Google Home announced

wexfordman2

Looks like multi account with voice recognition is on the way

https://www.google.ie/amp/www.pocket-lint.com/news/140454-google-home-may-add-multiple-user-support-and-voice-recognition.amphtml

Ozzymc

Hello
I just got my google home from the USA today. What adapter / power supply do I need to get so i can plug it in? Is it 230v?
Thanks

bk

Ozzymc wrote: »

Hello
I just got my google home from the USA today. What adapter / power supply do I need to get so i can plug it in? Is it 230v?
Thanks

Just a simple US to UK plug adaptor. It supports both 110 to 220v.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

bk

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

No, not on the iPhone anyway, Android might have better integration.

You can ask how much time is left using GHome:
"Hey Google, how much time left?"

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

donspeekinglesh

Can you have more than one timer running at a time?

OldBean

Yep, I often set up a few when I'm cooking to remind me when to turn/baste food.

Ozzymcd

bk wrote: »

Just a simple US to UK plug adaptor. It supports both 110 to 220v.

Hello
I just wanted to clarify I have a normal plug adaptor so can I plug in my google home from America straight into my 220 plug and it won't blow! I tried a set of hair clippers I got from America and it went on fire :-(

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

bk

Ozzymcd wrote: »

Hello
I just wanted to clarify I have a normal plug adaptor so can I plug in my google home from America straight into my 220 plug and it won't blow! I tried a set of hair clippers I got from America and it went on fire :-(

Always read the back of the plug, it will say right there what it will support.

The GHome plug will say something like Input: 110v - 220v

This is the case for most consumer electrical items, PC chargers, etc. But always a good idea to check.

Your Hair Clippers probably said something like Input: 110v

Which meant it would only work in the US and countries with 110v. This is often the case for things like hairdryers, thongs, etc.

shootermacg

Is there any store selling these in ireland yet?

bk

shootermacg wrote: »

Is there any store selling these in ireland yet?

No, but easy to get using Parcel Motel, etc.

argentum

Just bought one from Argos UK and got it delivered via parcel motel...Free Google Chromecast with each one until end of June

shootermacg

Just bought it from the google store. I have a dot, so it will be interesting to compare them.

Black_Knight

shootermacg wrote: »

Just bought it from the google store. I have a dot, so it will be interesting to compare them.

Not the Irish Google store anyways. Still not showing for me there.

shootermacg

Black_Knight wrote: »

Not the Irish Google store anyways. Still not showing for me there.

Yeah, they're not selling to Ireland atm, so I selected the UK flag.

WalkOn

Just got one from the UK, John Lewis 2nd hand for ~€90 worth every cent. Nice sound, shame that the lowest volume is still quite high and you have to use your phone to lower even more. TuneIn radio doesnt work that well though

bk

WalkOn wrote: »

Just got one from the UK, John Lewis 2nd hand for ~€90 worth every cent. Nice sound, shame that the lowest volume is still quite high and you have to use your phone to lower even more. TuneIn radio doesnt work that well though

Can you link to where you got it for that price?

TuneIn doesn't really work well on either Amazon Echo or GHome. More to do with tunein service then the devices.

Black_Knight

bk wrote: »

Can you link to where you got it for that price?

TuneIn doesn't really work well on either Amazon Echo or GHome. More to do with tunein service then the devices.

I've been pretty impressed with TuneIn to be honest. I'd be equally impressed to see a link for GHome for ~€90

guyfawkes5

Just in case this helps, any issues I had linking my Netflix account to my Google Mini was resolved when I switched the language on my phone to English (United Kingdom) instead of English (Ireland).

Once I did this, I could then see Netflix appear in 'Videos and Photos' in 'More Settings' in the Google Home app.

thecivvie

guyfawkes5 wrote: »

Just in case this helps, any issues I had linking my Netflix account to my Google Mini was resolved when I switched the language on my phone to English (United Kingdom) instead of English (Ireland).

Once I did this, I could then see Netflix appear in 'Videos and Photos' in 'More Settings' in the Google Home app.

Does it work? Mine never removed but won't work

Lochlannach

Got a google home in the black friday sale direct from Google and got around to setting it up a couple of evenings ago...

Two issues I noticed immediately:
1. The assistant volume is way too low. When set to a volume level I'm happy with for music the assistant cannot be heard unless you're right beside the unit. There appears to be no way of changing this volume independently at the moment - if anyone knows any different feel free to share the details.

2. TuneIn. This is not at all good and it's at it's worst on the home.
There are a few stations I regularly play on TuneIn and have saved as presets on the app on my phone. These pretty much just work.
I have the assistant on my phone and in use through Android Auto in the car. Asking it to play a station is somewhat patchy - it usually gets what I'm saying correctly but can often lock up TuneIn trying to play the station feed (usually requiring a force stop to reset). A couple of the stations are reported as not being available despite being able to select & play them manually (via Android Auto).
On the home it will get what I'm saying and then nothing - I'm assuming it's similar to the Android Auto situation just that I've no visuals to confirm. Again some of the stations are reported as not being available despite being able to select them manually. However I've also noted that it appears worse on the home - one station is reported by the home as not being available but is recognised via Android Auto (even if it doesn't always start correctly).

This annoys me. I've found many people complaining about both of these issues for a while and nothing seems to be coming of it.

bk

Lochlannach wrote: »

Got a google home in the black friday sale direct from Google and got around to setting it up a couple of evenings ago...

Two issues I noticed immediately:
1. The assistant volume is way too low. When set to a volume level I'm happy with for music the assistant cannot be heard unless you're right beside the unit. There appears to be no way of changing this volume independently at the moment - if anyone knows any different feel free to share the details.

