The Google Home Mini in 2017 proved to be one of Google’s best selling smart speakers with its Google Assistant capabilities and highly affordable price. Now, Google has just launched its newest smart speaker, the Google Nest Mini.
It is Google’s next step towards a Nest-branded line of smart home devices which includes the Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max.
The Nest Mini is designed similarly to the Home Mini, and comes in both Chalk and Charcoal colour options to blend seamlessly with any home. Though both the Home Mini and Nest Mini might look similar at first glance, the Nest Mini does indeed come with a number of important updates.
The Nest Mini comes with a dedicated machine learning chip with one TeraOPS of processing power which lets Google move its Google Assitant experiences from its data centres directly to the Nest Mini which means users will be able to experience a much shorter processing time on their devices for commands that are commonly used.
If the user has various Google smart home devices set up around their house, the Nest Mini will be able to connect to these smart speakers, which helps to build a sound system for the user throughout the whole house. So for example, now users will be able to have the Nest Mini shift a song from playing on the Google Nest Hub in their bedroom, to the Nest Mini sitting in their living room.
The Nest Mini also comes with twice the amount of bass than the Google Home Mini, which helps to give a richer, and more natural sound when listening to music. The improved bass is done through a custom driver and a proprietary tuning software that helps to tune the sound. While playing your music, if you wish to turn the volume up or down on the Nest Mini, simply hover your hands above the device and it will light up, showing you exactly where to tap. Playing and pausing on the device is also extremely simple, all you need to do is tap on the device.
The Nest Mini is also capable of dynamically adjusting the volume of the Assistant, news, or podcast based on any background noise that might be drowning it out. This will be especially helpful when you’re busy getting ready to leave the house and the dishwater or washing machine is running in the background. With the Home Mini, you might struggle to hear anything the speaker says but, with the new Nest Mini, the Assistant’s response will be at a much louder volume.
The Google Nest Mini is now available for pre-order on the Google Store at S$79.