Imagine having a single device that could immediately enhance your experience of apartment living in the same way your laptop helps you work and your smartphone helps you socialise. Google’s latest piece of hardware, Google Home, comes in the form of a little lifestyle-enhancing robot that lives in your apartment with you, fulfilling everyday needs you didn’t even know you had.
Ok Google, what is Google Home?
Google describes its new product as “Your own Google, just for you.” The small device, yours for just $199, sits in your apartment and essentially becomes part of the furniture – and the family. Powered by the Google Assistant (which you will be familiar with if you’ve ever performed a Google voice search), interaction with the device’s functionality begins with two simple words: Ok Google.
Once you have engaged your little helper, it will be at your beck and call, ready to answer any question you have or take any command you deliver with untiring enthusiasm. With an impressive and growing repertoire of capabilities and third party integrations, the scope for improving your lifestyle is vast.
Ok Google, show me what you can do.
The hands-free nature of Google Home is key to its ability to deliver a seamless living experience. Let’s start with the basics. Walk through the door with your hands full of shopping and ask Google to turn your lights on. Wake up in the morning and ask Google to turn the radio on. Hop onto the sofa and ask Google to turn the TV on.
Sounds simple enough. But beyond on and off switch commands, Google Home can respond to almost all questions, ones you never even thought of asking. Ask Google what the weather’s like today when you’re picking out your outfit in the morning. Ask Google what time you have to leave home to make it to work by 9am today. Ask Google to add eggs to your digital shopping list when you’re elbows-deep in cake mixture. Ask Google to remind you to pay your phone bill tonight. The list is endless.
Ok Google, let’s get personal.
For those who live in an apartment alone, Google Home can be more than just functional – it can be a friend. With unlimited knowledge and a few jokes up its sleeve, you’ll probably enjoy having a little chat every now and then.
And for those who don’t live alone and would like to share the functionality of Google Home, you can train the it to recognise up to six separate voices for a personalised experience. For example, each family member can tap into their own Spotify playlists or traffic news specific to their daily commute. Pretty neat if you ask us. And with privacy settings that allow you to hide certain information, you won’t have to worry about a sibling with a similar voice getting Google Home to reveal all your secrets.
In short, Google Home is offering an obedient, round-the-clock personal assistant that creates an entirely fluid way of living for an utterly enhanced lifestyle – without you even having to lift a finger.
Ok Google, we’re in.
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