Introduction
Do you often forget to switch off the fan when you leave the room? Or forget to turn off the lights before crawling into your bed? Or cannot find the remote when you need to adjust the temperature of your air-conditioner? These are the moments when we miss the presence of some sort of magic to automatically do these tasks for us. And this is where Google’s offering, the Google Home, is trying to make a niche for itself. It can control a lot of things in your home, including thermostats, air-conditioners, lights, and garage doors amongst others, with the help of Google Assistant.
Launched after Apple Inc.’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant is trying to make our lives easier and more fun. Google Home allows us to control all the devices and appliances with just our voice. Google Assistant connects with all devices, working with almost every brand, connecting with more than 5,000 devices, including dishwashers, doorbells, plugs, thermostats, security systems, vacuums, refrigerators, ovens, and the list goes on.
We just have to say ‘’Ok! Google’’ or ‘’Hey, Google’’ and we are all set for a conversation. We can ask it for anything and everything and it will oblige if it has the required ability to fulfill the task. Well, not to forget it will even crack jokes for you if you are feeling low. How about that?
Here is how Google explained its Assistant,
“The assistant is conversational – an ongoing two-way dialogue between you and Google that understands your world and helps you get things done. It makes it easy to buy movie tickets while on the go, to find that perfect restaurant for your family to grab a quick bite before the movie starts, and then help you navigate to the theater.”
What is Google Home?
Google Home is a Wi-Fi speaker that enables users to give voice commands and interact with services through Google’s personal assistant called Google Assistant. Google Home also functions as a smart home control and a personal assistant for your entire family. Google Home will become your go-to guide if you want to know something. It can playback entertainment throughout your home, help you effortlessly manage everyday tasks, and so on.
You can match your Google Home device to the décor of your house because the device has interchangeable bases that are available in many colors and finishes, in fabric and metal. There is a speaker underneath the changeable base which can play songs and allow Google Assistant to talk to you. It has a single mute button on it and dial mics that listen for your voice.
It also has a capacitive touch display with four LEDs at the top of the device. This display will let you interact with Home, set off Assistant, adjust the volume, and perform other functions. Google Home is capable of separating speech from noise, and it offers “best-in-class voice recognition.”
This line of smart home speakers was launched in three variants – Google Home, Google Home Mini and its elder brother Google Home Max. They vary in terms of specifications and price. The Max is a premium product whereas Mini and Home are a mid-range offering. They are all powered by Google Assistant. Google Home was first introduced in 2016 and in 2017, Google followed it with two more additions.
While you are reading this article, you have already understood that they try to make our home smarter and a better place to live in. So let us talk about it in a bit of a detailed manner,
- Ask Google anything
Just like that nerdy schoolmate of yours who had an answer for anything and everything you threw at him, Google Home works the same way. Due to your jealousy, you always scratched the deepest corner of your syllabus so that you may get a question that he has no answer to, and when you went in front of him and dropped the bomb you found out that he still had the right answer. That’s Google Home for you. It will never sigh away from your queries. Ranging from questions related to your syllabus to train timings to recognize a song, it can do it all without breaking a sweat. You will always be surprised with a grin over your face.
- An All-In-One Controller
Google Home also functions as an all-in-one controller that gives you the ability to control all the smart devices in your home. You just need an app and once you have synchronized them all together, you can command your Google Home to control your smart devices be it Thermostats, Television, Lights and many other devices.
- A Smart Hub
In cricket, there are all-rounders who can bowl well, bat superbly and are excellent fielders, like our very own heartthrob Yuvraj Singh. Google Home is the same. It can manage your alarms and shopping list, remind you things that you did not remember, will tell you to skip that delicacy because you have diabetes. It can also synchronize with your smart devices and make them smarter.
And on a boring day, it can suggest to you a show on Netflix that you haven’t got hold of, yet. It can also automatically switch off smart lights, switches, doors and any Nest products that are connected to it. And if you are already late, you can just ask it to book a cab for you while completing your routine task. How smart that is! I wonder if anything can be smarter than my lovable Google Home.
- Music and Video Playback
Being a Wi-Fi speaker and with the help of Chromecast, Google Home has the ability to stream music, from your smartphone storage or directly from the cloud. It can access almost all the music apps and you can instantly listen to your favorite playlist without even touching your phone. You can further use Google Cast to send music to it.
You will also get multi-room support and the ability to connect all the smart speakers together so they play in unison. You can also use the Google Home app to broadcast shows on your television that you want to watch or any videos that you want to stream from popular streaming sites like YouTube or others.
Conclusion
Being available in numerous colors and with swappable bases, it is no less than a delight to keep it in your home. All my guests are amazed by how smart it is and the way it looks. They all give me positive feedback about this product and I just cannot feel any happier. It is one of my best purchases and if you want to make your house smarter, I’ll suggest you get one too.
Yes, the external app support is limited as of now and the audio quality may not be the best that you can get, but it is smarter than the offerings from the competitors and it is much easier to operate. You can switch off your television with just a command and can change the AC’s temperature with just a line. You will get important notifications and you can trust it to answer all the queries of your child correctly.