Following new announcements this week, the future of Google Home is brighter than ever, and that’s exciting.
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To quickly recap this week’s announcements, Google Home is getting a revamp centered around Gemini. The Google Home app itself is rolling out a redesign that simplifies the overall look and functionality of the app, Google Assistant is being replaced by Gemini on all of Google’s smart speakers dating back to the original Google Home, and Gemini will supercharge Nest cameras with improved video search, notifications, and more.
On the surface level, there’s a lot to be excited about, but a deeper look reveals a few things that I consider even more exciting.
Firstly, there’s the precedent Google is setting for the smart home. Updating all of its smart speakers and cameras from the past decade sets the tone for all future hardware, and really fights against the whole “Google Graveyard” schtick. It’s a refreshing level of commitment that we don’t see often enough in tech, and combined with Google’s 7-year update policy for Pixel phones, I’d argue that Google is making the most promises in this regard.
More exciting to me personally is the expansion of hardware Google is making.
The Nest catalog has always felt a little restrictive to me, with mostly single-purpose hardware that’s very expensive compared to a sea of affordable alternatives. That’s why I was thrilled to see Google team up with Walmart to build affordable new cameras that start at just $23, literally a quarter of the price of Google’s cheapest Nest camera. You’ve always been able to see other third-party cameras in the Home app, but not at the same level of integration as Google is now doing with Walmart. I can’t wait to see other brands jump on board here and continue to expand the catalog. The other benefit here is on security. Since Google is handling the video storage and processing, there’s far less of a concern around “how are these so cheap?” and cutting corners.
Then, there’s just the level of functional improvement.
The past few years have been “AI this, AI that, AI everything,” but Google is proving that it actually knows how to use AI with these latest announcements. The natural language understanding of Gemini paired with the wealth of data Google has is building some really cool integrations. Looking at cameras again, Gemini is making it possible for users to get tailored, descriptive notifications while also being able to have the AI answer questions by using the recorded footage.
That’s awesome.
Outside of cameras, Gemini is also poised to fix a lot of the problems that have come from a crumbling Assistant. Smart home commands work much better on Gemini compared to Assistant, and they’re also going to be able to handle more complex actions. If it sticks the landing, it’ll be awesome, and it’ll also be a big selling point for that upcoming Google Home Speaker.
In a lot of ways, Gemini is delivering on what Google has been promising for literally a decade. Looking back at 2016’s Google I/O presentation, where Google Home and Assistant were shown off for the first time, a lot of that initial vision is finally being paid off now.
Of course, much of this is in “Early Access” for now, but I’m impressed. Google has laid out a vision for the smart home that’s compelling and powerful, and I can’t wait to see where it leads.
What do you think?
This Week’s Top Stories
Amazon’s smart home refresh, and a confusing Fire TV replacement
Right before Google’s announcement, Amazon held an event to announce new smart home hardware including Ring cameras, new Fire TVs, and smart speakers, alongside updates to Alexa+.
In the Fire TV world, Amazon is replacing its Android-based platform with an in-house Vega OS. That sounds straightforward enough but, because it requires all-new apps, Amazon is making all non-native Fire TV apps stream the Android version from the cloud so people can still use them. That sounds… bad??
NBC and YouTube TV fight, but everyone wins
As their contract came to an end, NBC and YouTube TV got into a pretty vocal back-and-forth this week, but the end of the story is that everything is all good. YouTube TV will continue to carry NBC content, prices won’t change, and Peacock is coming to YouTube Primetime Channels too.
More Top Stories
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- Pixel Phone app rolling out Call Recording & Android Auto access, details global expansion
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- Swollen Galaxy Ring battery gets stuck on finger, leads to hospital visit [Gallery]
- YouTube Music rolling out new icon set with cartoony thumbs up
- Google’s gradient ‘G’ icon, design is going company-wide
- Spotify lossless audio is still rolling out, works with JBL speakers too
- Amazon pushes customers to put more items in a single delivery with new app change
- Samsung Galaxy TriFold leak offers glimpse into multitasking on a giant foldable
- Google Drive testing new AI scanner, and it’s blazing fast [Video]
- Leaked Galaxy S26 Ultra renders show off Samsung’s massive new camera bump
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