini is a good start for those who want to make their home even smarter. The purchase is recommended for those who have compatible connected peripherals in their home, such as Chromecast, Chromecast Audio, smart lights, and others. If you don't have any smart accessories at home to control, using Home Mini as a simple speaker for music playback would be particularly limiting.
Google Home and Home Mini can be purchased on the official Google store at a price of 149 and 59 euros respectively. If you want to save money, you can buy the product on eBay, even in the UK or USA version (after the first pairing the speaker will speak perfectly in Italian).
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