I've Gone and Bought a Google Home Mini

Kintarō Hattori

Hey Folks,

I ordered one from Google UK on Wednesday last week, it arrived in Parcel Motel on the Friday morning. First time using Parcel Motel and am very impressed.

So, the point of this thread really is to pick your brains about a few things, if you don't mind. I'd naturally like to automate the lights in the house and I'm wondering what route to go down. Is the IKEA range of lights a good place to start? I'm not sure if the support is there just yet but I know they had announced support for Home to be included very shortly. If not IKEA, any suggestions? Naturally I could go with Hue but that strikes me as expensive. Are the Yeelights from Xiaomi an option?

So far I've just used it to play music from Spotify and casting things from Netflix is pretty cool. I plan on getting a Nest in soon so that'll add to the functionality. I don't subscribe nor plan to subscribe to TuneIn so that's not really an option as I don't listen to the radio. The missus likes Lyric FM- other than TuneIn is there a way to automate that?


Can you recommend anything else?

bk

I don't think it supports Ikea lights yet, though it was announced that it was coming. I do think it recently gained Yeelights support, but personally no experience.

Hue lights work fantastically well with it and while a little more expensive, personally I think they are worth it for the greater range of products, advanced features and broad support. But yes they are more expensive, worth keeping an eye out for the upcoming sales.

Nest of course would work well with it, but other thermostats too like Netatmo, Tado, etc. do too, in case you need other options.

wexfordman2

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Hey Folks,

I ordered one from Google UK on Wednesday last week, it arrived in Parcel Motel on the Friday morning. First time using Parcel Motel and am very impressed.

So, the point of this thread really is to pick your brains about a few things, if you don't mind. I'd naturally like to automate the lights in the house and I'm wondering what route to go down. Is the IKEA range of lights a good place to start? I'm not sure if the support is there just yet but I know they had announced support for Home to be included very shortly. If not IKEA, any suggestions? Naturally I could go with Hue but that strikes me as expensive. Are the Yeelights from Xiaomi an option?

So far I've just used it to play music from Spotify and casting things from Netflix is pretty cool. I plan on getting a Nest in soon so that'll add to the functionality. I don't subscribe nor plan to subscribe to TuneIn so that's not really an option as I don't listen to the radio. The missus likes Lyric FM- other than TuneIn is there a way to automate that?


Can you recommend anything else?

You dont need to subscribe to tunein, it just works!

Kintarō Hattori

wexfordman2 wrote: »

You dont need to subscribe to tunein, it just works!

Ah I didn't know that. That'll help the missus warm to the Mini so. She's slightly freaked out by the direction technology is going.

I meant to ask, I have the temp in the app set to Celsius but when I ask the temperature it's giving it in Fahrenheit. Any ideas?

donspeekinglesh

If one person sets a timer. can another person check it?
And what have people done for the small people in their house? I have a 5 year old, should I set him up with a Gmail account?

BattlingCheese

They can. You can also have a number of concurrent timers going.
"Set a timer for chicken for 80mins"
"Set a timer for potatoes for 45mins"
"How long is left on the chicken timer"
etc.


No need for their own gmail account. It will work fine on yours.
I have a 2year old who loves the animal noises and songs.
"What does a cow, sheep, cat, dog, dolphin sound like" etc.
Older kids love the games like madlibs, guess my age and akinator.

Other games listed here
https://www.cnet.com/uk/how-to/games-you-can-play-with-google-home/

bk

BattlingCheese wrote: »

No need for their own gmail account. It will work fine on yours.
I have a 2year old who loves the animal noises and songs.
"What does a cow, sheep, cat, dog, dolphin sound like" etc.

Exactly the same here, my 2 year old LOVES those animal noises

It is one of the things that has me leaning towards GHome, it is just fun

OldBean

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I meant to ask, I have the temp in the app set to Celsius but when I ask the temperature it's giving it in Fahrenheit. Any ideas?

Have you enabled voice recognition? Should work after that. Other option is to just say "Hey Google, use Celsius instead of Fahrenheit" but you've probably tried that already

donspeekinglesh wrote: »

If one person sets a timer. can another person check it?

Yep!

Kintarō Hattori

OldBean wrote: »

Have you enabled voice recognition? Should work after that. Other option is to just say "Hey Google, use Celsius instead of Fahrenheit" but you've probably tried that already



Yep!

How do you mean voice recognition? I've been asking it things and it's responded so I thought that was OK.

In relation to your second point, nope, I didn't know that and that's rather cool. I'll do that tonight.

Animal noises, that's amazing. I'll convince the missus yet that technology isn't creepy.

BattlingCheese

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Ah I didn't know that. That'll help the missus warm to the Mini so. She's slightly freaked out by the direction technology is going.

