Google Adds Home Mini and Home Max to its Google Assistant Family

As we’ve just discussed in our post about Pixel 2 / Pixel 2 smartphones, Google had a hardware day yesterday, where they made announcements about various devices with new smartphones, Pixel Buds earbuds optimized for Google Assistant, Pixelbook chromebook, and so on.

Google Home family has also been extended with two new models: Home Mini with a much smaller device and a lower price, as well as Home Max with premium speakers.

Google Home Mini

Specifications:

• Speaker – 360 sound with 40mm driver
• Microphones – “Far-field voice recognition supports hands-free use”
• Audio formats – HE-AAC, LC-AAC+, MP3, Vorbis, WAV (LPCM), FLAC
• Connectivity – Dual band 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi, Bluetooth
• USB – 1x micro USB port for power
• Misc – Play/Pause/Talk button, volume buttons, LEDs, microphone on/off switch
• Power Supply – 5V/1.8A
• Dimensions – 98 mm ∅ x 42 mm (h)
• Weight – 173 grams (device only)

Home Mini is compatible with devices running Android 4.2 and higher, or iOS 9.1 and higher, and comes with built-in ChromeCast audio support. The new Home Mini appears to compete directly with Amazon Echo, as it is sold for $49.

Google Home Max

Specifications:

• SoC – Quad core ARM Cortex A53 @ 1.5 GHz (Could it be Amlogic A112 or A113 processor?)
• Speakers
  • 2x 4.5″ (114 mm) high-excursion (+/- 11 mm) dual voice-coil woofers
  • 1x 0.7″ (18 mm) custom tweeters
• Microphones – “Far-field voice recognition supports hands-free use”
• Audio In – 3.5mm analog audio input jack
• Audio formats – HE-AAC, LC-AAC+, MP3, Vorbis, WAV (LPCM), FLAC, Opus
• Connectivity – Dual band 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2
• USB – 1x USB type C port
• Sensors – Ambient light sensor,  orientation sensor
• Misc – Play/Pause/Talk button, volume buttons, LEDs, microphone on/off switch
• Power Supply – AC Power 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz
• Dimensions – 336.6 x 190.0 x 154.4 mm
• Weight – 5.3 kg

Home Max has the same Android and iOS requirements, and support for ChromeCast audio as the mini version, but it adds support for multi-room audio and wireless stereo pairing, meaning you can use it as a Bluetooth speaker too. Price is $399, but you’d have to join a waiting list before ordering it. You can do so, and find more details on the product page.

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