Subj : The Google Home Speaker brings Gemini into a compact design with To : All From : TechnologyDaily Date : Wed Oct 01 2025 14:15:08 The Google Home Speaker brings Gemini into a compact design with plenty of color but youll be waiting Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2025 13:00:00 +0000 Description: Google has revealed an affordable new Home Speaker with Gemini smarts here's our first impressions based on a brief play with the Echo Dot Max rival. FULL STORY ====================================================================== Just a day after Amazon rolled out two new smart speakers the Echo Studio and Echo Dot Max Google has also launched a new speaker for the home, alongside a complete rethinking, redesign, and re-architecting of the Google Home app and ecosystem. Furthermore, it is the very same one we saw teased during the Made by Google event in August , where the Pixel 10 family was launched. The aptly-named Google Home Speaker is Googles new flagship, designed with Gemini onboard and built to deliver robust audio from a compact, pint-sized build. Its priced at $99 in the United States were still waiting on UK and Australia pricing but its not launching today alongside the rollout of the new Google Home. It wont even arrive in the coming days or weeks; instead, its set for a Spring 2026 release (so sometime between March and May). Its not all bad news, though. On paper and in a brief first look, the hardware does impress. Google is also being intentional with the timing of the Google Home Speaker launch, something the company highlighted in its announcement post and reiterated to TechRadar. (Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future) Given the massive overhaul of the Google Home app and backend, the tech giants approach is to focus on ensuring that the transition goes smoothly, solves potential issues, and runs well on existing hardware. Importantly, Google Home infused with Gemini will support the original Google Home from 2016 and the Nest Hub from 2018. While it wont offer the full Gemini Live experience, it will include a large portion of the features. Google specifically noted: The timeline for this new speaker is intentional. Our top priority is rolling out Gemini for Home in early access to the tens of millions of speakers and smart displays already in your homes. Even so, with this speaker first teased in August and Google not releasing a dedicated smart speaker since 2020s Nest Audio , expectations for the Google Home Speaker are high. With the release still months away, Google isnt releasing full specs yet, but heres whats known and what I gleaned from a few minutes with an early unit. Its much more compact than the original Google Home and the Nest Audio, landing about on par with an Echo Dot or an Apple HomePod Mini maybe the size of two Google Home Minis stacked together. Just like the new Echos or a HomePod Mini, Google is opting for a softer outer shell, in this case a woven yarn mesh available in four shades: Porcelain, Hazel, Jade, and Berry. (Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future) The last two especially stood out to me, particularly the warm, vibrant red named Berry a perfect option that would have been great for the holiday season. The ring light now sits at the bottom, integrated into the bezel between the rubber base and the woven mesh. It glows blue when Gemini is speaking or red when the microphone is muted. Controls for play/pause and volume are built into the top. (Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future) The design looks clean, and under the hood is a speaker setup that delivers omnidirectional audio with full 360-degree coverage. I heard some brief snippets of music in a large conference room with a lot of empty space and in the moment, the Google Home Speaker sounded solid, producing a surprising amount of volume without sacrificing clarity. Still, its likely the hardware isnt final yet. As with a HomePod Mini or nearly any Echo, you can group multiple Google Home Speakers or pair them in stereo, even using them with the Google TV Streamer to easily upgrade your TVs audio. (Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future) Naturally, you can also ask Gemini for everything from topical questions to smart home controls. In both demos and Googles promises, its a much more nuanced, human-like experience that supports casual conversation. For instance, you might say, Youre making cookies but are out of vanilla, and it will understand the context, or you might request that lights turn on and off a few times while youre out. Thats the promise Google wants to test thoroughly on existing Google Home devices before bringing the new speaker to market. Its possible the company may tweak the hardware especially the internals before launch, particularly to compete with other new smart speakers. By next Spring, there will likely be fresh competitors. For now, though, the Google Home Speaker is set to arrive in Spring 2026 for $99.99 in Porcelain, Hazel, Jade, or Berry. @techradar original sound - TechRadar Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button! And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too. ====================================================================== Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/home/smart-speakers/the-google-home-speaker-brings-g emini-into-a-compact-design-with-plenty-of-color-but-youll-be-waiting --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 (Linux/64) * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100) .