Google's $99 Home Speaker Lands as Solid but Average Despite Gemini Upgrade
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Jul 5
Google's $99 Home Speaker Lands as Solid but Average Despite Gemini Upgrade
3 articles · Updated · Business Insider · Jul 5
Summary
$99 buys Google’s first Gemini-built Home Speaker, but the review finds little reason to upgrade because it feels no faster or smarter in practice than a five-year-old Nest Hub.
Gemini handles multi-part requests better than the old Google Assistant, yet the reviewer still hit misses and found Gemini Live’s continuous-chat mode only mildly useful.
Sound is competent for a compact speaker—clear at moderate volume and loud enough for a living room—but it gets strained at higher levels and trails Amazon’s Echo Dot Max and Sonos Era 100 SL.
Google also gates several advanced features behind subscriptions: Home Premium starts at $100 a year, while full AI tools require a $200 annual Advanced plan.
That leaves the new speaker as an affordable entry into Google’s smart-home lineup, but not the category-moving upgrade suggested when Google launched it for the Gemini era.