I don’t know about you, but sometimes I don’t want to get up to turn a light on or off, thankfully we won’t have to do such menial tasks any more as Google will soon be releasing Google Home.
If you use Siri on iPhone, or the voice assistant function on Android, you’ll be familiar with this kind of technology. With just a simple voice command, you can ask Google Home to turn your favourite TV show on, play a song, or turn off your lights. You can also ask it questions, like “what is the weather like today?” or “how many days until Christmas?”, you know, the important stuff. To activate the futuristic bit of tech, you’ll just have to say “Ok Google” and it will start listening.
But wait there’s more. Vague descriptions aren’t a problem, as Google is actually very good at figuring out what you want. At the #madebygoogle event, the speaker figured out what song to play from Spotify based on a vague description from the person talking. It’s also looking likely that the functions of Google Home are going to vastly expand, with Uber and Domino’s Pizza already signing up; pizza by voice command is surely a dream come true for many people.
If you’re worried about having a large, ugly speaker ruining the look of your house, then you can relax because it actually looks quite cool and you can customise the base in different colours and materials. Colours such as ‘mango’, ‘marine’, and ‘snow’ are all available, allowing you to have a speaker that looks great.
The system works over Wi-Fi, and there are integrated high-excursion speakers as well as far-field microphones and natural language processing. Even if you’re playing music, the device will hear you say “Ok Google”. It operates with both Android and iOS, so Apple fans don’t need to worry about being excluded from the Google fun.
For those wanting to get their hands on the device, you’ll have to wait a bit longer. The smart speaker will be released on the 4th November, but the UK cost has not yet been released. It’ll come at a cost of $129 in the US, so expect a similar price tag in the British Isles.