Google’s new Nest Mini, revealed at the company’s Made By Google 2019 event, replaces the much-loved and nearly ubiquitous Home Mini. The older Assistant-powered speaker has been discounted and bundled with so many deals over the last couple of years, most of us probably have one on a shelf or side-table somewhere. So why is it worth your while to consider the newer model and its $49 price tag? We’ve got a few good reasons.
Hang it on your wall
It’s not art — at least, not unless you’ve got very specific tastes — but the new Nest Mini has a convenient hole on the bottom that allows you to suspend it from a hook or nail in the wall.
You’ll still have to figure out what to do with the dangling, never-quite-straight cable, but a lack of shelf space isn’t an impediment anymore.
More touch control
Google famously nerfed all its original Home Minis, disabling the capacitive touch control for play/pause and activation. We hope that this time around the issue that kept some Home Minis recording you around the clock isn’t an issue, as Google has brought that functionality back with the new model.
That means you can tap the top to trigger a request or play/pause music, among other things. It’s a minor feature, but the extra functionality can come in handy. (We’ll try not to get it taken away this time.)
Smarter, faster, local
The new Nest Mini has a dedicated machine learning chip that gives it the ability to both learn your most common commands and keep the processing required for them on-device. That means better privacy and faster performance, even if all you’re doing with it is asking to turn the lights on.
Amazing bass sound.
The new Nest Mini pulls a whole lot more power than its forebear. Although Google is mum when it comes to the specific wattage on the new speaker, the company does claim this updated version can spit up to 40% stronger bass. Even though it’s the same size as the home mini, now you’ll get louder, better sound from the new Nest Mini compared to the older models.
Stereo Pairing
Unlike the Home Mini, which only paired together for double mono sound, but the Nest Mini can coordinate triple mono sound for a whole extra channel of fun—In addition to individually louder sound from the new Nest Minis, you can also enjoy that sound in stereo — you’ll just need to buy a second speaker to get it.
Three mics are better than two.
Google’s new Nest Mini may look nearly identical to the previous Home Mini, but it’s familiar package hides quite a few improvements. It’s up to you if it’s worth replacing a home’s worth of Home Minis for the new features, but those of you picking one up for the first time or supplementing your existing smart speaker coverage will see the benefits of the Nest Mini.
The original Home Mini had a two-microphone array, but the Nest Mini steps that up, giving you three total mics working together in a far-field array. That should mean improved voice recognition, better picking up your “Hey Google” queries through even more noise at home.
The Nest Mini’s snazzy fabric topper comes in four colors: Chalk, Charcoal, Coral, and Sky. That gives you plenty of choices, but you can also feel at least a tiny bit better about your frequent upgrade habits knowing that the fabric was made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. Even the enclosure is a minimum of 35% post-consumer recycled plastic. The new Nest Mini can be purchased for around $50 at the following retailers:
The device is available to pre-order from 15 October and it will be available to buy from 22 October. The Nest Mini will cost $49, which is the same price as the Google Home Mini was launched at.
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