Google Home Speaker Brings Gemini Conversation to the Living Room
The Google Home Speaker is the first consumer hardware built around Gemini, moving the smart speaker category from command-based assistants to conversational AI in daily life.
Reporting from 1 source: ASCII.jp.
ASCII.jp tested Google's first smart speaker in six years, the Google Home Speaker. It replaces Google Assistant with Gemini, enabling natural conversation rather than one-way commands. The speaker also offers 360-degree sound and supports Matter and Thread for smart home hub functionality.
Google has released its first smart speaker in six years, and the hardware itself is less the story than what runs it. The Google Home Speaker replaces the familiar Google Assistant with Gemini, Google's flagship AI model. ASCII.jp tested the device and found that the interaction shifts from one-shot requests-"What's the weather?"-to a flowing back-and-forth that starts with "Good morning." The speaker also functions as a smart home hub, supporting Matter and Thread, and its 360-degree driver fills a room without a directional sweet spot. The upgrade is incremental in form but categorical in function: the speaker now treats the user as a conversation partner, not a command issuer. Whether that changes how people actually use smart speakers at home will depend on how well Gemini handles the mundane, unpredictable requests of daily life.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.