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Upcoming 'Google Home Mini' Smart Speaker Details and Images Leaked

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We've previously covered rumors that Google has been working on a "mini" version of its $129 Google Home smart speaker, which is expected to be unveiled at the company's Pixel 2 smartphone event scheduled for October 4. But it looks as if details and images of the "Home Mini" have already been leaked, courtesy of DroidLife.

According to the tech site, Google Home Mini is the official name of the new smart speaker, which will cost $49 and come in Chalk, Charcoal, and Coral colors.

homemini.png.jpeg

The Google Home Mini is said to be able to help users with their schedule, set reminders, catch up on news headlines, and other Home-related inquiries, thanks to integrated Google Assistant.

The pictures show lights on top of each unit, which will likely indicate interaction with Google Assistant. But unlike the original Google Home, the images suggest owners won't be able to change the color of the bases on the Mini versions.

Alongside the new smart speaker, Google is expected to launch a rebranded Chromebook or "Google Pixelbook" at its Pixel 2 smartphone event. DroidLife has also managed to unearth pictures of the new notebook, which will reportedly come in silver, offer stylus support, and have three different storage tiers - 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB, costing $1,199, $1,399, and $1,749, respectively.

Article Link: Upcoming 'Google Home Mini' Smart Speaker Details and Images Leaked
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/09/20/google-home-mini-smart-speaker-details-leaked/
Hah. First saw this labeled on Twitter as “Google Rock” and thought the whole thing was a joke.
 
I don't trust any of these home devices, your just letting the CIA and other government agencies listen to you. You gotta be a real tool to pay to be spied on.
 
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Looks really good. I have had an Echo since it launched in late 2014 and now several Google Homes. They are actually very different devices even though often compared.

The Google Home supports natural speech so you just talk to it like you would to your wife. The Echo requires commands that you have memorized.

The Google Home knows people apart by the sound of the voice and the Echo is NOT able to do this.

The Google Home is a telephone that taps into Google Search and your contacts by using the sound of your voice. None of this can the Echo able to do.

Seems like a no-brainer to get this over a Dot. Oh yea, then the Google Home is much better at answering questions and is just a lot smarter. But it is the core difference of commands versus natural speech that sets the Google Home miles ahead of the Echo, IMO.

The issue with the Homepod is it is just too expensive to buy one for each room like you really want with these devices. Plus a big worried it was not really even mentioned during the iPhone unveiling which I thought was really weird.
 
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I would love an apple analogue to this. The homepod speaker looks awesome, but I already have all of my audio playing needs well taken care of. I want the functionality of siri, especially for homekit.
 
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jacksmith21006 said:
Looks really good. I have had an Echo since it launched in late 2014 and now several Google Homes. They are actually very different devices even though often compared.

The Google Home supports natural speech so you just talk to it like you would to your wife. The Echo requires commands that you have memorized.

The Google Home knows people apart by the sound of the voice and the Echo is NOT able to do this.

The Google Home is a telephone that taps into Google Search and your contacts by using the sound of your voice. None of this can the Echo able to do.

Seems like a no-brainer to get this over a Dot. Oh yea, then the Google Home is much better at answering questions and is just a lot smarter. But it is the core difference of commands versus natural speech that sets the Google Home miles ahead of the Echo, IMO.

The issue with the Homepod is it is just too expensive to buy one for each room like you really want with these devices. Plus a big worried it was not really even mentioned during the iPhone unveiling which I thought was really weird.
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NO NO NO...You DO NOT HAVE to issue commands to Alexa unless for a very specific reason like playing a game which you also have to do with Google Home. I can talk as naturally to Alexa as I can my Google Home devices. I don't know why you continue to spread this misinformation like I have seen you do on other forums. For general off the wall info Google is definitely better but for everything else they are as equal as they can be. Are you on Google's payroll or something ?
 
WBRacing said:
Reminds me, must buy shares in tin foil.
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That's how it starts, at first it all seems innocent. Later on, they start monitoring you for keywords, you say something bad about a politician or something, they can put you on a list. You never know, all your voices will get recorded and can one day be used against you. Gotta be crazy to think this is ok to be monitored and recorded.
 
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I feel like one of these "assistants" will at some point be heard to say, "how can I help you spend your entire savings today? ha, ha. oh, wait... is this thing on?"
 
NIKKG said:
That's how it starts, at first it all seems innocent. Later on, they start monitoring you for keyboards, you say something bad about a politician or something, they can put you on a list. You never know, all your voices will get recorded and can one day be used against you. Gotta be crazy to think this is ok to be monitored and recorded.
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you are on a public forum and probably have little fingerprints all over the internet. maybe you dont have facebook or linkedin but youre info is out there. you made the choice to put yourself out there for the ability to use the internet.

Do you think macrumors isn't collecting data on you? You think they're not selling your clicks to advertisers? Just what do you see at the top of your screen?
 
