Google has launched its Google Assistant-powered smart speakers — Google Home, Home Mini in India on Tuesday at an event in New Delhi. Both the speakers will be available to buy online exclusively via Flipkart, and will also be made available to offline stores. In India, the Home and mini will support Google Play Music, YouTube, Netflix, Saavn, and Gaana. Hindi support will be added to Home speakers later this year.
Google unveiled the Google Home at Google’s first hardware event in October 2016, while the Home Mini was unveiled at the Mountain View (company’s second hardware event) in October 2017.
Google Home, Home Mini price in India, availability, launch offers
The Google Home is priced at Rs. 9,999. At this price, it will directly compete with Amazon Echo smart speaker – powered by the Alexa voice-based virtual assistant. The same thing applies to the Google Home Mini which is priced at Rs. 4,499 price and will compete with Amazon Echo Dot.
Google Home Mini is available in Chalk and Charcoal fabric colours. Along with Flipkart and offline retail units the speakers will be soon be available via Reliance Digital.
Customers buying the Google Home or Google Home Mini from Flipkart will get a free JioFi router. And those who are planning to buy a Google Home speaker from the Reliance Digital or MyJio stores will get a JioFi router which is equipped with 100GB of 4G data worth Rs. 2,499 ( Offer will last until April 30).
Google Home specifications
The Google Home features a touch surface on top. The featured touch surface can be used to control playback, volume, and also activate the Google Assistant. Its microphone offers far-field voice recognition and identifies different voices with Voice Match technology. The Mic is also located on the top panel, while its mute button and power status light are located at the back. The top panel also features lights that change patterns and its colours depend on the action being formed.
The Google Home has a high-excursion speaker with a 2-inch driver and dual 2-inch passive radiators. The speaker supports devices running on Android 4.4 KitKat or higher, and iOS 9.1 or higher.
Connectivity options on the device include, dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) Wi-Fi 802.11ac. The smart speaker can only be connected via Wi-Fi with no Bluetooth capabilities. As for supported audio formats, the Google Home supports HE-AAC, LC-AAC+, MP3, Vorbis, WAV (LPCM), and FLAC. The speaker also supports Google’s Chromecast which let users to stream movies, shows, and music onto their connected TVs or Google Cast speakers. The Google Home also works with over 1,000 smart home devices from over 150 brands. It measures 142.8mm in height and has a diameter of 96.4mm. It has a weight of 477 grams, and its power cable measures 1.8 metres.
Google Home Mini specifications
As the name suggests the Google Home Mini is the smaller version or lighter variant of the Google Home. The Mini has four lights on top, which show the speaker is working and turn orange when the mic is muted. There’s a mic mute switch near the Micro-USB port on the back of the device. Control buttons are on the left and on the right are lights, which can be used to change volume and start or stop alarms, timers, and calls. The Home Mini sports a non-skid silicone base. The speaker is claimed to deliver 360° sound and bears a 40mm driver, while it mic supports far-field voice recognition. It supports devices running on Android 4.4 KitKat or above, and iOS 9.1 or higher.
For connectivity, the Google Home Mini offers dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) Wi-Fi 802.11ac as well as Bluetooth v4.1. It is powered by wall socket and comes with an AC power adapter. It supports various types of audio formats including the Google Home support HE-AAC, LC-AAC+, MP3, Vorbis, WAV (LPCM), and FLAC. Like the Home the Mini also supports Chromecast. It again works with over 1,000 smart home devices from over 150 brands. It measures 42mm in height and has a diameter of 98mm. It has a weight of 173 grams, and its power cable measures 1.5 metres.
