The hard part is done. Now’s the time for fun.
- Walk up to your Nest Hub Max or other Google Assistant-enabled smart screen.
- Say “Ok Google, video call Joe” (you call whoever you want, but I’m calling Joe Maring).
- Now you can carry on a video call with your buddy. When you’re done, tap on on the red “hang up” button or say “Ok Google, hang up.”
Google Duo is a very capable video chatting app, with fun filters and effects, and it’s end-to-end encrypted. If you’d like to learn more about how to use the app, check out our guide with 15 tips and tricks.
How to make device-to-device video calls in your own home
Similar to the Drop In feature available on Amazon Echo speakers, you can message speaker-to-speaker within your own home with Google Assistant.
- Just say, “Ok Google, call (whatever you’ve named your other speaker)” or “Ok Google, video call (your other speaker).”
- As long as all of your Google Assistant-enabled speakers are named and set up in your Google Home app, that’s all you need to do.
The Google Assistant speakers have feature parity with the Amazon Echo devices in another regard as well. With both, you can broadcast a message to all of the speakers in your home. In this case, you’d say “Ok Google, broadcast (whatever your message is,” or “Ok Google, tell everyone (your message).”
Our top equipment picks
If you want to add some awesome Google Assistant speakers to your home so that you can broadcast messages across the house to your kids, or pick up an extra speaker or two as gifts for your extended family, these are the ones I’d recommend.
