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Nest Home Mini and Nest Wi-Fi: Google's smart home products for everyone

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Bye-bye Google Home Mini and Google Wi-Fi, hello Nest Mini and Next Wi-Fi. At the #madebygoogle event, Google continued the rebranding of the former Google smart home products, so now the Nest Mini succeeds the Google Home Mini, while the second generation of Google Wi-Fi has become the Nest Wi-Fi.

Of course, rebranding is not as important as features for us technology enthusiasts, but it does show that Google now differentiates between the mobile hardware products that run under the Pixel branding and the smart home products that will now be under the Nest brand. Google sees the main difference between Pixel and Nest products as being that the latter must be more intuitive to use, as they usually have to be operated by several people.

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Nest Mini - old optics, new technology

The Google Home Mini was a box-office hit for Google, because at an original price of $50 (now $30) you got a small loudspeaker including a voice assistant with which you can listen to music and control smart home devices and because it was so compact it could be discreetly placed in the house. Of course, the successor Nest Mini should offer all this, but there are also a few things that the Nest Mini can do better than its Home Mini.

AndroidPIT google nest mini black
Looks like the Google Home Mini, but is the Nest Mini / © NextPit

On the outside, the Google Home Mini and the Nest Mini could easily be confused, Google has hardly changed anything about the design. The only note: on the back of the Nest Mini there is now a wall bracket.

Inside, Google has now given the Nest Mini a third microphone, which is mainly intended to provide hotword recognition. For a faster response, Google has equipped it with more computing power. A machine learning chip is responsible here.

AndroidPIT google nest mini wall mount
The only optical change of the Nest Home is the hole for wall mounting / © NextPit

Since the Nest Mini is supposed to sound better than its predecessor, it gets an improved amplifier, which especially enhances the bass performance. According to Google, the Nest Mini is twice as strong in the low-frequency range. In addition, finally, two Nest Minis can be combined to create a stereo pair.

AndroidPIT google nest mini two colors
In Europe, the Nest Mini will only be available in black and white / © NextPit

Google will launch the Nest Mini on September 22 in Europe at a price of €59. Altogether the Nest Mini is offered in four colors, but only the color variants Carbon and Charol come to some regions. The colors red and blue are also offered in the US.

Nest Wi-Fi - mesh network including Google Assistant

With Nest Wi-Fi, Google is not only bringing a technically improved Google Wi-Fi successor onto the market for home networking, but it also looks even better. Nest Wi-Fi still consists of two different components: The Wi-Fi router and the Wi-Fi access point. Google has now given the router a higher range, so that it should now cover an area of 120 sqm. But more interesting is the new access point, which is not only a Wi-Fi satellite for the mesh network, but it also contains a Nest Mini, so it can be used as a smart loudspeaker including Google Assistant.

AndroidPIT google nest wifi back
In the Nest Wi-Fi access point there is a Nest Mini, recognizable by the perforated ring for the speakers and the microphone mute button / © NextPit

As with Google Wi-Fi, the Nest Wi-Fi is also sold as a single components. Here the prices for the router are €159 or €139 for the access point. Or you can use a bundle consisting of a router and an access point. This then costs €259. There will no longer be a bundle of routers and two access points as with the predecessor due to the increased range. According to Google, the bundle of packages will loosely cover an area of 210 m2. The sales launch for the Nest Wi-Fi has not yet been decided but is expected to take place in 2019.

AndroidPIT google nest wifi router repeater
The Nest Wi-Fi Router (right) is slightly larger and has no perforated wreath / © NextPit

On the software side, Google Wi-Fi users will soon have to prepare for a changeover, as Google will gradually integrate all functions for Wi-Fi products into the Google Home App. If one then remembers the rebranding, then the app, which until now was called Google Home, will certainly be renamed Nest Home in the near future.

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Shu On Kwok

Shu On Kwok
Senior Editor

Since 1999, Shu has written about the colorful world of IT and telecommunications. His career started as a presenter at the five-hour TV show NBC GIGA, which led him through several career stages until he finally joined the AndroidPIT team in May of 2015. His passion for mobile devices and gadgets knows no boundaries. Whether Android, iOS or Windows, Shu feels at home with any OS.

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  • 12
    harshatecordeon Oct 16, 2019 Link to comment

    Excellent


  • 49
    storm Oct 15, 2019 Link to comment

    Products with little upgrade path and high near term obsolescence. And nightmarish privacy policies. Consumers should demand a lot more from this category of devices and Android Pit should be helping educate the consumer.