Google Home Review UK

Google Home Review: Overview & Price

So you’re interested in the Google Home? Great, you are in the right place! In this Google Home review we will be giving you the low down on the device, from the design to the specs and everything in between.

To buy the Google Home it costs £129 here in the UK, check out the best place to buy the Google Home here;

The Google Home release date was back on October 4^th 2017, and since then has been selling incredibly well here in the UK due to its versatility.

This is a device that is an assistant, and also doubles as a smart speaker that looks stylish and modern too.

The Google Home speaker is great, with impressive sound quality, loud volume and strong bass.

Let’s take a closer look at what the Google Home has to offer…

Google Home Review: Design

So first things first and the Google Home design is extremely modern, to say the least.

This thing looks like a small air-freshener that will blend into almost any environment.

We think this looks fantastic and it really is something you would want to have on show in your kitchen, living room or even bedroom.

At the top of the Google Home is a touchpad, which has LED lights behind it that can move when the Google Home is doing things.

The touchpad can be used to pause, play and restart music, and if you long-press it will activate the microphone.

Altering the volume can be done by waving your hand over the touchpad either clockwise for volume up or counter-clockwise for volume down.

We found this is rather laggy though and it’s probably better to just use your voice.

At the base of the Google Home is a customisable base that can be twisted off and replaced with different colour units.

This ensures that the Google Home can blend in, no matter what surrounding you place it in.

The Google Home weighs 477g, meaning its actually rather light.

Image: TechAdvisor

This ensures that you can move it around and place it in different rooms. We actually own a couple of Google Homes our self; we have one in the kitchen, one in the living room and one in our bedroom.

This is essentially like having a great speaker set up in every room with a built-in assistant to let us know the weather, footy score and set alarms for us.

There is only one physical button on the Google Home; this is used to mute the microphone, so any conspiracy theorists out their won’t be paranoid about Google listening in on their conversations.

The two built-in microphones on top of the device also do a great job at picking up your voice, and it actually learns to recognise your voice over time.

When comparing the Google Home design to the Amazon Echo, we found the Google Home to be the better option for us, based on its aesthetic and how easily it fits into any environment.

Google Home Review: Performance

When it comes to the Google Home performance we were super impressed.

Once you set the device up with your Google account, it will listen to you using the microphones up top, and respond to you.

Simply start by saying “Hey-Google” then ask it any question you like, the device will Google it and give you a detailed response.

See Related:

*Google Home Hub Review*
*Google Home Mini Review*
*Google Home Max Review*

Questions like “What is the weather like today?” and “What is the Sunderland football score?” are our most common questions for the device.

We also use the device to play our favourite playlists; so saying “Hey-Google, play an album by Oasis” or “Hey-Google, play my favourite playlist” are great to get you up on an early morning.

The Google Home can give you directions to the nearest McDonalds, set your morning alarm and add items to your shopping list for you.

It is fair to say that Google smarts is a lot better than the one used in the Amazon Echo. Now one thing that we should note is that the Google Home is only a one-person device.

Image: TechAdvisor

This means that it can only recognise one voice, and with there generally being more than one person living in a home, this can become a bit of a problem.

Google will only respond to the named person on the Google Account, which can become annoying and we wished this device were capable of being compatible with multiple users.

The Google Assistant inside the Google Home actually uses Google Search, rather than Bing that the Amazon Echo uses, meaning the Google Assistant can give better, more accurate answers.

We also love that you need to say commands like “OK Google” or “Hey Google” as this avoids the device going off by accident, unlike the horror stories we have heard with Alexa.

One cool feature of the Google Home is that if you have a regular Gmail address, Google Assist can read out your calendar and emails, this is super handy on a morning if you don’t want to trawl through your emails, just a shame it can’t make you a coffee too.

Google has also launched voice calling, which allows you to make free calls from your Google Home to UK mobiles and landlines, you can even set the caller ID to your own personal mobile number so people know it’s you.

Call quality is excellent, and we found it to be on par if not better than using our iPhone.

One of the main reasons to buy a Google Home is for the assistant to pair with your Smart Home tech. So if you have compatible lights in the house, doorbell and even thermostat.

You can use the Google Assistant to turn the lights on or off, turn up the thermostat if it’s a little breezy and even check record CCTV footage if you have a compatible recorder.

This is extremely handy as if someone presses your doorbell, you can be notified through the Google Home speaker, impressive!

You can even set a “wake up word” which allows you to control multiple devices in your home, for example if you have the compatible smart home tech.

You can say “Good Morning Google” as your wake up word and this can turn on the lights, put the kettle on, and even give you real-time updates on the news.

When it comes to the Google Home sound quality, we were extremely impressed, the speakers sound fantastic and offer meaty bass with loud and crisp sound.

For us it is a morning routine to play our favourite playlist once our alarm goes off, giving us that extra kick to get out of bed and get ready for the day.

The Google Home is also compatible with Chromecast, meaning you can plug a Chromecast in and then ask the Google Assistant to cast movies straight on to your smart TV.

This is great for watching sports, finding movies and listening to music. As a whole the Google Home performance aspect is incredible, the things you can do with this device is insane.

We highly recommend investing in the Smart Home light bulbs, doorbells etc if you want to experience the best of what this device can do.

However to buy the Google Home it already costs £129, so you will be looking at more money to get the full package and experience.

One slight annoyance with this device is that it would sometimes not recognise the name of artists, so we would have to repeat our self-2 or 3 times before it recognised what we said.

Throughout this Google Home review the shire amount of features that this device has really surprised us, this device has it all and can really become an essential part of your daily routine.

Google Home Review: Battery Life

Ok so when it comes to battery, the Google Home isn’t really there yet.

There is a slight practicality issue with this device, as it does need to remain plugged in at all times.

This means that when using the device, you must ensure that where you want to place it has a plug socket. So you don’t end up with extension wires all over your home.

LOFT is a portable battery base than does solve this problem, however, you will be looking at an extra £40 for this.

We would highly recommend investing in this, as it does mean you could pop your Google Home anywhere, and it looks a lot neater than having a wire hanging around.

However, if you are not fussed about the wire and moving the device, then plugging it in is your only option for this device.

Google Home Review: Summary

So should you buy the Google Home?

Well if you have £129 lying around, then probably yes!

But do you need a Google Home? Then no. This device is a great gift for someone, however, realistically it’s not an essential purchase.

We love the Google Home design and the fact that it really blends into any environment, and the number of features on this thing is insane.

When I think about not having a Google Home now, I don’t really like that though as I am so used to waking up, checking the weather and the traffic for on the way to work.

Now the fact that it needs to be plugged into a power supply is pretty annoying, and that you will need to purchase a third party base if you want to make this thing portable with no wires is pretty naff.

Although this third party purchase is definitely worth the money for those looking for a wireless experience.

The Google Home speaker is impressive, giving plenty of bass and fantastic sound quality throughout your home.

We recommend checking out our Google Home Hub and Google Home Max review too in case this is more your thing.

We hope you have enjoyed our Google Home review, and feel free to leave a comment, share and check out the best place to purchase up top.