Review: Google Home Mini

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Back in November I picked up a Google Home Mini during a Black Friday Sale and I have been using it for about 3 months. Below is my review of the product.

The Google Home Mini – Features

The Google Home Mini is a small single speaker with Google Assistant. You can do anything from asking it questions to turning your smart devices on and off. You can even ask it to stream music from different music playing services. Check out the the features from the Best Buy Sales page or take a look at a quick summery I copied over some the information to give you an idea what the Google Home Mini can do for you.

• A powerful little helper – Get hands-free help in any room with Google Home Mini. It’s powered by the Google Assistant. You can ask it questions. Tell it to do things. It’s your own personal Google.
• Get answers from Google – Use your voice to quickly find information about the weather, news, sports and more. “Hey Google, will I need an umbrella today?”
• Manage your day from breakfast to bed – Get help around the house with things like your schedule, commute, travel information and more. Google Home Mini can even help you find a lost iPhone or Android phone and make phone calls to any personal contact or business.¹ “Hey Google, wake me up at 6:30 AM tomorrow.”
• Play, pause and rewind. Hands-free – Control your favorite music, movies and shows, using only your voice.² “Hey Google, play some pop music.”
• Control your smart home – Use your voice to control your compatible lights, thermostats and more. Google Home Mini works with more than 1,000 smart devices from over 150 popular brands.”Hey Google, turn off the bedroom lights.”
• Your voice. Your info – Get personalized responses for everyone at home with voice recognition.³ “Hey Google, when is my first meeting tomorrow?”
• Fun for the whole family – Learn something new, play fun games and listen to stories with the Google Assistant. Want to tell the kids breakfast is ready? Broadcast a message to other Google Home devices around the house.⁴ “Hey Google, let’s play a game.”

Google Home Mini – The Review

As I mentioned before, I’ve been using the Google Home Mini for a few months now and I have to say this device is useful. For those that have a full house of smart home devices and takes advantages of the different products Google has to offer will find that the Google Home Mini and other Google Home Devices; that they can’t live without these devices.

What I Like

But for my uses, I really do not need one. I generally use mine to ask about the weather, check my Google Calendar, play Spotify, turn on and off my Eufy Smart Bulbs and Blitzwolf Smart Plugs. I’ve recently started using the Google Home Mini to control my Chromecast.

For those looking to cut the cord or just like to stream Netflix, Amazon Movies, and other streaming services, the Google Home Mini makes it easy to control the movie stream. I watched several movies on Chromecast and I found it easier to say “Hey Google, rewind the movie 30 seconds.” or saying “Hey Google, pause the movie” than using the Google Home App on my phone or tablet.

If I need to change the temperature on EcoBee Thermostat, I just ask Google Home Mini if I don’t want to get up or use the phone app to make changes.

What I Don’t Like

There really isn’t much I don’t like. Its a bit annoying that a Google Commercial that says “Hey Google, blah, blah, blah” will activate my Google Home Mini. I know Google is trying to correct this and eventually this won’t be an issue. If you don’t want it activating during a movie or just don’t want it listening in, you can always use the mute button or unplug it.

Testing the Google Home Mini

The Google Home Mini comes in nice cube box with pictures and specs for the speaker. Its an easy to open box with the speaker that is nicely displayed when opened but protected from being damaged.

The Speaker has a modern look that looks like a rounded hockey puck with a handful of white LED lights in a line across the top of the speaker. They stay off until you ask it a question or give it commands. It changes light patterns based the task you ask it. On either side of the LED lights, you can turn control the sound manually (but you can always control the sound via your voice. On the bottom, its an orange non slip rubber material. Along the lower rounded edge you will find the mute button and the power port. The Power Cord is a well built white micro-USB cable attached to the plug.

I found the speaker to be well built and the dark charcoal colored speaker fabric and its round shape gives it a modern look that will look good in almost any house or apartment.

As to the testing, I ran it through distance tests, asking all sorts of questions, asked to play music, add to my calendar and more.

I found that the speaker is very sensitive. You can ask it question from the next room without yelling. Just raise your voice as if you were trying to talk with someone in the next room.

When playing music, I found that it couldn’t find my playlists on Spotify. But if I asked to play a Spotify radio station or a particular artist it can do that. It just streams music from that radio station or from the artist library. As to the music quality. Its not that great. I prefer my Anker SoundCore Bluetooth Speakers to play music.

I found it useful to ask about traffic in my area or what’s my morning commute look like as I get ready for work. During my morning routine, I will ask it to check my calendar for the day and what the weather will be for the day.

Final Thoughts

I find the Google Home Mini useful. My wife on the other hand doesn’t like it and doesn’t use it and even mutes it when I’m not at home. I don’t use the speaker for streaming music. If I wanted to use Google Home I would look at one of the other Google Home devices to stream music or just setup a Bluetooth Speaker and stream from my phone. For our needs we do not need a second speaker. But for power users or large houses,  you might need more.

You can purchase a Google Home Mini from different places. I would suggest purchasing from the Google Store or purchase it locally at a electronics store.