The Google Home Speaker sounds good and looks great — but it’s finicky

For such a small speaker, Google’s $99 device packs a punch. But ‘speaker’ is only the beginning of the job.

For such a small speaker, Google’s $99 device packs a punch. But ‘speaker’ is only the beginning of the job.

Right out of the box, the new Google Home Speaker passed a couple of important tests. Even with the volume at 100 percent and music blaring out of the speaker, it quickly ducked the audio and listened every time I said “Hey, Google.” In fact, in two days of testing, the speaker’s three microphones haven’t missed a single wake word — except for the time I stage-whispered to it from the other room while trying to avoid waking up the baby, but I’m not sure that’s a fair test. I set up the speaker in the bathroom and chatted with it from the shower; Siri hardly ever hears me over the running water, but Google did pretty well.

These are the sorts of things any smart speaker should do well, but the basic interactions aren’t always a given. They’re incredibly important for the Home Speaker, which Google designed not just as a way to control your music and your smart home but as an ambient way to do all things Gemini: plan and manage your day, access information, even get stuff done. My colleague Jen Tuohy and I both have Home Speakers in our houses right now, but we’ve only had a day or so to really test them; our full review, of both the speaker itself and the AI assistant inside it, is coming soon.

Here’s what I can already tell you, though: The Home Speaker is a pretty good little speaker. It pumps big, rich sound out of its mesh body, and gets plenty loud for such a small device. If you’re using it as a kitchen speaker or for background music, I suspect you’ll never need to hit full volume. (I don’t have Google’s previous speaker, the Nest Audio, handy for testing, but if memory serves, it was both louder and better than this one. And also much larger.)

My go-to small speaker has for years been a UE Wonderboom, and the Home Speaker holds its own against the similarly sized Bluetooth dynamo. The Wonderboom gets a bit louder, and has a little more emphasis on vocals and higher, while the Home Speaker brings out more of the bass. (To be clear, I do mean “more,” not “a lot.” Small speakers, small thump-thump.) A song like “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” by Fall Out Boy is a fun test: The bass and drums drive the song on the Home Speaker, whereas it’s all vocals and lead guitar on the Wonderboom. Which you choose will be mostly personal preference. Compared to something like the (also similarly sized) Amazon Echo Dot Max, though, there’s no comparison: The Home Speaker is cleaner, louder, and just sharper in all areas. It makes the Dot Max sound like a really big phone speaker.

I really like the look of the Home Speaker, which presents more or less like a very colorful, softball-sized ball of yarn. It comes in four colors, but I got it in red, and I can’t recommend it enough. Because there are no visible buttons or controls, and in fact nothing marring the look other than the white USB-C cable running out the back, the extra pop of color really works — and manages to avoid screaming “look, a speaker!”

The downside of all this minimalism is that it’s not remotely intuitive how to use the Home Speaker. You can raise and lower the volume by tapping on the right or left side of the speaker, but the touch targets are small, and it’s not even particularly obvious what’s right and what’s left. It’s round! (Tapping the top of the speaker pauses and plays music, which works fine.) The Home Speaker’s light ring, which glows when Gemini is listening or responding, is also somewhat hidden underneath the speaker, such that you won’t see it at all unless it’s up above your eyeline. That bit of visible feedback is really important for a smart speaker, and Google probably should have made it more prominent. I’d also rather have the Echo Dot’s volume controls, which are just plain ol’ buttons.

You can’t use the Home Speaker as a standard Bluetooth speaker, but you can use Google Cast to stream from other devices. You can also group a bunch of them together for synced audio around your house, or pair a couple to a Google TV Streamer and use it for better TV sound. A bunch of Home Speakers certainly won’t replace your Sonos setup or your soundbar, but I’d wager they’re better than whatever’s coming out of your TV speakers right now.

So far, I’m impressed with this little speaker, especially for $99. But audio is only part of the Home Speaker’s story. Google made this thing to get Gemini in your house, to bring a new way to control your home and run your life through its AI assistant. Google hasn’t shipped a smart speaker in six years — whether this one’s worth the wait will be all up to Gemini. And we have a lot of testing left to do.

• David Pierce