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Google breezed through the “Launch Night In” hardware event in 30 minutes flat and boy oh boy, was it a well-produced presentation. We’ll talk more about that at another time. For now, let’s take a look at the all-new Nest Audio speaker. We’ll be getting our hands on the new Nest speaker from Google very soon but based on the spec sheet, there’s a lot to get excited about. First and foremost, the Nest Audio speaker comes out of the gate at $99.99 which is thirty dollars less than the original Google Home debuted for back in 2016. Here’s a rundown of what the Nest Audio has to offer and why it may be the most value-packed Assistant speaker to hit the market.
Google is touting a 75% increase in volume and 50% increase in bass boost when compared to the OG Google Home speaker. This is thanks to the 75 mm woofer and 19 mm tweeter housed inside the fabric-clad speaker that now comes in five colors. The all-new Sage joins the Nest family of colors that already includes Chalk, Charcoal, Sand, and Sky. The Nest Audio enclosure is made of 70% recycled plastic and it comes in at 6.9″ tall. That’s about 1.3″ taller than the original Google Home which gives the Nest Audio a more-prominent look. Thankfully, the new design makes it appealing to the eye and worth of sitting out in the open unlike its predecessor that looked a bit like an air freshener
Adapts to your home
Nest Audio adapts to your home to ensure that you’re getting the best sound experience possible. Our Media EQ feature enables Nest Audio to automatically adapt to the content that you’re listening to: music, podcasts, audiobooks or Assistant. Nest Audio also adjusts based on the background noise in the home, raising the volume so you can hear Google Assistant.
Better Assistant
Like the Nest Mini, the new Nest Audio features an on-device machine learning chip that enables the Assistant to respond and answer as much as two times faster than previous devices. Combined with its ability to connect with everything Google in your house, this could be the smartest smart speaker Google’s ever made. It also respects your privacy with a manual mute switch to turn of the mic.
Nest Audio has a dedicated on-device machine learning chip with one TeraOPS of processing power. This makes the response time for controlling your music on Nest Audio twice as fast as the original
Google Home. Over time, Nest Audio learns your most common music and smart home commands, enabling the device to quickly respond.
The Nest Audio is available for pre-order now on the Google Store, Best Buy, and other retailers for $99.99 and will begin shipping at the beginning of next week. Google is already offering a promotion if you order two of these beauties. When you purchase from the Google Store, you can save $20 on two or more Nest Audios. I’m excited to get one of these in the office. The original Google Home is long overdue to have a proper successor and this sure looks like the one we’ve been waiting for. Learn more on The Keyword.
