Google just reset its entire smart home. This speaker is where it starts.

You ever try to find just the right thing to say to your smart speaker or assistant

then somehow that speaker gets it wrong anyway? Well, all that's about to change

Google's newest speaker is built from the ground up for Google's smartest assistant ever

Gemini. This is it. The 2026 Google Home speaker will usher in the true Gemini experience

for your home. Google's priced the speaker at $99.99. That's the same price as the old Nest

audio, but this does a lot of new things. First, since it's built with Gemini, you should be able

to talk to it in a much more normal way. You can string together multiple commands naturally

and Gemini has it. Instead of saying something like, hey speaker, turn off the kitchen lights

and turn off the doorway lights, you'll be able to say the much more human sounding, hey speaker

turn off the kitchen and doorway lights. You can say more complex commands like, hey speaker

turn off all the lights except for the bedroom. That may sound simple to a person, but to the

previous generation of smart speakers, you might as well have asked it to learn to fly. Do you stumble over your words sometimes like I do? Again, this new speaker should be ready for you

If you say, hey speaker, turn off the bedroom speaker, I meant the bedroom light. This Gemini

powered speaker should understand that. It won't robotically turn off the bedroom speaker, then

turn off the bedroom light. It's some bothersome sequence. It is built to understand what you meant

So theoretically, the new Google Home speaker should work like it does in sci-fi movies

You can talk to it like a normal person. At least that's the promise

Google opened up current Google speakers to Gemini for Home in an early access program

Over 3.5 million households opted into this program and got to live with Gemini

How did that turn out? Google fixed over 2,500 bugs. Thanks to Gemini, you'll be able to accomplish tasks even without detailed instructions

You can have a limited conversation with the speaker, too. if you opt into the continued conversation feature

the home speaker will keep the mic on after giving its answer So you can keep talking to it without using a wake phrase like a speaker Google says latency is down as much as 40 percent so the time between command and

execution will be faster. And if it's not, oh I'm sure it'll be on the Google Home subreddit

in no time. So Google's improved the smart side of the smart speaker. It's also made changes to

the speaker part too. The 2026 Google Home speaker pushes audio out at 360 degrees. That means when

you listen to something, you don't need to be directly in front of the speaker for the best sound. You could create speaker pairs and groups before, but the new Google Home Speaker is built

for your home theater as well. You can take two of the new home speakers and pair it up

with the Google TV Streamer, which normally costs around $100. Do you need a Google TV

Streamer specifically for this? What about other Android TV stuff? I've reached out to Google and

it said, nothing. I also asked, can you use more than two speakers for like a full 5.1? And Google

said nothing you want bass google says the driver in the 2026 home speaker is two and a half times

stronger than the nest mini how does that compare to the nest audio specifically i don't know

google google didn't tell me either you keep asking me questions the new speaker also supports wi-fi six the older generations

were at wi-fi five with wi-fi six the google home speaker can have more reliable connections

and more bandwidth. This is probably a big reason why latency has been reduced up to 40%

The older speakers supported Bluetooth 5.0, while the 2026 speaker supports Bluetooth 5.4

Who cares about this? You should. Bluetooth 5.4 should mean fast pairing as well as faster

connections between your phone and speaker. This should also help with home theater use

to keep things synced up. And it uses the LC3 codec, which means you get better sound quality

than with older Bluetooth versions. What does LC3 stand for? I know what it stands for

Let me know in the comments if you know Also let me know if this speaker sounds like the speaker of your dreams Moving on So the hardware seems solid but here the part of the video where I have to tell you something that you not going to love

Some advanced features require a subscription. Wah, wah. The biggest feature behind Google's paywall is Gemini Live

That's the version of Gemini that is the most conversational. You can have a really deep talk with Gemini Live, but not unless you pay for a standard subscription at $10 per month or $20 monthly for the advanced tier

The standard tier also includes automation features and 30 days of video history with alerts

Let's think about this for a second. You're paying $100 for a speaker, then $10 a month to unlock probably the best part of that speaker

That is $120 a year on top of the hardware. Over two years, that's $340 for a smart speaker

Is that worth it? That depends on how much you use it. If Gemini Live becomes your go-to for managing your home, your schedule, your life, maybe

If you just want to play music and check the weather, probably not. The bass speaker without the subscription should be a solid $100 buy

Just know what you're getting into. The advanced tier also lets you ask for detailed home briefs

You can just ask the home speaker, what happened while I was at work today

And Gemini will go through your connected camera footage and just tell you what happened

Like, at 12 p.m., a package was dropped off at your front door. Your sister came to the back door at 445

If you've got indoor cameras, you may be able to see reports about your pets

I don't know if that's true, because I'm still awaiting Google's comment. The advanced plan also includes AI notifications

AI descriptions of events, and 60 days of event video history. To give people a taste of how powerful the new smart speaker is

Google includes a six-month Google Home Premium subscription at no extra cost

if you buy the speaker on or before September 30th, 2026, which is also International Podcast Day

Yes, that's real. And that freebie is for new users only. If you're curious about the home speaker

it may be best to buy one before September 30th Use it as much as you want and see what features you actually use If Gemini becomes your second mind you may want a premium plan If you just using the smart speaker as a

glorified Bluetooth speaker, what are you doing? Oh, don't forget to check the return policy

Odds and ends, the new Google Home speaker at just 5.4 inches is compact compared to the almost

7-inch Nest Audio speaker. Google added a status light at the bottom of the speaker for visual

feedback. Looks snazzy. The 2026 Home speaker has three far-field microphones and a hard

hardware mute switch if you want to be ignored. It also responds to touch

For colors, the home speaker is available in berry, hazel, jade my favorite, and porcelain

Pre-orders start June 17th and the speaker will be available 8 days later, June 25th

So who is this for? If you've never owned a smart speaker before, this could be one to start with

$100, solid sound, Gemini built in, it's a good starting point. If you have an older Google Home or Nest audio, this could be a meaningful upgrade

not just in smarts, but in sound. If you're already deep into Amazon's Echo ecosystem

this is not going to convert you overnight. But if you've ever been frustrated with Amazon

this is worth a look. If you're an Apple household, hi, this is the wrong video

HomePod's like over there. Check it out. I'm hoping this is a real turning point

for Google's smart home plan. The old generations are a hodgepodge. The Google Home, the Mini, the Nest Mini, the Nest Audio

Google named this thing the Google Home Speaker. It's signaling to everyone

And look, we tried being cool using names like Nexus or Nest

We are not cool. We are Google. This is our speaker. Google Home Speaker

No more confusion. You do realize this company introduced a product called the Google Chromecast with Google TV

What an improvement. All the speaker needs to do is exactly what Google said it would do

We'll have a full review at PCMag.com, so check that out. Subscribe to this channel

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I'm Ayaz Akhtar and I'll see you inside the green bubble