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Thread: Google Home and Home Mini

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    Default Google Home and Home Mini

    This is probably a strange place for this thread, but looking at all the forum descriptions, it realistically belongs here.

    Have many members purchased or are thinking about purchasing one of the above ? If you don't know what it is, here is the Wikipedia entry :



    First up, if you are a tin foil head and want to fill the thread with the woes the government using them to spy on you, please don't bother. Yes, I agree there are privacy concerns, but in general people give away more information via social media.


    I got a Home Mini for free with my phone, so decided to plug it in and have a play. All up, while I can see they will have a place in our future, I don't see that they do enough at the present time. In effect, it does the same as what your andoid phone will do if you tell it "Ok Google".

    My missus said, "what does it do ?". I said to her it knows everything , ask it your name. So she did. It answered " Your name is Bitchface ". "See, I told you it knows everything, I said". Then changed the settings back

    It does know a lot of very bad jokes. An endless array. Its handy when you want to know the weather or even the current temperature. You can ask it for the latest news. It can remember things, such as if I ask it my wife's name. It recognises my MiBox, if I could be bothered I could connect the 2 and tell it to "Play XXXXX on Netflix on my TV" and it would.

    You can ask it to find your phone, which comes in handy. You can set a timer if you are cooking for example. It is happy to set an alrm for any time you ask it. But the best use for it would be if you have home automation, which I dont.

    At $49.99 for the Home Mini, its not overly expensive. I probably wouldn't buy one, but many will. I will likely disconnect my account from it, but my wife likes it and will probably keep using it.

    So anyone else have one and have any other uses for it ?



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    I've been using Amazon for some time and have had an echo with Alexa for about a year. At this stage it is a nice useful toy but far from essential. Great for music, news and weather. Also audiobooks or even reading Kindle books. Alexa has an ever increasing variety of skills including 3rd party skills. I occasi onally use it to listen to podcasts and often use it to listen to the radio. It will tell jokes and answer questions though Google is probably better at this, at least for the time being. Both the Google Home, Amazon Echo and Apple's Home Pod are essentially bluetooth speakers combined with the voice technology. It is of course the voice technology which is interesting, and both Alexa and "OK Google" are being integrated into many different devices. Amazon in particular is very much into the home automation, which I am not currently interested in.

    At the moment these voice assistants are nice toys, but I expect that they are going to play an ever increasing role in all facets of our lives.

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    I have 3 of the buggers (2 x minis 1 x Home), I dabble in home automation and use them to be a Voice control for my automation.. this is where they really show their true worth ( rest of the time they are good for entertaining kids and pissing off the wife) ... much easier than fiddling with 100 different apps on a phone...

    Currently can control all Lights, Garage door opener, Front door lock, TV's, garden watering, Blinds, Home audio system, and working on Air Con at the moment... and ceiling fans...

    I have set up a control set where i get up in the mornings.. walk into the kitchen say good morning google, Kitchen lights come on, TV come's on, blinds open, Coffee machine turns on and starts brewing, mean while google is updating me with weather info and traffic for my commute to the office.... all with one simple voice command..

    Even i still say they are a TOY but as time progresses and they become more "SMART" they will be part of our lives that we wont even think twice about... just like Mobile phones....
    Last edited by snacker; 04-01-19 at 03:02 PM. Reason: Missed a bit

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    I'd get one just for this

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    Default Google Home and Home Mini

    I use a number of Google Home Minis as connected speakers. The sound from each isn’t fantastic, but when put together it’s perfectly fine. Got them when Aldi had a 2 for either $99 (or $79?) about 6 months back.

    I’ve got 3 mounted on the roof on the deck and two in the kitchen/dining that opens onto it, then one in most other rooms (not bedrooms). I can stream to individual speakers, the deck speakers, kitchen speakers, groups of speakers or all speakers together. Ends up being far cheaper than other options, is far more flexible, and can all be operated by voice anywhere there is a speaker or from the Google app.

    Steamed content includes Spotify or commercial radio via iHeart Radio. There is also the ability to link all my mp3 files if needed later.

    Volume can be changed on individual speakers or on groups of speakers.

    I also have a couple of lights around the place connected as well, and these can be turned on/off using voice as required.

    I set up a new Google account under which everything runs. This account is not linked to any of my personal Google accounts, contacts, calendars,etc.
    Last edited by peteramjet; 05-01-19 at 10:03 AM.

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