Major remodelling of Google Home: Gemini arrives – Support for many devices

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Google Assistant is moving out; Gemini for Home is moving in. Google announced this some time ago. The move began with today's announcement. According to the company, interaction with the smart home will be more natural and, if desired, more conversational after the update. Google also says that the smart home architecture has been redesigned from the ground up. New, more natural voices are also part of the major update. Devices up to ten years old are supported. Unlike Amazon's Alexa+, the AI functions are also available in Germany.

Gemini brings natural speech to Google's smart home

Gemini is designed to understand natural conversations so that users can dispense with rigid commands. According to the manufacturer, it should now be possible to use more nuanced requests. Google aims to offer a smart home platform that works for everyone. Google therefore does not see it as a personal platform but as a shared one.

More complex tasks or several instructions for smart home control can also be bundled into one sentence. For example, you could say, “Dim the lights and set the temperature to 20 degrees.” Thanks to Gemini, Google Home should also be able to understand complex commands such as “Switch off all lights except in the bedroom.” Google also promises better automation. The manufacturer gives the following example: “Close the doors and switch off all lights at bedtime.” Commands such as “If the house is empty at night, make it look like someone is at home” are also possible.

The smart home assistant should also become more flexible when organizing appointments or shopping. Instead of dictating individual things, Gemini for Home can be instructed to add the ingredients for a particular recipe directly to the shopping list in Google Notes. The manufacturer also promises to make searching for media content more intuitive: Users should be able to find songs or films using descriptions instead of having to enter the exact title.

Gemini Live as a cooking aid

Similar to Gemini Live on the smartphone, the chatty version of the AI chatbot is also moving into the smart home. This will make it possible to have longer conversations with the assistant on many topics without having to repeatedly say “Hey Google.” According to Google, the live assistant should offer more detailed and personalized help. For example, when cooking, “I have spinach, eggs, cream cheese, and smoked salmon in the fridge. Help me prepare a delicious meal.” Gemini Live offers suggestions for Florentine eggs, a frittata, and pasta, as well as instructions on how to prepare them.

The chatbot can also provide help with buying a car, repairing a dishwasher, or more creative tasks such as making up bedtime stories.

Home app

In addition to the introduction of AI, Google has completely revamped the Home app. It is now “over 70 percent faster” and more reliable than before on Android devices. App crashes have been reduced by almost 80 percent, while battery consumption has been cut.

Google has also improved the camera function: live views are now said to load 30 percent faster, and playback errors have been reduced by 40 percent. In addition, the preview of the camera tiles is said to load “instantly,” and scrolling through the camera history is said to be “more than six times smoother.”

Google has also touched up the interface of its Home app. It now has three tabs that can be used to “access the most important areas of your home.” The “Home” tab provides an overview and an access point for the entire home, according to the manufacturer. Google has also introduced new gestures “to make one-handed operation much smoother.”
You can swipe back and forth between favorites, all devices, and special dashboards without having to switch between tabs.

Then there is the “Activity” tab, which displays everything that is happening in the home. It summarizes all events from all connected devices from first- and third-party providers. For a monthly fee, a "Home Brief" can be created via AI to provide a brief summary of the day's activities.

A new carousel is displayed at the top of the “Automations” tab, which shows users upcoming automations, for example. For users who want to delve deeper into automation, Google has extensively revised the editor. It is designed to provide “a fast, native experience on both iOS and Android.” With the editor, you can use one-off automations as well as new “conditional starters” that only execute a routine when someone is at home.

Smarter camera functions

Google is also enhancing the camera functions with the new AI models: the Nest cameras can already recognize certain faces and movements and, for example, parcels. Gemini's multimodal AI model expands the possibilities for video, image, and text processing. This should make it possible to interpret content captured by the cameras more precisely. According to Google, the camera AI no longer just recognizes an “animal,” but more specifically “dog digging in the garden.”

Another new feature is a search function for the camera in the revised Home app. This means you can search the recordings for specific activities. Google also promises smooth control of the camera with gesture navigation.

New subscription models and support for devices up to ten years old

With the new functions, Google is introducing new subscription models. This means that not everything new is available for free. For 10 dollars a month on the standard tariff, users receive the Gemini Live function and new automations. The Advanced model costs 20 dollars a month, which supports AI notifications, descriptions, and home letters as well as questions about video history in addition to the features of the standard tariff. The features of the 10-dollar plan are also part of the Google One Pro or Ultra subscriptions.

According to Google, Gemini for Home is available to all devices that are up to ten years old. These include Google Home speakers from 2016, Nest Hub from 2018, as well as Nest Cam Indoor from 2015 and doorbells (from 2018). The devices will gradually receive the update to the new software, with users who register via the Early Access program being the first to do so.

(afl)