Google Home review by Karthik Sankar

Google Home

          If you have an android phone you know that you can say “OK Google” and your phone will turn on and wait for your question. The Google Home does exactly that. Instead of a phone, it is a cylindrical tower about half a foot tall. It has a speaker on the bottom and 12 LEDs on the top.

Here is what it can do:

• Answer questions. It can respond to question you would normally google.
• Play games. Like its competitor Alexa, the google home can play audio based games.
• Play music. If you have a Google Play, Youtube Music, Spotify Premium or Pandora account. You can tell Google home to play music and it will play from the unit’s speakers.
• Control your smart home. If you have a Wemo, SmartThings, Nest, IFTTT account or Phillips hue you can control it with the Google Home.
• Control your TV. If you own a chromecast you can order the Google Home to play a youtube video and it will start playing on your TV.
• Since it uses your voice it doesn’t matter what phone you have. Just set it up once on your computer, android or iPhone and you’ll never have to use an external device to control it.

Here’s what it CAN’T do:

• You can’t tell the Google home to take notes in Google Keep
• You can’t set reminders
• You can’t use it as a Bluetooth speaker
• You can’t make calls or texts

Those (except for the speaker thing) are all thing you can currently do with your phone. In my opinion, spending $130 dollars on a device that does less than your phone is a waste of money. In fact, your phone is probably even more convenient. Your phone can use your voice, location, wifi connection, Bluetooth connection and camera to make doing simple tasks easier.

Karthik Sankar