What you need to know
- A new leak gives us more info on the Gemini-powered smart speaker, which was briefly shown during this year’s Made by Google event.
- The speaker will reportedly be available in four colors (black, porcelain, light green, and bright red), have a fabric finish, and feature a light ring that illuminates with Gemini’s signature colors.
- It is expected to be a Matter hub with some security features and the ability to provide surround sound when paired with a Google TV streamer.
If you blinked.. You might’ve missed the bit during Google’s Pixel launch yesterday when we got to see a quick sneak at an unannounced mysterious smart speaker that showed up in the Gemini Home demo.
During Lando Norris’ cameo, a smaller speaker-like object was placed on the table next to him, which looked almost like a squished sphere with a bright Gemini ring light beneath it, which illuminates blue and purple when the AI is speaking.
While we were all huddled up, thinking this might be an early iteration of Google’s Nest Mini, considering Google hasn’t launched a new one in a while. A new leak from Android Headlines spills a little more information about Google’s smart home device.
According to the publication, this Gemini-powered home speaker is real and claims to have seen additional images of the speaker, which will be available in four colors: bright red, light green, black, and porcelain.
“We’d expect the names to be Obsidian, Porcelain, and Jade; the red color we’re unsure of,” the website added.
A home speaker with built-in security features
In terms of design, they say that the speaker might actually end up looking a lot like a bulkier “Apple HomePod Mini,” with the light on the speaker that could be placed at the bottom. From the additional images that Android Headlines has claimed to have seen, the speaker will allegedly get a fabric finish on the top, much like the Nest Mini and HomePod Mini.
The smart home, which definitely seems to be plugged in, will light up when summoned, as seen in the video during Google’s Gemini for Home demo. When Norris speaks to the device, it gets a white light, but when Gemini responds, it turns bluish purple.
The leak suggests that Gemini will have new natural voices on this speaker and will feature Gemini Live so that users can have intuitive conversations with it and will also be able to sense unusual activity in your home, like “the sound of glass breaking during a break in or your smoke alarm going off, and it can send an alert to your phone or tablet to let you know.”
The Google Home speaker is rumored to be a “Matter hub,” a feature similar to Apple’s HomePod. This would allow it to control other smart home devices and replace your current Google Home units. It may also pair with a Google TV streamer to provide surround sound for your living room.
As for its launch, the publication claims that it could either launch by the end of October or Google might push it to next year. Either way, this could be a really cool addition to Google’s Nest product lineup.
