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Google is relaunching its smart speaker ecosystem for the “Age of Gemini,” as it has repeatedly mentioned in its latest products. While I’m not entirely sure this new speaker is truly a revolutionary Gemini-powered speaker compared to the existing Google and Nest speakers, the overall quality of the Google Home Speaker is a great value for $99.
Whether you’re looking for a new music-playing speaker that understands basic commands, or you want an extra speaker to upgrade your smart home, this is a solid choice with some annoying software issues to be fixed in the near future.
Google Home Speaker price, availability and features
The 2026 Google Home Speaker is Google’s first smart speaker “from the ground up for Gemini.” It’s the first Google speaker to include a proper NPU for AI processing, an improvement over the ML processors in the last few Nest releases. It retails for $99 and comes in two colors globally – Hazelnut and Porcelain – while US customers can also choose from Berry or Jade. My review unit is Jade.
Google includes 6 months of Google Home Premium free ($60 value) when you purchase a Google Home Speaker before September 30, 2026.
|
Category |
Google Home Speaker |
|---|---|
|
Speaker |
Versatile 58mm full-range driver |
|
Microphone |
3 far field microphones, |
|
Dimensions |
86.6mm/3.4in high x 107mm/4.2in dia |
|
Weight |
396 g |
|
Power adapter |
30W USB-C PC/PPS charger |
|
RAM |
1 GB LPDDR4 |
|
Storage |
4 GB eMMC |
|
Processor |
Quad-core A55 2.0 GHz with NPU |
|
Connection |
Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, Thread 1.3 border router (2.4GHz), Matter |
|
Colors |
Globally: Hazel, Porcelain US exclusive: Jade, Berry |
Basically the right priorities
For the past few years, Google has been using the Nest brand for its smart speakers, but I’ve rarely seen them called that. Let it be Nest Mini or one Nest Hub smart displays, my family always refer to them audibly as Google speaker or Google display.
So I think it makes more sense to continue using the Google name as the proper brand, and I know I’m not the only one who calls their smart speaker “Google.” Thankfully, Google has fixed the name without ruining the excellent design and feng shui character of the Nest line of smart speakers.
The 2026 speaker is still covered in a home-like fabric that looks sleek and unobtrusive on the shelf. It’s the ideal size between the tiny Nest Mini and the giant model Google Home Max speaker with appropriately sized audio components. It even has a cute little flashing light underneath, which makes it feel more like you’re talking to a smart little robot than mumbling into a speaker.
But I don’t understand why Google speakers almost always have this weird problem with their power cables. Previous models used barrel plugs and special chargers, creating unnecessary electronic waste. This model uses the standard 30W Google USB-C charger, but the cable is attached to the speaker, meaning that when it eventually breaks, you’ll either have to plug it in or throw the speaker away and buy a new one. fool
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is slightly smaller than it is Nest Audio speaker (yes, there have been many options over the years), the sound quality won’t be as good, but the advantage of the Google Home Speaker is the versatility of its speaker. Depending on how you want to install it, this can make a big difference.
You can also use Google Home Speaker with a Google TV Broadcaster It’s a great feature for creating a surround sound setup, I’m glad Google has finally embraced the Amazon Echo and Fire TV devices.
I’m not exactly an audiophile and I don’t really care for high-end sound, so I found these speakers to be ideal, as they’re a marked improvement over the Nest Minis I have at home. Nest Audio fans should stick with the Twins unless they have trouble using them.
And it should be “Built for Gemini”. actual Upgrade to the Google Home Speaker over any other Nest or Google speakers, my experience with it has been extremely inconsistent. If I ask him to turn the lights on and off, check my cameras, or even what the weather will be like next week, the answers usually take about 1 second to process. It’s faster than other Google speakers in my house in most cases.
But some commands are strangely slow. Setting a timer, for example, often takes 20-25 seconds of processing time before I get an “OK, set timer” response. Asking to add bananas to my grocery list also takes 5-10 seconds. This strange behavior continues through reboots, so I don’t know what to make of it. Obviously, the speaker doesn’t do as much native processing as I’d hoped for simple commands like this. Google is aware of issues (eg I’m not the only one experiencing them) and I will update this review if they are resolved.
This is especially annoying because all the other features I’ve used over the past week have been great. Twins lets you chain together multiple commands or even express complex commands, while Assistant can only do one at a time. For example, you can ask him to “turn off all the lights”. except For the bedroom light” I give the command every night when I take time to read.
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This isn’t unique to this new speaker, as the twins were even introduced to the oldest 2016 Google Home speaker (which still works in my house), but this speaker will be supported for years to come, while these older speakers will eventually receive end-of-life updates.
At one point, Google locked down several features behind the annoying Voice Match feature. I don’t want to use Voice Match, but I (and others in my house) want to check my calendar, and Google is finally letting users do that on their smart speakers.
This speaker also seems to understand commands, including simple commands like “stop” when the timer goes off, I swear half of my other speakers ignore half of my commands. Maybe time will make it pretty paperweight too, but it’s pretty cool for now.
Should you buy it?
The 2026 Google Home Speaker is an overall good little product that offers great sound quality in an attractive design with a virtual assistant that really understands you. The processing time is strangely long for some simple commands (such as setting a timer), but this is almost a bug, not a product defect.
If Google can reduce the processing time for some commands, that will be my keynote speaker recommendation for the future. The Gemini has been great for smart home commands in my experience, and I understand every other type of command better than the Assistant over the last half decade, and that’s all I want from a smart speaker anyway.