I meant to ask, I have the temp in the app set to Celsius but when I ask the temperature it's giving it in Fahrenheit. Any ideas?

There are 2 places to change the weather. Try changing it here too.

1. Launch the Google Home App.
2. Tap the Menu icon at the top Left (3 horizontal lines)
3. Tap "... More settings"
4. Tap "My Day"
5. Tap the Gear Icon to the right of Weather.

wexfordman2

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

How do you mean voice recognition? I've been asking it things and it's responded so I thought that was OK.

In relation to your second point, nope, I didn't know that and that's rather cool. I'll do that tonight.

Animal noises, that's amazing. I'll convince the missus yet that technology isn't creepy.

Voice recognigiton means recognising individual voices, so it knows who is talking to it, you do it by adding multiple accounts, so one for you, one for herself, and if you want then one for the kids.

It means when you ask it questions, add reminders etc, they are tailored to your account automatically/

OldBean

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Voice recognigiton means recognising individual voices, so it knows who is talking to it, you do it by adding multiple accounts, so one for you, one for herself, and if you want then one for the kids.

It means when you ask it questions, add reminders etc, they are tailored to your account automatically/

Exactly, it'll remember things like whether you use F or C for temperature - my wife works in Fahrenheit. Very handy!

Kintarō Hattori

wexfordman2 wrote: »

Voice recognigiton means recognising individual voices, so it knows who is talking to it, you do it by adding multiple accounts, so one for you, one for herself, and if you want then one for the kids.

It means when you ask it questions, add reminders etc, they are tailored to your account automatically/

OldBean wrote: »

Exactly, it'll remember things like whether you use F or C for temperature - my wife works in Fahrenheit. Very handy!

That's fantastic.

Kintarō Hattori

bk wrote: »

Hue lights work fantastically well with it and while a little more expensive, personally I think they are worth it for the greater range of products, advanced features and broad support. But yes they are more expensive, worth keeping an eye out for the upcoming sales.

I'm quite open to getting Hue lights instead of the IKEA ones. What are the additional options that the Hue would offer over other competing bulbs?

bk

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I'm quite open to getting Hue lights instead of the IKEA ones. What are the additional options that the Hue would offer over other competing bulbs?

- Greater variety of devices, check out Hue Blooms, Hue Lightstrips, Hue Go, Hue candle bulbs, etc.
- Probably the most open and well integrated with other Smart devices, the list is almost exhausting. Native support for Alexa, GHome, IFTTT, Stringify, Yonomi, Nest, Logitech Harmony, etc. etc.
- Hue App is very mature and has loads of great features like wake up timers, sleep timers, sunrise/sunset automations, advanced scenes, etc.
- Just dozens of third party apps that do cool things like disco lights to music, halloween/christmas/party themes, etc.
- The cool integration with GHome for Halloween/Christmas is tons of fun.

Of course Ikea seems like a great option too and they are of course scrambling to bring out some of the above too, but it feels like it isn't half as mature yet.

Having said that, I got most of my Hue gear over the years in various sales, so that made the price difference was much smaller and worth it for the greater maturity for me. You should think about how many bulbs you will need and if you can wait for sales, etc.

Kintarō Hattori

bk wrote: »

- Greater variety of devices, check out Hue Blooms, Hue Lightstrips, Hue Go, Hue candle bulbs, etc.
- Probably the most open and well integrated with other Smart devices, the list is almost exhausting. Native support for Alexa, GHome, IFTTT, Stringify, Yonomi, Nest, Logitech Harmony, etc. etc.
- Hue App is very mature and has loads of great features like wake up timers, sleep timers, sunrise/sunset automations, advanced scenes, etc.
- Just dozens of third party apps that do cool things like disco lights to music, halloween/christmas/party themes, etc.
- The cool integration with GHome for Halloween/Christmas is tons of fun.

Of course Ikea seems like a great option too and they are of course scrambling to bring out some of the above too, but it feels like it isn't half as mature yet.

Having said that, I got most of my Hue gear over the years in various sales, so that made the price difference was much smaller and worth it for the greater maturity for me. You should think about how many bulbs you will need and if you can wait for sales, etc.

Hi bk, many thanks for that comprehensive reply. It's certainly made me think twice and I'll look to go down the Hue route. I had blinkers on to some degree as the missus works for IKEA so I wasn't really thinking of the bigger picture.
I'll be happy enough to start off small and sure once I have the starter kit with the bridge I can expand the products as and when sales pop up.

Many thanks again for your time and information.

bk

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I'll be happy enough to start off small and sure once I have the starter kit with the bridge I can expand the products as and when sales pop up.

