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consumers_release_commentary=<ref name="ref1"/>|
price=129|
price_commentary=<refname="ref2">Google Home - Smart Speaker & Home Assistant. Google Store [online]. Available online at: https://store.google.com/product/google_home?gl=us&hl=en (Retrieved 2017, Jun 13).</ref>|
operating_system=Android, iOS|
operating_system_commentary=<ref>Google Home - Smart Speaker & Home Assistant. Google Store [online]. Available online at: https://store.google.com/product/google_home?gl=us&hlname=en (Retrieved 2017, Jun 13)<"ref2"/ref>|
controls1=voice|
controls2=button|
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Google Home is a "smart home" device developed by Google, Inc.. Similarly to [[Amazon Echo]], it is a voice-activated [[Intelligent Personal Assistants|intelligent personal assistant]] speaker designated as a standalone device for use in households, unlike other personal assistants, such as [[Microsoft Cortana|Cortana]] or [[Apple Siri|Siri]], which require a smartphone or a computer to work. It is powered by Google's own intelligent personal assistant software, Google Assistant.<refname="ref3">Google Home. Made by Google [online]. Available online at: https://madeby.google.com/home/ (Retrieved 2017, Jun 14)</ref>
It provides the user with various services, ranging from alarm, calculator, or a weather forecast, through translator, daily news, playing music, or TV streaming, to traffic and travel information, shopping, thermostat and light control, as well as many others.<ref>Features - Google Home. Made by Google [online]. Available online at: https://madeby.google.com/home/features/ (Retrieved 2017, Jun 14)</ref> It also offers access to a number of partner services, including YouTube, Spotify, Netflix, IFTTT, WeMo, Google Calendar and Google Photos.<ref>Apps & Partners - Google Home. Made by Google [online]. Available online at: https://madeby.google.com/home/partners/ (Retrieved 2017, Jun 14)</ref>
== Main characteristics ==
Google Home is a cylindrically shaped device approximately 14.3 centimeters high, and 9.6 centimeters in diameter. The top surface of the device has a touch-capacitive control panel and four multi-colored LED lights indicating that it is working. The device consists of two parts: first, the main white-colored body equipped with the control panel, two microphones with far-field voice recognition, and an integrated high-excursion speaker (2" driver with dual 2" passive radiators), and second, the base that can be customized with different colors and finishes to reflect the user's personal style (the default base comes in slate fabric, while the other colors need to be bought separately). The device connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi and cannot work offline.<ref>Google Home. Made by Google [online]. Available online at: https://madeby.google.com/home/ (Retrieved 2017, Jun 14)< name="ref3"/ref><ref>Google Home - Smart Speaker & Home Assistant. Google Store [online]. Available online at: https://store.google.com/product/google_home?gl=us&hlname=en (Retrieved 2017, Jun 13)<"ref2"/ref><ref>PINO, Nick, PORTER, Jon. Google Home review. TechRadar [online]. 2017, Jun 2. Available online at: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/google-home (Retrieved 2017, Jun 14)</ref> It is not battery-powered and thus needs to be connected to a power outlet.<ref>WAGONER, Ara. OK Google, give me a portable Google Home. Android Central [online]. 2016, Nov 8. Available online at: https://www.androidcentral.com/ok-google-give-me-portable-google-home (Retrieved 2017, Jun 14)</ref>
The user can activate the device either by pressing the top panel for a couple of seconds or saying the wake word ("OK Google" or "Hey Google"). If done correctly, the four LED lights on the top of the device turn on indicating that it has caught the user's attention and is ready to listen to his or her demands. After that the user can begin issuing commands using plain language. These are received by the device's two microphones, and processed by its software, which then generates appropriate response in [[Speech synthesizers|synthetic voice]] and, if the user asks for more than just some sort of information, performs the desired action.
Unlike its rival, [[Amazon Echo]], it is even capable of recognizing different voices, and thus generating personalized answers for different people. In the official video provided by Google, this is illustrated by a young man coming to kitchen in the morning saying "OK Google, tell me about my day", with the device responding with "Good morning, Alex. Traffic to work is heavy. It is forty-five minutes by car", and then his partner saying "Hey Google, tell me about ''my'' day", followed by the device's response "Good morning, Ross. By 10 a.m. you have your first meeting".<ref>Google Home. Made by Google [online]. Available online at: https: name="ref3"//madeby.google.com/home/ (Retrieved 2017, Jun 14)</ref> It is possible to link up to six accounts to the Google Assistant built into the device via the Home app. When adding a new account, the device needs first to learn to recognize the new voice, which is done by saying "OK Google" and "Hey Google" - the wake words for the Home - two times each. Google Home will then use this training to distinguish between voices when receiving a command and respond accordingly. It can play customized playlists, in addition to telling the user about his or her schedule and commute. Non-recognized voices can of course still ask the device to look up information, play trivia, set a timer, control smart home devices etc.<ref>GEBHART, Andrew. Google Home gets an edge on Alexa with multi-user support. CNET [online]. 2017, Apr 20. Available online at: https://www.cnet.com/news/google-home-gets-an-edge-on-alexa-with-multi-user-support/ (Retrieved 2017, Jun 15)</ref>
Google Home is setup by the Home app in Android or iOS. After that it could be controlled by voice, app or remote control. It is supposed to work well even in a noisy environment due to its microphones' far-field voice recognition tech, but according to the review on TechRadar, its performance in this regard is a little weaker than Amazon Echo's, possibly due to its reliance on two microphones rather than its Amazon rival's five, meaning that the user may "end up repeating [himself or herself] or raising [his or her] voice to get its attention more".<ref>PINO, Nick, PORTER, John. Google Home review. TechRadar [online]. 2017, Jun 2. Available online at: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/google-home (Retrieved 2017, Jun 14)</ref> The review on CNET<ref>GEBHART, Andrew. Google Home review. CNET [online]. 2017, May 25. Available online at: https://www.cnet.com/products/google-home/review/ (Retrieved 2017, Jun 15)</ref> including a video demonstration of the two devices' listening and voice-recognition skills speaks otherwise, however, so their comparative performance is probably dependent on various factors and the overall differences are mostly negligible.