I find the assistant and music volume to be pretty much the same.

However a lot of people have asked for the feature to be able to separate out the volume for general requests from music, so hopefully that will come.

You can actually kind of do that now, if you have Chromecast Audio connected to other speakers.

Lochlannach wrote: »

2. TuneIn. This is not at all good and it's at it's worst on the home.
There are a few stations I regularly play on TuneIn and have saved as presets on the app on my phone. These pretty much just work.
I have the assistant on my phone and in use through Android Auto in the car. Asking it to play a station is somewhat patchy - it usually gets what I'm saying correctly but can often lock up TuneIn trying to play the station feed (usually requiring a force stop to reset). A couple of the stations are reported as not being available despite being able to select & play them manually (via Android Auto).
On the home it will get what I'm saying and then nothing - I'm assuming it's similar to the Android Auto situation just that I've no visuals to confirm. Again some of the stations are reported as not being available despite being able to select them manually. However I've also noted that it appears worse on the home - one station is reported by the home as not being available but is recognised via Android Auto (even if it doesn't always start correctly).

This annoys me. I've found many people complaining about both of these issues for a while and nothing seems to be coming of it.

Tunein is pretty variable on both GH and Alexa. Though you might be surprised to hear that it is even worse on Alexa then it is on GH!

Given that it has issues on both, I'm convinced the issue is really with the Tunein service rather then GH/Alexa specifically.

I do agree that it would be better if you could link your tunein account with GH and have it support presets and maybe learn your preferences and default to those if it isn't sure.

I will however say that Google does have a very good track record of delivering features that people were looking for over the past year. Multiuser accounts, Calendar, shortcuts, equalizer and more device support were all things people had previously been looking for which they happily delivered.

These aren't issues that a customer support person can fix for you. They are bugs/feature requests that get logged with the development team, who review and prioritise them, then work on them and finally test them before realising.

Lochlannach

bk wrote: »

I find the assistant and music volume to be pretty much the same.

However a lot of people have asked for the feature to be able to separate out the volume for general requests from music, so hopefully that will come.

You can actually kind of do that now, if you have Chromecast Audio connected to other speakers.



Tunein is pretty variable on both GH and Alexa. Though you might be surprised to hear that it is even worse on Alexa then it is on GH!

Given that it has issues on both, I'm convinced the issue is really with the Tunein service rather then GH/Alexa specifically.

I do agree that it would be better if you could link your tunein account with GH and have it support presets and maybe learn your preferences and default to those if it isn't sure.

I will however say that Google does have a very good track record of delivering features that people were looking for over the past year. Multiuser accounts, Calendar, shortcuts, equalizer and more device support were all things people had previously been looking for which they happily delivered.

These aren't issues that a customer support person can fix for you. They are bugs/feature requests that get logged with the development team, who review and prioritise them, then work on them and finally test them before realising.

I'm long enough in software to recognise limitations requiring development rather than something that can be fixed by tweaking some settings

I noted though that some of the discussions on these items date back a bit. Here's hoping though

Wrong thread, most likely, but what's the best/cheapest way to start with lighting integrated with GHome? Want to get some motion sensors and lights for the bathrooms/halls, bulbs for the bedside lamps and some solution for the kitchen (6 GU10 & 1 pendant in dining end) and living room (7 GU10) ideally without breaking the bank. Ideally with option of manual control that's not going to cause upset by not recognising state changes (would bug me). Is hue really the only option for dimming/motion/timer/etc. control? I'm not afraid of something that requires a bit of effort to get going but it needs to be wife friendly once up and running.

bk

Lochlannach wrote: »

Wrong thread, most likely, but what's the best/cheapest way to start with lighting integrated with GHome? Want to get some motion sensors and lights for the bathrooms/halls, bulbs for the bedside lamps and some solution for the kitchen (6 GU10 & 1 pendant in dining end) and living room (7 GU10) ideally without breaking the bank. Ideally with option of manual control that's not going to cause upset by not recognising state changes (would bug me). Is hue really the only option for dimming/motion/timer/etc. control? I'm not afraid of something that requires a bit of effort to get going but it needs to be wife friendly once up and running.

Based on all that you are looking for above I'd really recommend Hue.

As you are looking for GU10's, you are basically limited to only Hue or the new Ikea bulbs. I don't think any other platform has smart GU10's.

At a glance, the Ikea might look a small bit cheaper, but if you get your Hue gear in various sales, it actually works out being cheaper, at least it was in my case and Hue is a far more mature and full featured platform.

Like yourself, being wife friendly was priority number 1 for me too and Hue has been rock solid in this regard. I've a Hue Dimmer switch in each room next to the old light switch, which allows easy, non techie control of the lights by OH, babysitters, etc. also cover over the old light switch with an accessible cover which allows access to it if need be in an emergency, but to be honest we haven't had to use that.

Hue motion sensors are great and pairing them with routines is great. This is where the maturity of Hue really shines, sunset routines are awesome, motion sensors triggering different scenes (including brightness) when motion detected at different times of the day, etc.

The other option you have is to go with smart light switches. Like LightwaveRF, so you don't change the bulb, just continue to use the existing bulbs and control them at the switch instead. The advantage is that if you have a lot of bulbs off one switch then it can be cheaper then buying lots of Hue bulbs. But the downside is you are then limited to on/of/dimming. No White Ambiance, no Colour, no integration with light strips, hue lamps, etc and non of the more advanced software features, etc. It really depends on what you want to do.

If you do decide to go with Hue, the key is to buy Hue kit in the various sales, Black Friday, January sales, Prime sales, etc. Also some of the Ikea bulbs can work with the Hue bridge, so that might be an option.