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Google Home Max is now available
- polock 9y agoWhat's different is this with Google home mini, rather than speaker size? I can't find any reason for buying it.
- xrd 9y agoSeems like they are suggesting the AI they use to dynamically configure your sound based on room placement is only available in this model.
- TrainedMonkey 9y agoI think it is only higher quality audio.
- SirZimzim 9y agoAnd don't forget volume, a Google home mini is going be to quite underwhelming in anything but the smallest room.
- jastanton 9y agoSo I was a Sonos owner and I loved them, when I sold them to buy Google Home's I was greatly saddened by decrease in audio quality. It looks like this is the Sonos replacement? Seems weird that they wouldn't just re-brand this as Google Home+ or something similar. I am getting a very similar vibe similar to Apple iPad's where you can buy an iPad at pretty much every dimension you want. Same now with Google Home, you can get a small, medium and large Google Home... but with confusing branding.
- maxerickson 9y agoWhy is "Google Home Max" weird compared to "Google Home+"? Especially given that the small one is "Google Home Mini".
- habosa 9y agoDislcaimer: I work at Google but not on this team. And I'm a Sonos owner, so I think my feedback is relatively unbiased. I got a demo of two of these in my friend's house the other day. The sound quality is exceptional. In a stereo pair the sound was loud and clear throughout the range with good bass as well. Very impressed, plus it's just a nice looking device imo.
- krisroadruck 9y agoI jumped on the wait list when they announced it but really want to wait for some thorough reviews before I drop $800 on a pair of them. I'm baffled as to why they didn't send out review units to major publishers before releasing them for general availability.
- forgot-my-pw 9y agoKinda expected for $400
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- sundvor 9y agoI just got a couple of Minis on Black Friday sales (2 bundles; 1 Chromecast, 1 Chromecast Audio), and am extremely impressed even with those. The far field microphones are so sensitive, I can literally whisper and it'll pick it up. Also the speaker is very clear for its size. Sure there are quirks but the ability to control Chromecast is great, and also the audio is impressive for listening to Podcasts such as DotNetRocks from my phone. I hooked the bundled Chromecast Audio to the Line In on my Asus Sonar Deluxe 1.3 HDAV on the HTPC, which connects to a 20 year old Rotel Preamp + Amp combo (separation of concerns!), and equally old (but since then refurbished) Infinity Kappa speakers. Sound quality is great that way, so I didn't see the need for a Home or the Home Max which I knew was coming. So I can say stuff like. "Hey Google, play {some album, artist or playlist} on the PC", and it'll cast to that if I want the big sound. It is way easier than navigating Spotify on my phone or using the Spotify software on the HTPC itself (which is limited to 1 account, with the hassle of logging out / in). I wish Google could publish server software for Win10 so that I could cast to that as a Chromecast target rather than go via the Chromecast Audio. However I understand there's probably DRM reasons why efforts for this to happen were shut down. As a PS, my 7 year old son absolutely loves talking to Google. It's pretty impressive to hear him figure her out.
- andy_ppp 9y agoI don’t trust Google not to record every single thing I say and feed that into their advertising platform. For this reason I will probably wait and get a HomePod... Downvoters: I presume you have evidence that Google won’t use your interactions with Google Assistant to better advertise to you?
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- jkolem2 9y agoThey'll do it eventually. It's too tempting not to. First they have break the barrier by getting a physical presence. They can slowly get to their main objective by rolling it out piece by piece. (Most) People won't even see it happening. They are addicted to data because it pays and they're willing to do anything to get it. They dumped wireless data when doing Streetview photography even when they didn't have a reason. They captured location data from Android users without consent and secretly uploaded if later when they had connectivity. They have no credibility left in my opinion. Wait for super accurate per person voice recognition and imagine the profiles they'll build.... Better ask your friends before you visit their place to switch off the telescreen!
- drngdds 9y agoWell, do you have proof that Google/Apple/Nokia/etc. isn't already doing that with your phone? If you're going to be super distrustful of closed source stuff by companies with an interest in gathering user data and assume guilt before innocence is proven, that's fine. But you can't do it selectively!
- john_moscow 9y ago>With the Google Assistant built in, Max is always ready to start your favorite song, pause or turn it up, all with just your voice. Does it mean that it's constantly recording every conversation within its field of reach and uploading it to Google servers where the A.I. could tell whether it's a request to play a song, a keyword to show you more targeted ads or an insight into your private life that could be stored and sold on later when an interested buyer shows up?
