The newly launched Google Home Speaker sounds richer, does more, and is easier to use than any previous year’s. If you’re looking for speaker with rich 360° sound that also doubles as an AI home assistant that can manage back-and-forth conversations, read on—this is a speaker that you’ll be interested in knowing more about.
What’s in the box of the 2026 Google Home speaker?
In the box of this speaker, you’ll find the device itself, its warranty information, and a power adapter. The Home speaker is packaged very minimally in a small box.
The speaker featured in this review is in Google’s Porcelain off-white finish. It is also available in Hazel, a chalky dark grey.
The Google Home Speaker’s best features
The Google Home speaker is the brand’s most life-like, up-to-date foray into the digital assistant space yet. It’s designed to fit into your daily routine from morning to night.
This Google speaker comes with tons of opportunities for smart home connectivity and compatibility. It’s been updated with Gemini Live AI for a more seamless, conversational experience than previous Google Home devices, and it can use AI detection to summarize your attached home security camera video feeds (when used with the Advanced Google Home Premium subscription plan). You’ll also get 6 months free of Google Home Premium when you purchase the speaker.
Google’s new speaker also offers richer, more immersive 360˚ sound compared to past models. It pairs with the Google Home app, features Voice Match for six different users, and is compatible with Matter devices.
In addition to being a great digital assistant, this device is also a solid, functional speaker. You can use it for stereo-paired listening and spatial TV audio.
Can I turn the microphone off?
Yes! There’s a physical toggle at the base of this speaker to turn its microphone on and off. You can use the Google Home as both a home voice assistant (listening device) and as a traditional, non-listening speaker.
This toggle is set per device. You can use the same system in every room and only have the microphone turned on in certain areas of the house.
What can I use the Google Home Speaker for?
There are a lot of different things that the Google Home speaker can do for you, like setting timers and checking the weather. I like to think of smart home assistants like a basic, household version of Jeeves. (You know: the classic, resourceful butler from Jeeves and Wooster. The sitcom may have aired in the 1990s, but it’s still a cult classic of British television!)
Any question that you could toss over your shoulder to your Jeeves is a question that you can toss toward your Google Home speaker. Questions like “Hey Google, can you turn on all my lights,” or “Hey Google, what’s the weather like today?” With the Google Home Premium subscription, this speaker can also follow up on multiple questions for a more conversational experience—for instance, helping you alter your calendar after reporting on the weather, or advising you on your wardrobe for the day.
The more devices you have hooked up to your smart home system, the more things your Google Home speaker will be able to help you out with. In some homes, that even includes tasks like making coffee or checking your security cameras for animal visitors overnight.
Google Gemini-powered AI
What makes this Home speaker different from previous Google speakers is it’s Gemini-powered experience. It works with Google Gemini Live on a subscription basis (with Google Home Premium), offering a conversational experience that’s both more detailed and feels more seamless than both past models and the non-subscription plan.
Instead of just responding to basic prompts, Gemini Live allows your Google speaker to plan out ongoing conversations.
While a regular smart speaker can tell you what the top Google search result is for “how do I cook a chicken breast,” for instance, a Gemini Live-powered speaker can walk you through the recipe’s different steps. Then, it can bring up similar options for you to choose between and share the necessary ingredients according to your preferences.
As a Large Language Model developed by Google DeepMind, Gemini can summarize and reword Google search results to suit your question, responding more naturally with questions and follow-ups.
Google Home Premium: 6 months free
Many Google Home functions work without a subscription. Features like Google Gemini for Home, media playback on your speakers, Broadcast (which works like an in-home intercom system), and parental controls will always be in place on your device. This applies with or without a Google Home Premium subscription.
However, this speaker’s conversational Gemini Live integration operates on a subscription basis with the Standard Google Home Premium plan. This is where the big upgrade is from this speaker. In the plan, you’ll gain access to Gemini Live, Help Me Create (which helps create automations for your Google Home system based on conversations you have with your speaker) and sound detection (which monitors for things like breaking glass and smoke detector alarms.)
On an Advanced Google Home Premium plan, you’ll get access to everything in the Standard plan, plus the ability to ask your speaker for a daily voice summary or to verbally search your connected camera history.
Each speaker comes with six months of Standard Google Home Premium included. After six months, monthly and annual subscriptions are available for both Standard and Advanced subscriptions.
Do I have to pay a monthly subscription for the Google Home speaker?
No. A monthly Google Home Premium plan is optional. Subscription plans give you access to additional features on your Google Home device, but are not necessary for its basic functions.
Watch the Google Home Speaker in action
How to use a smart speaker with an AI assistant in your daily routine
You can integrate a smart speaker like this one into a pretty significant portion of your daily routine. From adding events to your calendar to automating your home’s lighting, temperature, and cleaning schedule, your AI assistant helps you manage tasks completely hands-free.
I find myself most often using my smart speaker to ask for recommendations. I’ll ask things like, “what’s the weather like outside? Am I going to need a jacket today?” Or, around dinnertime, “it’s hot out today. What’s something I can make for dinner without the stove?”
Here are a few more things that you can ask your Home speaker to help you with, with or without a Google Home Premium subscription:
- Broadcast announcements to every connected speaker
- Ask for the news of the day, localized to your area or to any area around the world
- Search for local events happening today
- Preview what you have on your calendar for the day
- Run wind-down tasks like dimming your smart lights or turning down your smart thermostat
- Look up recipes and add items to your grocery list
Here are a few more things that this speaker can do with an Advanced Google Home Premium subscription:
- Summarize your calendar for the day and suggest modifications based on traffic or the weather
- Check camera feeds for your food delivery
- Let you know what time your kids got home
- Suggest similar songs that you might like
- Explain major concepts to you, so you can help family members with their homework
- Suggest recipes based on what you have in your fridge
- Create AI-generated stories for bedtime
- Create AI frameworks to help you through your workday
- Try to guess what song is stuck in your head, based on your descriptions and mumblings of the song
In conclusion
If you’re looking for a smart speaker that integrates seamlessly into every room of your house, the Google Home speaker for 2026 is a great place to start. I really like that it has a physical microphone toggle on the base of the speaker, and that you have the flexibility to use it both with or without a Google Home Premium subscription.
Shop Google Home speakers online at BestBuy.ca today.
