Hands-on with the new Google Home Speaker coming next year

image via The Verge

October 1, 2025, 1:00 PM

• •The Google Home Speaker has a new design, available in multiple colors, and a 360-degree audio.
• •It will feature the Gemini voice assistant, offering improved conversational abilities and real-time information access.
• •Gemini can understand natural language and handle multiple commands for smart home devices.
• •Gemini Live, a paid version, offers a chatbot experience but has limited action capabilities within the smart home context.

Google is launching a redesigned smart speaker, the Google Home Speaker, featuring a new flattened sphere shape, new colors, and a new light ring. The speaker will run the new Gemini voice assistant instead of Google Assistant, offering a more conversational and natural language understanding experience. The new speaker will be a Google Home hub, a Matter Controller, and a Thread border router, allowing it to connect and control smart home devices. While the Gemini Live features appear limited in a home context, Google's long-term plan is to bring everything you can do with Gemini today to Gemini Live.

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