No bother at all. That is exactly how I started out. A nice starter kit and build from there. The Black Friday sales and the mid year Prime Sales are the big ones to watch out for. But also put camelcamelcamel alerts on products you are interested in. Deals can pop up throughout the year.

Of course it seems some of the Ikea bulbs will also work with the Hue Hub, so that would be an option too, perhaps for some of the less important rooms.

BTW I also love Ikea and have far too much Ikea stuff too

Kintarō Hattori

Chaps, do you have a recommendation for a smart Wi-Fi plug? I want to be able to turn on an electric radiator at specific times during the night.

Thanks.

bk

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Chaps, do you have a recommendation for a smart Wi-Fi plug? I want to be able to turn on an electric radiator at specific times during the night.

Thanks.

I like the TP-Link plugs. Works well with GHome.

Kintarō Hattori

bk wrote: »

I like the TP-Link plugs. Works well with GHome.

Just ordered one, thanks. From nothing smart a week ago to having a mini, nest due at the end of this month and a smart socket on the way.... I think I'm on a slippery slope.

Kintarō Hattori

So the Yeelights from Xiaomi that I ordered in September arrived today. Haven't had the chance to test them out properly but first impressions are that they are relatively decent. There's voice control with Home.
I might pick up some Hue bulbs if they are going cheap around Black Friday. Whichever one is least impressive I can relegate to little used rooms.

randombar

Hi Lads, ordered 3 of the small ones (went a bit mad) what's the sound like out of them, I've a couple of dots about the place, playing sleepy music to the little fella etc. and they're grand.

Kintarō Hattori

GaryCocs wrote: »

Hi Lads, ordered 3 of the small ones (went a bit mad) what's the sound like out of them, I've a couple of dots about the place, playing sleepy music to the little fella etc. and they're grand.

They'll be much like the dots really. Fine for very light use but not something you'd use to sit down and listen to some tunes on. I use mine for lullabies for my daughter and that's fine.

randombar

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

They'll be much like the dots really. Fine for very light use but not something you'd use to sit down and listen to some tunes on. I use mine for lullabies for my daughter and that's fine.

Yup brahms lullaby playlist on spotify.

One reason I'm moving.

Echo play brahms lullaby playlist.

- cant find .. . .

Echo play brahms lullaby playlist.

- cant find .. . .

Echo play brahms lullaby playlist.

- playing . .. .

But now it's stopped altogether.

OldBean

For sleepy music, it'll be fine. Very noticeable difference to the Google Homes though, especially from further distances - 5 metres and further. Then again, I've always been pretty impressed with the sound from the Home units, considering what they are.

setanta1984

Got my GHome Mini delivered today - well impressed with it compared to the Echo Dot, sound quality is far superior, and very serviceable overall for a small speaker. Voice sounds much less tinny and harsh, much more natural sounding. Music is unlistenable directly from the Dot IMO, much more pleasurable from the Mini.

Combined with CC Audios in every room connected to quality speakers it's the perfect match for me.
While the 3.5mm out from the Dot is good on paper, having to route all audio through that external speaker is inconvenient, especially if multiple sources are connected to it, or it's a speaker that doesn't like being left on permanently. And if wired, the speaker is going to be very close making the mics far less effective when music is playing. CC Audio on the other side of the room is ideal, music can play and replies to a command are totally seperate.

Voice detection is also far better than the Dot, not noticed any worse performance than the full size Home.

A much nicer product overall than the Dot, I think.

Have the full size Home in the living room/kitchen, Mini in the bedroom and now I want another one to get rid of the Dot from the office

mloc123

My mini arrived yesterday, have a full size since last week. I am very surprised by the mini, sound quality is quite good... good enough to listen to in home office or bedroom. I ordered another two full size yesterday... one for the kitchen and one for my office room.

Kintarō Hattori

I've convinced the missus we can ditch the amp and speakers in the living room (put them into storage) and get a full sized unit. Woo Hoo.

Kintarō Hattori

I picked up the Google Home from Parcel Motel on Friday..... wow it's much dinkier than I had imagined. I don't know why but I had thought it would be a bit bigger but regardless it's a nice little piece of kit. I agree with the general consensus that it's a little too 'bassy' but seemingly that can be adjusted from the app. I like it's muted design and the sound is definitely an improvement over the mini.

Phil.x

if I got one of these can I just say "OK Google Play BBC Radio 4" and away it plays.

Kintarō Hattori

Phil.x wrote: »

if I got one of these can I just say "OK Google Play BBC Radio 4" and away it plays.

If the station is available on Tunein and you have that installed on your phone, then certainly.

Edit: Seemingly it is:

https://tunein.com/radio/BBC-c467491/