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Google Home |OT| - I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that outside of the U.S.

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tirminyl

Member
Just picked up one of these, pretty cool so far. I use Google Now all the time on my phone, and this will definitely get some use. I'm surprised it can't set reminders though...

This is one of the first things I tried to do. Really!? How could it not do this?
 

mokeyjoe

Member
No, but those features are currently locked, probably for those reasons. It seems likely that they may implement a similar feature for authentication but there's likely a lot of UI that needs to catch up to the context.

Thing is I don't know if bundling home automation and personal assistant in one device is a good idea. In some ways these are separate functions with separate usage patterns. It makes sense that anyone can use it to play music or turn the lights on or off, but to set reminders and send emails is an individual thing, especially in a household with several people.

One thing I wish my Echo would do is work like a microphone when connected to my phone. It works like a speaker, so I can hear Ok Google responses through it. But if it worked as a mic I could choose to 'OK Google' or 'Alexa' depending on context, and also separating my personal stuff from the generic voice activated stuff. Anyone can 'Alexa' my Echo, but only I could 'OK Google' it.
 

Bad_Boy

time to take my meds
Enjoying my google home a lot more than my echo i sold. Commands seem more natural, and responses are much more acurate. Almost as if google "knows me more". I still gotta get used to saying "hey/okay google" instead of "alexa" though.

My chromecast ultra, not so much. Video quality is great... I can get the google home to play videos via voice. But for some reason my phone doesnt want to play nice. When i hit the chromecast icon in youtube it requests to mirrorlink my phone and not show the chromecast connection thats actually linked in my google home.

EDIT: if you get a Google Home and your Chromecasts stop working restart your router
Holy shit. This fixed my problems. Chromecast now shows up on my phone.

One more thing, How do i get google to play an audible sound to confirm it hears my open command? I dont want to look for the lights every time.


Edit: nvm, figured that out as well. Everything rolling smooth now. Cant wait for more software support.
 

kaskade

Member
Got a hue light set up this morning, very cool. If I wasn't in an apartment I would probably put them in my light switches. I'm kind of bummed though because one of our lamps we use in the living room has some weird bulbs that Hue doesn't make.

Any smart switches work with home so far? I know the samsung one does but it's like 50 bucks.
 

HvySky

Member
Anyone have trouble getting multi-room casting to work correctly? I have a Chromecast Audio in my bedroom and Google Home in my living room. I've created an audio group with both and have voice commands enabled, but when I tell Google to play music on *group name* it only plays music on the Home speaker and not all speakers in the group.
 

mdphilli

Member
Anyone have trouble getting multi-room casting to work correctly? I have a Chromecast Audio in my bedroom and Google Home in my living room. I've created an audio group with both and have voice commands enabled, but when I tell Google to play music on *group name* it only plays music on the Home speaker and not all speakers in the group.

I haven't had a problem with groups, but I'm only using multiple Homes and not a combination of Home and Chromecast Audio. Maybe the CA-Home combo is still buggy? Have you tried deleting and recreatong the group?
 

HvySky

Member
I haven't had a problem with groups, but I'm only using multiple Homes and not a combination of Home and Chromecast Audio. Maybe the CA-Home combo is still buggy? Have you tried deleting and recreatong the group?

I've learned a little more. Turns out if I say "play music" on the audio group it will work fine, but if I tell it to play one of my playlists then it defaults to just Home and therein lies the problem. If I get any more specific than just "music" it stops working.
 

Sky Chief

Member
Anyone have trouble getting multi-room casting to work correctly? I have a Chromecast Audio in my bedroom and Google Home in my living room. I've created an audio group with both and have voice commands enabled, but when I tell Google to play music on *group name* it only plays music on the Home speaker and not all speakers in the group.

I've learned a little more. Turns out if I say "play music" on the audio group it will work fine, but if I tell it to play one of my playlists then it defaults to just Home and therein lies the problem. If I get any more specific than just "music" it stops working.

Weird this works fine for me on a Chromecast Audio and Google Home combo. Maybe try restarting your router or renaming your group?
 

Jzero

Member
Audio groups sound dope I'm probably going to buy a Chromecast enabled sound bar to see how well it works with Home.
 

Dinjooh

Member
Finally got it yesterday and been playing around with it while preparing dinner for a party later this evening.

Sound quality is great. Much as impressions said, this won't be a speaker suited for a party, but it's more than capable as background filler, and i'll be using it tonight for 15 guests as an italian musical backdrop, I expect it to work quite nicely.

It does have it's quirks though, and this might stem from the fact that I'm danish, but I think I put on quite a good american accent. Every time I ask her to 'Turn the music down' she thinks I want to set a timer, which is really annoying. The only way I can get her to consistently change the volume is saying 'Set the volume to (number)' which isn't really that intuitive.

It's also hell getting it to play less known artist from Spotify. I wanted to listen to some danish bands and that's almost impossible without saying the song title name and hoping she picks the right one.

So mainly it's software wise that she's annoying me, which is fine, that can be fixed - the hardware is wonderful though.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
My wife and I are looking at either this, or the Amazon Echo Dot, for Christmas presents for the kids. We'd like to get one for each of them, for their rooms. Are there any issues with having two different ones in the house? Can they operate independently? The Echo's have some issues with there are multiple ones (can't both listen to music, apparently).
 

Jzero

Member
My wife and I are looking at either this, or the Amazon Echo Dot, for Christmas presents for the kids. We'd like to get one for each of them, for their rooms. Are there any issues with having two different ones in the house? Can they operate independently? The Echo's have some issues with there are multiple ones (can't both listen to music, apparently).

