Google Home Speaker: Gemini Arrives with Paid Advanced Options

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Key Takeaways

1The Home Speaker is the first speaker designed for Gemini, sold for 120 euros in France

2Six months of Google Home Premium subscription are included, after which advanced features require a plan costing 10 or 20 euros per month

3The speaker is compatible with Matter and Thread, and can serve as a central hub for home automation

💡Why it matters — Google is introducing Gemini into the home with an extensive smart home offering, but reserves its most advanced features for paid subscriptions.

The Home Speaker marks the transition from Google Assistant to Gemini in a device designed for AI. Compatible with Matter and Thread, the device is priced at 120 euros in France, with six months of subscription included. Features like Gemini Live and other advanced services will then require monthly subscriptions.

Subscriptions Required for Gemini Live and Advanced Services

With the purchase of the Home Speaker, six months of Google Home Premium are included. After this period, a subscription is necessary to continue enjoying all the features of Gemini Live as well as certain advanced services. The Standard plan, priced at 10 euros per month, offers Gemini Live, automations, and sound recognition for alarms such as fire alarms or breaking glass. For 20 euros monthly, the Advanced plan adds daily summaries of home activity and the ability to perform voice searches in camera history. Without a subscription, the speaker remains functional, but some capabilities associated with Gemini will not be available. The retail price of the speaker is 120 euros in France.

Interactions: Gemini Replaces Assistant and Conversation Continues

On the Home Speaker, Gemini takes the place of Google Assistant, and the device is optimized for its capabilities. Conversations continue in a seamless manner, without needing to repeat the activation command. For common uses such as music, alarms, or lighting, the responses remain similar to those of the former Assistant. The speaker identifies the installation room to enhance the reliability of smart home commands. The voice activation remains Hey Google, and certain functions like Gemini Live are part of a subscription offer.

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Design and Colors: New Light Ring and Touch Controls

The Home Speaker adopts an oval design with a fabric-covered base, weighing just over 400 grams and standing 86 mm tall. The previous system of light dots has been replaced by a ring located at the base, which pulses and changes color depending on whether the assistant is listening, thinking, or responding. Touch controls are positioned on the right to increase volume, on the left to decrease it, and in the center for pause. A physical switch turns off the microphones. Four colors are announced, with variable availability depending on the markets; in France, only Porcelain and Sage Green are offered. The integrated power supply in the chassis means that a damaged cable will prevent the use of the device.

The Home Speaker Sets Up in Four Steps from First Use

As soon as it is powered on, the Home Speaker is automatically detected by the Google Home app. The setup follows four steps: account linking, Wi-Fi connection, room assignment, and voice calibration. The procedure takes less than ten minutes for an already configured Google account. Once the installation is complete, most settings and information about the device remain centralized in the app.

Audio: 58 mm Speaker and Automatic Calibration

The 40 mm transducer used in the previous generation has been replaced by a 58 mm speaker. An automatic acoustic calibration is integrated into the speaker, allowing it to assess the room size, reverberation, and ambient noise to adjust the equalization. It is possible to use multiroom mode and pair two speakers for a stereo setup.

Smart Home: Integrated Thread Border Router and Matter Support

The Home Speaker includes a Thread Border Router and natively supports Matter. It can serve as a central server to control lights, thermostats, locks, or cameras without the need for an additional hub. This is the first speaker in the range designed for Gemini, following a period without a new model, announced at the beginning of the summer for 120 euros.