Google Home Mini - Short Review

At 2017 the market has seen a steady growth of smart appliances, and the smart assistant from different manufacturers (Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft) have been in the forefront of using your smart appliances.

One product has stood up as the hub of your smart home - the smart speaker. I've been using the Google Home Mini for the past 2 weeks and here are my thoughts of who is it good for and a little personal note.

Quick disclaimer: As I am not completely sold on the smart home tech, the only integrated device I have with Google assistant other than my smartphone is my Sony 55" 4k Android TV.

Performance:

Apart from being a smart hub for your home, this device is still a speaker. Sound quality has been average at best, as there is a lot of distortion at high volume and the clarity and bass response isn't good compared to dedicated Bluetooth speakers. The only positive side is it's miles better than your smartphone speaker in terms of quality and volume. The speaker is able to fill an average sized room with sound - 4 by 5 meters.

As for the microphones - the assistant has been able to pick up my voice from across a large room with very little effort from my side, moreover - it has even been able to pick up a question I had from a different room all together.

Features:

The device is basically Google assistant always listening and plugged in. What it means is -

• You can ask general questions like "how tall is Michael Jordan?"

• You can ask for the forecast for today or the rest of the week.

• You can initiate a countdown timer.

• You can ask for a good restaurant nearby.

• You can play music via paid subscription linked to you account such as Google play music or Spotify.

• You can ask to cast YouTube on compatible devices.

• You can control smart lights or compatible smart devices in general.

• You can ask for a good restaurant or pub nearby and it can send the directions to your Android smartphone.

Bottom line:

This is by no means a good speaker, and it is not meant to be - this device is meant for your bedroom or hallway in order to complete the house setup for the Google assistant, although your smartphone can do the same (Google assistant is available on Android and iOS) this is a device that's only 2 words away from helping you - "OK Google" or "Hey Google", it doesn't need to be in your hand and you don't need to press anything.

I've found myself asking more questions 'on the fly' since I've got it - about the weather, actors, comics characters and more. You need to be invested on a Google assistant smart home devices in order to get the most out of this product, that is the only way I'll find myself recommending this buy.

As for the integration with my Android TV, well, it's very inconsistent - I can try and succeed in opening the YouTube app on my TV to play something, and 5 minutes later it can just fail!

Important to Know: One thing you need to keep in mind is that not all the Google Home Mini features are available everywhere. Yes, if you live in the USA you're probably getting the full suit of features, but the further you are from the US, the fewer features you currently have - I got used to hearing from the Google Home Mini "This features isn't available yet in your country", so keep that in mind.