The Verge reviewed Google's first new smart speaker in six years and found hardware that delivers: solid audio, clean design, and smart-home controls including Matter and Thread support. The problem: Gemini for Home feels unfinished. The AI shows conversational promise but doesn't yet justify the device itself.
Smart speakers have been stuck in timer-and-weather mode for years. If AI can't make voice assistants reliably useful in the room where people actually use them, the pitch for a new upgrade cycle collapses for Google, Amazon, and everyone betting the smart home becomes routine instead of novelty. Hardware alone doesn't move the category forward.
Google needs to show fast, visible Gemini improvements over the next few months. A rough launch can be forgiven. Stagnation risks burying this speaker alongside years of good hardware waiting for an assistant that works.
Google nailed the easy part. Nice speaker, nice fabric, nice sound. The hard part is trust. People talk to an assistant all day only if it's fast, accurate, and boringly dependable. Consumer AI still burns too much goodwill on half-finished behavior. That's the Gemini problem. A speaker survives one bad answer. A household routine cannot.
Filed to the Technology desk · Jul 1