After 48 hours with the Google Home Speaker, I can’t stop talking to Gemini (even if it’s not perfect)

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a favorite resource on Google.

I Google Home speaker has been officially released as the company’s latest take on a smart speaker, for the first time in six years. I’ve been testing the Google Home Speaker for about 48 hours, and I have some interesting first impressions.

Also: This tablet has replaced both my iPad and Kindle, and it’s 40% off on Amazon right now

With 360-degree sound, the Google Home Speaker offers a new sound experience compared to Nest Audio and Nest Mini, both of which feature front-facing audio. A new experience, however, does not necessarily mean that it will be clearly better.

A new sound experience

With the Google Home Speaker, Google ditched the Nest moniker for its smart home speakers and redesigned the audio experience for its new device. While many customers are looking forward to the new Google Home speaker, some are worried that the technology inside may not be enough to justify the upgrade.

Although Google claims the new speaker has 2.5 times the bass of the The Nest Miniuses a single 58mm driver. $120 Google Nest Audioreleased in 2020, it has better hardware, with a 75mm mid-woofer and a 19mm tweeter. Considering that the new Google Home Speaker sits squarely in the $100 price range as Nest Audio, I’d say the concerns are valid.

Also: I’m a smart home tech, and these security camera deals are worth considering

However, details alone do not tell the full story. In my tests, although limited, the Google Home speaker delivers powerful, clear sound similar to Apple’s HomePod mini, which also has a full two-inch driver. It certainly beats the sound experience from the Nest Mini and the older Echo Dot.

Incredibly simple controls

Unlike its biggest competitors, the Google Home speaker has no physical control panel on top: There are no buttons or display to control volume or play or pause. I was sure this would make it difficult to navigate or learn to control it without using my voice or the Google Home app, however to my surprise it wasn’t.

Google keeps it simple with the Google Home Speaker: Tap the top to play or pause, then press the lights on the sides to increase or decrease the volume. The lights turn on as soon as you click the speaker, so you can easily see them without having to find out what you’re doing.

The new Gemini vs. Google Assistant

Google has been committed to delivering an improved Gemini Home experience for months, and the Google Home Speaker succeeds in this effort. Compared to Alexa+, its most similar competitor, the Gemini on the new smart speaker is a little weird right off the bat. As someone who has used Alexa+ for months, I’m still not used to its cheerful, overly cheerful tone.

Also: I tried Gmail’s new Gemini Flows feature, and it’s a huge filter improvement (with one big gripe)

Like the Gemini on Google Home experience, the Gemini app, and Android devices, the Gemini on Google Home speaker chats without much fuss, though it still has some issues. Many AI companies have done away with negative things like “AI like…” answers, but not Gemini.

This does not make Gemini obsolete or mean that the assistant is lagging behind; it’s just something you have to express.

Gemini on Google Home Assistant works as well as it does anywhere else. It responds without being overzealous, its responses are informative and very accurate (which is what you’d expect from any productive AI bot), and it produces content reliably. Conversations with Google Speaker generally feel more natural than with any other smart device I’ve tested in my home.

These features make it leaps and bounds ahead of Siri’s performance on the HomePod and HomePod mini, which does not yet have production AI. And, with Alexa+’s delightfully Pollyannaish tone, Gemini Home has been my preferred home assistant for the past few days.

Descending: list of microphones

Far-field microphone arrays are often a problem for smart speakers, as they must balance the collection of voice input and playback of music or other audio content. Every company wants the best-sounding, most powerful speaker with a smart, AI-powered voice assistant at the lowest price, and it’s not easy.

As a result, speakers need a robust array of microphones that allow them to pick up voices even when the volume is turned up. The Google Home speaker combines three fart-field microphones with a neural processing unit (NPU) to classify spatial noise. Unfortunately, I struggled to get the Google Home speaker to listen to me when I played music, even when I turned it down two-thirds of the way up.

Also: I got a 50% off Fire TV Stick this Big Day, and I’m checking out these best streaming deals

This means I have to go up to the speaker and pause the music by tapping up, which isn’t a bad inconvenience, but defeats the purpose of having a voice-activated smart speaker.

ZDNET shopping advice (for now)

Compared to its direct competitors, i Google Home speaker it’s a strong competitor to the fourth-generation Amazon Echo Dot and, in some cases, it can beat the new Echo Dot Max.

Compared to the Apple HomePod Mini, Google’s latest speaker falls short in sound and can’t beat Apple’s microphone performance and quality. However, Google’s speaker has Gemini, a productive hands-free AI assistant, while the HomePod mini, for now, is still stuck with the old version of Siri. That alone might sell many of you a Google speaker.