International News Portal9 November 2026Headlines from established publishers
Technology
The Google Home Speaker sounds good and looks great — but it’s finicky
Right out of the box, the new Google Home Speaker passed a couple of important tests. Even with the volume at 100 percent and music blaring out of the speaker, it quickly ducked the audio and listened every time I said "Hey, Google." In fact, in two days of testing, the speaker's three microphones h...
The Speaker comes in four colors… but red is the way. | Photo: David Pierce / The Verge
Right out of the box, the new Google Home Speaker passed a couple of important tests. Even with the volume at 100 percent and music blaring out of the speaker, it quickly ducked the audio and listened every time I said "Hey, Google." In fact, in two days of testing, the speaker's three microphones haven't missed a single wake word - except for the time I stage-whispered to it from the other room while trying to avoid waking up the baby, but I'm not sure that's a fair test. I set up the speaker in the bathroom and chatted with it from the shower; Siri hardly ever hears me over the running water, but Google did pretty well.
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