Leaked Google Home Mini may take on the Echo Dot
According to Droid Life, the trimmed down smart speaker will make its debut at Google's upcoming Pixel 2 launch on October 4th.
If true, this could be Google's rival to the Amazon Echo Dot.
Since it launched back in November of last year, the Google Home has chased the Amazon Echo for smart speaker supremacy. Even as it has admirably caught up despite the Echo's two-year head start, Google still lacked the diversity of smart devices that Amazon offered. Back in May, I argued that what the company needed most was its own version of the Echo Dot -- a low cost smart speaker to serve as an entry point into Google's smart home.
According to a report from Droid Life, Google might be about to announce exactly that. The Google Home Mini is supposedly pictured above, and Droid Life claims it'll cost $50 (which roughly converts to £40 and AU$65) -- the same price as the Echo Dot. Google will supposedly announce the Mini at the company's upcoming event on October 4th.
Google didn't immediately respond to my request for comment, so the name, price and image are all according to Droid Life's report.
The Google Home is a $130, £130 and AU$199 smart speaker that responds to your voice commands. It'll play music, control your smart home, search the web and add entries to your calendar without you needing to touch the device. The Google Home has the Google Assistant built in, and the Assistant is always listening for the wake words "Hey Google" or "OK Google."
The Google Home Mini will theoretically offer all of the same functionality, as it'll also have the Google Assistant built-in. The pictured colors are called Charcoal, Coral and Chalk.
Again, the move makes sense as the $50 or £50 Echo Dot uses Amazon's assistant Alexa to do everything the $180 Amazon Echo can do (Amazon's Echo speakers aren't yet available in Australia, but the Echo Dot's price roughly converts to AU$65 and the Echo to AU$225). The Dot also plugs into your home stereo system for added functionality, so hopefully Google's upcoming Dot competitor will have a few extra tricks up its sleeve as well.
We'll officially see if Droid Life's report comes to fruition at Google's Pixel 2 event on October 4th.