- zanedb 9y agoNo
- mikestew 9y agoThe answer to your question is “no”. (I would normally add that this could discerned by the most minimal of web searches, but I don’t want to disturb your narrative.)
- john_moscow 9y agoGoogled for details - indeed it looks like the device is using a wake word. Ironically, one of the first search results [1] was about a glitch that made the "mini" version actually record 24/7. [1] http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/11/technology/google-home-mini-security-flaw/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/11/technology/google-home-mini-...
- andy_ppp 9y agoPlease supply said search, I’m trying to find out if there is a firewall between Google Assistant and Google ad targeting but it’s very difficult to find anything.
- mtmail 9y agoThe claim was "constantly recording every conversation within its field of reach", not if commands after "OK Google" are send to Google servers. For the commands Google's terms-of-service allow (themselves) to use data to improve any of their products and that includes personalization (advertising), so I doubt such a firewall exists.
- mikestew 9y agoC’mon, Apple, I know you want to make sure to get the HomePod right, but Google’s stealing your holiday shopping thunder here. I only say this because $APPLE_FANBOI over here is willing to wait, but if I weren’t I’d snap up a couple of these. (Reality is not fanboism, but enough apathy to the product segment that three months won’t kill me.)
- alttab 9y agoSo more expensive than Homepod and Sonos speaker, similar if not identical features, from the one company that has shitty customer service? No thanks.
- xocyabencl 9y agoThe basic Chromecast audio is $35 and has audio and optical out. That's a much better value than Sonos or the other competition. I already have those in multiple rooms, so this is attractive if I want to buy an integrated unit for an additional room that can also respond to audio commands. It fills a gap in the product line.
- xocyabencl 9y agoExpanding on that a bit - IMO a remaining gap is a Chromecast audio-like product with a microphone, that can take commands as well as play content through audio out. But I understand the market for that may be limited to people with expensive home audio setups.
- Wehrdo 9y agoReally, that would just be a Home Mini with audio output, and I suspect the Home and Home Mini don't have a separate audio output in an effort to make you upgrade to the "Max". Because frankly, you would be so much better off buying a regular Home and a $300 speaker setup than buying the Max.
- hn_throwaway_99 9y agoI'm a Sonos user and love it, but Sonos doesn't have any assistant capability at all, so saying "similar if not identical features" seems like quite the stretch.
- jonah 9y agoSonos just released a new speaker that works with Alexa (and I think others coming?). https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/one.html https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/one.html
- Finch2193 9y agoDoes anyone really find these home assistants to be all that useful? Echo, home, etc. All of them really seem to be designed to get you to buy them and then to sell you more stuff, not to actually be useful. It barely works for even simple queries. The music integration doesn't work well with Spotify on the home, and can't even add reminders. The echo has to ask "am or pm" when I tell it to 'wake me up tomorrow at 8'. It's really good at understanding the words that I say but this really illustrates the gap between natural language transcribing and understanding. The only reason I use it is that it's perfect as a handsfree music player and that has its uses in the shower, etc.
- thebiglebrewski 9y agoYes, I do
- pianoben 9y agoI find a lot of use in mine as a voice-control system for home automation; it's great to be able to say, "OK Google, lights out!" as I head upstairs to bed. The convenience and _naturalness_ of the interaction is just so cool!
- candiodari 9y agoIronically, extremely unnatural for most "Google" interactions. Asking non-trivia questions just doesn't work very well at all. Asking basic questions like the weather, the time, and maybe my calendar (doesn't work well with multiple calendars so while I look forward to when I can use this, I can't yet).
- Bahamut 9y agoMy roommate finds it helps with loneliness - oftentimes she's home alone because of her work schedule as a flight attendant, and everyone else is busy at work, so she has no one to really talk to. She has found some happiness with talking to Alexa.
- julianpye 9y ago
- thomasahle 9y agoDoes anyone have some insight into the machine learning in a system like this? Could you not do the needed calibration with well-understood math? Or are there some difficult parts to the problem, where you need a trained deep learning model to step in?
- jjcm 9y agoOne thing I'd really like to see along with the google home / chromecast lineup is a projector offering as well. Something I can set up on a shelf or mount on a wall that I can cast to or simply say, "Ok google play binging with babish on youtube". Especially if it were a laser projector (something currently available but in a very high price bracket due to lack of demand), I'd buy this in a heartbeat.
- kelnos 9y agoIs this really necessary? Can't you just buy a standalone projector and attach a Chromecast to it?