Google Home Mini Review

So during this years black Friday event I happened to pick up a little device. This device is known as the Google Home Mini. I have been playing with it for the past couple weeks and have decided to give my true review of the device. Here is a link to my initial review of the product on YouTube:

Google Home Mini Initial Review

Pros:

After the honeymoon period wore off the true capabilities of the google home mini became apparent. It is a cool device that has some hidden features and some cool quirks that can actually help with day to day tasks and errands. The device can actually place phone calls in Canada which is great. I can ask google to phone anyone and it will. However you have to configure the system to show your number or else a unknown name or number will appear when you place calls. The device also pairs well with Chromecast and you can stream Netflix and YouTube with ease. You can connect numerous other smart items to the device and control them all through voice activation. This is awesome for turning on and off lights. The device also gives real-time weather and traffic updates. So you know the conditions before leaving your house. It is also linked with your YouTube and google account so you can easily access your music and movies if you have a Chromecast also. The access to google music is probably the best feature as you can play all your music from this device and you can listen to google radio stations for free from this device. The device is also great for listening to your audiobooks from google play or any other compatible app.

Cons:

All is not gold though, the device does have some downfalls. Depending on your accent and usage of words the device can give you the wrong answer or even not understand you. Asking the device to play an artist can sometimes comeback with you don't have that artist in your google play library (even though you do). It can be frustrating sometimes to repeat the same phrase two or three times and get a different answer each time but eventually it will understand you. Another problem is it can take sometime to answer certain questions like math problems or random trivia. It took over two minutes to solve five multiplied by six (my wifi wasn't the problem as every other non-math question was answered almost immediately).

Conclusion

The Google Home Mini is a little device that runs at 80 dollar full price and around ~40 dollars on sale. This little device packs a great punch for the price and the pros outweigh the cons. If you can pick it up for 40 dollars or so it is a steal of a deal. The access to google play music is what makes the device an all out winner. You can say almost any style of music or band and the device will either find it in your library eventually or will find a google play station that plays the music. The ability to place calls and find out local conditions are icing on the cake.

I wouldn't recommend this device if you are invested in Amazon though as they have an alternative device. The voice recognition will improve in the future and the other bugs will get fixed. So defiantly buy the Google Home Mini if you are looking for a cheap small smart speaker.