Google Home Mini review: The new Amazon Echo Dot rival costs £49

The new Google Home Mini has been confirmed at £49 ($49). It’s now available for pre-order through the Google Store and will be available in retail stores on 19 October. This small speaker takes aim at the Amazon Echo Dot.

So, what has Google brought us, and how does it compare to the Amazon Echo Dot?

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Google Home Mini review: UK price and release date

The new Google Home Mini was announced on 4 October 2017 at $49 / £49. It’s available for pre-order from the Google Store and will be available through retailers on 19 October.
It’s available in the same six countries as its sibling and is also available in the newly announced country, Japan – taking the tally up to seven.

At this price, it directly competes with the Amazon Echo Dot that costs $50 / £50 in the US and UK respectively. It comes in three homely colours: chalk, charcoal and coral.

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Google Home Mini key specs

• Speaker: 40mm driver
• Compatibility: iOS & Android
• Smart compatibility: Chromecast, Nest, Philips Hue
• Connectivity: 2.4GHz & 5GHz WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth, Chromcast and Chromecast Audio
• Power: 5V, 1.8A
• Colour: Chalk, Charcoal and Coral
• Dimensions: 98 x 98 x 42mm
• Weight: 173g
• Price: £49 / $49
• Warranty: 1 year

Google Home Mini review: Is it worth it?

Google Home competes directly with Amazon Echo, but there wasn’t anything to compare to the Echo Dot: Amazon’s dinky little plug-in to make your existing sound system smart. Until now. Google took the hint and made a mini version of the Google Home, the Home Mini.

The small 40mm speaker wirelessly connects to your smart home devices and with Google Assistant built-in, provides you with an assistant at-hand. The Home Mini has a few tricks up its small sleeves. You can interact with it, by simply touching its surface, this turns on the speaker and with a simple touch on either side of it, allows you to control its volume. 

Four white LEDs are neatly under the speaker’s front mesh. This is used to indicate its volume level and to see when the speaker is activated. A mute button is located on the side and a microUSB for power – you will need to connect it to a mains socket to make it work. 

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Voice Match is a feature that was showcased at the Google Event, this allows you to speak directly to the speaker and control smart home appliances, set tasks and set events on Google calendar.

The small speaker is well designed, looks great and going by the regular Google Home device, the Home Mini is a cheaper alternative, which uses Google Assistant.

If you’re looking for a smaller, more affordable smart assistant that uses Google’s service, then the new Home Mini is worth every penny. Better still, if you are planning on buying a Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL from the Google Store, the Home Mini comes free with every qualifying purchase made between 4 October 2017 and 31 December 2017.

We’re looking forward to receiving it for review, to compare it with the Amazon Echo Dot and to see if it offers the same voice recognition as the regular speaker.