This is Gemini for Home
It’s been almost ten years since Google released its first smart speakers with Google Assistant. Gemini for Home is the biggest update in a long time, and along with the updated Google Home app, it brings a whole host of improvements. Firstly, you can have more natural conversations with Gemini, you can get advanced interpretation of what is actually happening in the home. The more compatible devices you have connected, such as sensors, displays, surveillance cameras and more, the more conclusions Gemini can draw when you ask.
This is Gemini for Home
It’s been almost ten years since Google released its first smart speakers with Google Assistant. Gemini for Home is the biggest update in a long time, and along with the updated Google Home app, it brings a whole host of improvements. Firstly, you can have more natural conversations with Gemini, you can get advanced interpretation of what is actually happening in the home. The more compatible devices you have connected, such as sensors, displays, surveillance cameras and more, the more conclusions Gemini can draw when you ask.
Supported devices
One of the big advantages for getting started is that Gemini for Home is supported by many existing speakers. So you don’t need to buy a new product to test what can be done. The latest speakers released by Google are fully supported, but even older speakers from Google and third-party manufacturers that support Google Assistant can also be upgraded to use most of the features. For example, LG, JBL and Harman Kardon have previously released speakers with Google Assistant and they thus work with Gemini for the basic functions.
Get started
Google has gradually rolled out access to Gemini for Home in Swedish in Sweden over the past few months. The upgrade of the home takes place in the Google Home app, which is also used to manage and set up smart speakers, Google Chromecast and Google TV Streamer as well as any connected surveillance cameras and other compatible gadgets. In the Google Home app, you can sign up to get the latest Google Home features faster, and Gemini for Home is just one of those at the initial stage. You sign up for access by clicking on your profile picture and in the Google Home app, then tapping Public Preview. When it’s done, you’ll then receive a notification on your phone when you can upgrade your smart home to Gemini.
Expectations – how smart is Gemini for Home?
You probably shouldn’t have too high expectations for Gemini for Home. Smart speakers have long been the tool for simple commands such as turning on the lights, turning off the TV, setting a timer for ten minutes, and much is still the same. In addition to that, Gemini can now, just like on the mobile, give more detailed answers to questions about everything possible, significantly better answers than Google Assistant could give. To get the most out of Gemini in the home, however, you need to pay for one of the special subscriptions that are available.
Even with a subscription, however, Gemini, just like other AIs, can make mistakes and the conclusions are not always razor sharp. When we evaluate Gemini for Home today, we should perhaps include in the calculations that it is something of a preview version, but at the same time Google charges for the complete service, so that means that we must be able to demand that it actually contribute something. When we tested the service, Gemini interprets what is seen in the surveillance cameras, and it has several times interpreted it incorrectly. “Erik puts on his shoes, for example, was completely wrong like it interpreted a bag of chips as “carrying a bag”.
Surveillance cameras can recognize faces, but it requires them to be quite close to the camera, and even then the camera and the smart interpretation sometimes make mistakes. At the same time, it can also interpret correctly and understand when someone is making a bed or cooking.
Subscription
The basic functions of Gemini for Home are free for everyone, but to also get analysis of what your possibly connected surveillance cameras see, to be able to use the Gemini Live speaker and to let Gemini summarize what your cameras have seen during the day, you need a subscription.
The two subscriptions available are called Google Home Premium Standard and Google Home Premium Advanced. Standard is already included if you pay for Google AI Pro subscription and Advanced is included if you pay for Google AI Ultra. Otherwise, they cost 100 and 200 kroner respectively per month.
With these two subscriptions, you get extended history stored for surveillance cameras, 30 and 60 days respectively, and you get access to Gemini Live. The latter means you can better talk and interrupt Gemini mid-sentence and without having to say Hello Google again. However, it is only supported on later speakers. In addition to this, the Advanced subscription provides the ability to search the video history of connected cameras and a summary at the end of the day of what the cameras have seen during the day.
This is what makes a smart home really smart – Automations
In the Google Home app, you can set up automations and this is what makes a smart home really smart. The basis is that something should happen when a specified condition is met. The fact that the temperature goes above or below a certain number of degrees can be such a thing that, for example, can cause an element to start. You can let Google Home via the app see your position and then you can set lights, speakers and TV to turn off and on when you leave home and for the lights to turn on when you get close to the home so that it feels cozy and welcoming.
Other examples of automations are, for example, automatically turning on the lights when the sun goes down and it gets dark, that heat and sun cause the blinds to be drawn on the windows or that certain commands to Gemini trigger events. You can say goodnight to Gemini and that will be the signal for it to turn off all the lights and prepare the home for bedtime.
Activity and Notifications keep you in check in Google Home
In the Google Home app, you can see what’s connected in a list or sorted by room or device type. This applies to everything from sensors to lights, speakers, cameras, blinds and more. The app also provides an event feed under the Activity tab where you see what is happening continuously. It can be a very useful feature to understand the smart home. Here, for example, events from your connected surveillance cameras, commands you said that affected the home and automations are collected. If your position changes from home to away, you’ll see it here, and if any other automation has happened, you’ll see it too, and can understand why it was triggered. The more devices, especially cameras, that you have connected, the more well-filled your list of events will be under Activity.
If you want, you can receive some of the activities as a notification to your phone. For example, when cameras identify a person, you make the settings for notifications separately under the settings for each individual camera and they are unfortunately quite limited. For Nest Cam, you can choose to receive notifications about people, animals, vehicles and motion. You can turn off notifications automatically when the system knows you are at home, but you cannot, for example, choose to receive notifications only about unidentified people, but then you will receive notifications about both familiar and unfamiliar faces.