ILuvEggplant said:
you are on a public forum and probably have little fingerprints all over the internet. maybe you dont have facebook or linkedin but youre info is out there. you made the choice to put yourself out there for the ability to use the internet.

Do you think macrumors isn't collecting data on you? You think they're not selling your clicks to advertisers? Just what do you see at the top of your screen?
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Its different when your on the internet surfing and being careful with it, but its different when your sitting at home on the couch with your guard down and your being recorded and/or filmed. They can record you, family, kids, whatever. Screw that, I don't want someone in my family room spying on me. I'd rather be paranoid than be a big government tool.
 
jacksmith21006 said:
Looks really good. I have had an Echo since it launched in late 2014 and now several Google Homes. They are actually very different devices even though often compared.

The Google Home supports natural speech so you just talk to it like you would to your wife. The Echo requires commands that you have memorized.

The Google Home knows people apart by the sound of the voice and the Echo is NOT able to do this.

The Google Home is a telephone that taps into Google Search and your contacts by using the sound of your voice. None of this can the Echo able to do.

Seems like a no-brainer to get this over a Dot. Oh yea, then the Google Home is much better at answering questions and is just a lot smarter. But it is the core difference of commands versus natural speech that sets the Google Home miles ahead of the Echo, IMO.

The issue with the Homepod is it is just too expensive to buy one for each room like you really want with these devices. Plus a big worried it was not really even mentioned during the iPhone unveiling which I thought was really weird.
Click to expand...

Not tried Google Home myself. Have three Dots and Alexa isn’t intelligent. Just about key words but does work very well and the family like her!

I completely agree about the Home Pod...People will not buy one for each room at that price. So Siri won’t dominate the market for home voice interface.

The key is to be mindful and try and not get too trapped into an eco system. I could quite easily jump to another voice interface platform as the devices I buy have multiple support and music streaming is just a case of subscribing to another provider.

Worse case scenario for me is losing the cost of the three Dots which wasn’t a lot to begin with.
 
nwcs said:
Man, all the pets and toddlers out there will have a field day with these units.
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Like cats won’t be using HomePod as a scratching post. If they come out with silver, red, or yellow versions surely Fido will mistake it for a fire hydrant. Is HomePod water resistant?
 
DoctorDoctor said:
NO NO NO...You DO NOT HAVE to issue commands to Alexa unless for a very specific reason like playing a game which you also have to do with Google Home. I can talk as naturally to Alexa /QUOTE]

The Echo listens to your voice sound waves and turns them into words and then looks up the word in a database and this is called voice recognition. It is why there is list of commands for the Echo. So for music there is a command of "song goes like ...." or there is a command to switch account of "switch account". Everything has a command that you memorize.

The GH does voice recognition like the echo but then does an extra step of actually tries to understand what you are asking and this is called natural language processing NLP.

So with the GH you just say whatever you have and the song will play. Or when I say call mom the GH will call my mom. My kids say call mom and it will calls my wife. The GH does not require a command. You talk to it like you would to a human.

This is foundational and everything sits on top. You can think of the Echo having a command prompt UI and the GH a GUI.

It makes it a lot easier to use the GH than the Echo. I purchased our Echo in late 2014 and memorized the commands but it remained my toy. Our GHs are used by everyone because the UI is just so much better.

Then services are a lot more extensive on the GH as Google had the assets to leverage. So the GH is a phone and the Echo can only call other Alexa devices. Google had Google voice to leverage. Google connected it to search so you can just say call target and it calls the closest target store which is not possible on the Echo. Our target store does not use Alexa for calls ;).

I take a photo on my iPhone and without touching a single additional button will walk into my family room and ask for crazy detail in a photo and it will appear on the biggest screen in our house in 4k with HDR which is NOT possible with the Echo. Google was able to leverage Google photos and 4k chrome cast. This is the slickest demo you can do with this tech and not possible on an Echo.

The list of things the GH can do and the Echo can not is pretty big. I get that Google had assets to leverage. But Amazon being so far behind on the foundation is unexcusable. Amazon has been in the market 34 months and Google 8.

In 12 months Google will be that much further ahead as they are moving so much faster.

There is 8 new third party speakers with the Google Assistant coming. From Onkyo, Panasonic, Sony, anker, JBL and others. There is a set of headphones which is basically a Google Home on your head from bose.

When I purchased our Echo I had thought Amazon would move a lot faster.
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NIKKG said:
Its different when your on the internet surfing and being careful with it, but its different when your sitting at home on the couch with your guard down and your being recorded and/or filmed. They can record you, family, kids, whatever. Screw that, I don't want someone in my family room spying on me. I'd rather be paranoid than be a big government tool.
Click to expand...

Dude, you own a smartphone. In theory (and historically, in practice), it can also be turned on remotely.

At least with Alexa, you can touch a hardware button that disables its microphone/camera in a way that software cannot override.
 
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