Google Home

Google Home Giveaway 2017; Click Continue & Win

 Google Home  Giveaway!

Google is looking to embed itself in your home, in a bid to one-up Amazon.

Amazon announced its Echo speaker, complete with its voice-controlled personal assistant called Alexa, back in 2014. Google followed with Home in 2017 - its hands-free smart speaker with Google Assistant built-in - for the USA, and now it's the UK's turn to experience the smart home system.

What is Google Home?

Google Home is a Wi-Fi speaker that also works as a smarthome control centre and an assistant for the whole family. You can use it to playback entertainment throughout your entire home, effortlessly manage everyday tasks, and ask Google things you want to know.

The device itself has interchangeable bases available in various colours and finishes (such as metal and fabric, allowing you to match it to your decor). Underneath that swappable shell there is a speaker that can playback songs and allow Google Assistant to talk to you.

At the top of the device there is a capacitive touch display with four LEDs. You'll use this interact with Home, trigger Assistant, adjust volume, and so forth. As for buttons, there are none at the top (just dual mics that listen for your voice). There is a single mute button on the shell. Google Home is able to filter and separate speech from noise and offers "best-in-class voice recognition", according to Google.

The speaker features dual side-facing passive radiators, which deliver full range, clear highs, and rich bass. And the entire thing is available in three colour variations: Mango, Marine, and Violet bases join Carbon, Snow, and Copper tops. The bases can be swapped out.

How does Google Home work?

Music and video playback-

Because Google Home is a Wi-Fi speaker, it can stream music directly from the cloud. With it you can access songs, playlists, albums, artists, and podcasts from your favourite music services just by asking with your voice. Or, if you prefer, you can send music from your Android or iOS device through Google Cast.

That last bit is important because, with Google Cast support, you'll be able to use Google Home to control other connected speakers in your home. You'll even get multi-room playback, meaning you can add one or more Google Home devices to a group of speakers in order to blast tunes throughout your house. But that's not all: Google Home will let you control your video content.

Let's say you want to watch your latest episode of Daredevil on Netflix, or some sort of cat video on YouTube. Just issue a voice command to Google Home, and the content will appear on your TV (again, thanks to Google Cast support).

Smart home hub-

Google Home can be a control centre for your entire home, because it has access to Google Assistant (see below). It will let you do the basics like set alarms and timers and manage to-do lists and shopping lists. It will also connect your smarthome and support popular network systems. That means you will be able to control smart lights, switches, doors, and Google's own Nest products.

Google plans to work with developers so you can control things beyond the home too, such as booking a car, ordering dinner, or sending flowers to a loved one. And the best part is you will be able to do this with just your voice.