My First Week with Google Home Mini: More Frustrating Than Fun

[henrytcasey]

Google's tiny smart speaker has some neat capabilities, but it's smart home powers need more polish, and I just want it to do more.

My First Week with Google Home Mini: More Frustrating Than Fun : Read more

 

[arnilowfield]

All you have to do to make it shut up is say "Hey Google, mute" or "stop" . No need to look for a mute button. I understand you're not alone in being lazy about reading up on the commands to use, as a lot of people expect it to work the way they want without having to read anything. But just as with any electronic device, if you want to take full advantage of what it has to offer, you have to make a little effort in researching its capabilities and the instructions.

 

[henrytcasey]

All you have to do to make it shut up is say "Hey Google, mute" or "stop" . No need to look for a mute button. I understand you're not alone in being lazy about reading up on the commands to use, as a lot of people expect it to work the way they want without having to read anything. But just as with any electronic device, if you want to take full advantage of what it has to offer, you have to make a little effort in researching its capabilities and the instructions.

I get that, I just think this product needs a better on-boarding process in order to explain things. Not everyone is a manuals/research type, and the smart home is supposed to reduce, not increase, work, even in the short-term.

 

[richardfoleher]

I've had the fully grown Google Home for several months now and the whole family uses it with great ease and joy. It recognises all of our voices and plays all the music we want, first time every time. In the UK we can't quite order a dominoes or speak to virtual therapists like my friends over the pond, but I can add items to my shopping cart and then finish the payment via the stores app. our most commonly used phrases are turning Philips Hue lights on/off/different colours etc as well as firing up Netflix from on the big screen.

Last week, we added a Google Home Mini for the bedroom, first order of the day, sign in the wife so it knows who she is. Easy as pie. From then on, it gives her all the same functionality upstairs as she had downstairs - no more yelling down the stairs to the main one. Best of all - we added the 2 devices in to a group, now when you play music, you can specify the individual device or both together.

We'll be adding 2 more (for the children's rooms) at Christmas. That way I never have to listen to another Taylor Swift song in my living room again

 

[henrytcasey]

I've had the fully grown Google Home for several months now and the whole family uses it with great ease and joy. It recognises all of our voices and plays all the music we want, first time every time. In the UK we can't quite order a dominoes or speak to virtual therapists like my friends over the pond, but I can add items to my shopping cart and then finish the payment via the stores app. our most commonly used phrases are turning Philips Hue lights on/off/different colours etc as well as firing up Netflix from on the big screen.

Last week, we added a Google Home Mini for the bedroom, first order of the day, sign in the wife so it knows who she is. Easy as pie. From then on, it gives her all the same functionality upstairs as she had downstairs - no more yelling down the stairs to the main one. Best of all - we added the 2 devices in to a group, now when you play music, you can specify the individual device or both together.

We'll be adding 2 more (for the children's rooms) at Christmas. That way I never have to listen to another Taylor Swift song in my living room again

Stories like that, man, congrats. You're winning this thing.