It's already going to be on sale for $30 off
I really want to get a second one but i'm broke

The only time you'll have issues is when you're trying to use the same account at the same time.
To fix that just make them their own accounts
 

GhaleonEB

Member
It's already going to be on sale for $30 off
I really want to get a second one but i'm broke

The only time you'll have issues is when you're trying to use the same account at the same time.
To fix that just make them their own accounts

Thanks. They both have their own google accounts, so it sounds like we'll be fine. Appreciated. (We'll snag it on sale.)

Edit: of course, one doesn't have a smart phone, and the other has an older gen iPhone. Seems we need to pair it with one, unless we can control them from desktop somehow.
 

Dinjooh

Member
Thanks. They both have their own google accounts, so it sounds like we'll be fine. Appreciated. (We'll snag it on sale.)

Edit: of course, one doesn't have a smart phone, and the other has an older gen iPhone. Seems we need to pair it with one, unless we can control them from desktop somehow.

As far as I know, there's no way to control the GHome from a desktop at least. But after initial setup I haven't had any need to use my phone.
 

Weckum

Member
Annoying that I can't add stuff to my calendar yet or set reminders :(

Also, my Spotify is giving me problems and I don't know why.
 

Futureman

Member
I have a Jawbone bluetooth speaker that's like 3 years old. It was like $300 when I bought it. Wonder if I could sell that to fund a Google Home?

Does Google Home connect to your phone? Like how does it play Spotify? what if my phone battery died, would it still be able to tap into Spotify?
 

Weckum

Member
I have a Jawbone bluetooth speaker that's like 3 years old. It was like $300 when I bought it. Wonder if I could sell that to fund a Google Home?

Does Google Home connect to your phone? Like how does it play Spotify? what if my phone battery died, would it still be able to tap into Spotify?

As long as the Home is connected to your wifi, you don't even need your phone.
 

Jzero

Member
Bought an Echo Dot as a Christmas gift for my brother, we'll see how it differs from my Google Home.
 

blitz64

Member
I got this at Bestbuy black friday sale for $99. I like it so far.

I'm just afraid I might stop using it after a month.
 

Jzero

Member
Alright so I finally have both in my home and I'm surprised how different they are

• Home responds slower but is miles smarter and does/responds correctly 95% of the time
• Echo responds quicker but she is really dumb and often hears/does the wrong thing

Edit:

IFTTT is amazing

2NNNGen.png
 
Alright so I finally have both in my home and I'm surprised how different they are

• Home responds slower but is miles smarter and does/responds correctly 95% of the time
• Echo responds quicker but she is really dumb and often hears/does the wrong thing

Agreed. Sadly the sound quality on the Home is much worse in my opinion.
 

dskillzhtown

keep your strippers out of my American football
I bought Home during the Black Friday special. In fact I bought 2 of them. One in the bedroom, the other in the kitchen. I akin it to a smartphone, you don't absolutely need it, but it comes in handy. In the morning I ask it to tell me about my day and get the weather, traffic and news for the day. In the kitchen I play music on it while cooking/cleaning and have it set timers for me. I use it to answer questions I would have gone to my chromebook for before. Like asking how far of a drive is it to another city, what foods to avoid giving my dog, who won a game the night before, etc. It has been worth it for me.
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
The advertising and intros to the news podcasts are incredibly annoying. Why aren't we allowed to hook up premium podcasts without that garbage?
 
Love our google home, use it as a music streamer and question answered. Wil be giving these things out for christmas. What I need most is for it to control my Lutrons and I guess my rachio, but that would be more of a novelty.
 

HvySky

Member
Anyone seeing Netflix or Google photos integration yet?

Apparently the option to link Netflix and Google Photos accounts is showing up for some people, but the integration isn't working yet. My Home app just updated, but I still don't see the options for Photos & Video.
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Netflix was on my Home since day one. Day one was last Friday.
 
Had to get a chromecast to try it out with home and really enjoy it, but it seems like we're not. Getting the Netflix rollout others have gotten. Home itself wil respond and say that our account is not linked but the spot on he phone app doesn't show to link, very frustrating. Any way to force an update?
 
Had to get a chromecast to try it out with home and really enjoy it, but it seems like we're not. Getting the Netflix rollout others have gotten. Home itself wil respond and say that our account is not linked but the spot on he phone app doesn't show to link, very frustrating. Any way to force an update?

Join the Google app beta
 

HvySky

Member
Netflix and Google Photos integration is up for me now. Works perfectly, so far. No trouble having Google cast Arrow to my TV, pause, skip forward or backward specified times, etc. Will be using this a lot.
 

TMC

Member
Anyone have both the Echo and the Google Home? I have the Echo, but I am really interested in the Google Home for better responses to general questions and Netflix integration.

The Echo has native Harmony integration which I really enjoy. It's what I use it for most. It also seems that the Echo is better for music as it has a better speaker.

What do you guys think? Worth keeping both?
 

RuGalz

Member
Google photo integration makes Home and photos quite awesome to use. I want to go back and upload more photos... Too bad it doesn't seem to be able to play video from my library.

I wish there's more control over what categories of personal results are granted to Home. The only thing i want it to have access to are photos and shopping list.
 

Kthulhu

Member
Has anyone had a problem with the alarm? I swear I'm either sleeping through it or it isn't going off.

My wifi is spotty in my room, does that make a difference?
 

Jzero

Member
Has anyone had a problem with the alarm? I swear I'm either sleeping through it or it isn't going off.

My wifi is spotty in my room, does that make a difference?

I think you just need to put the volume on max. It's the best alarm i've used.
 

ant_

not characteristic of ants at all
I can't believe I can't use home to set reminders. Even worse, when I'm home and near my Google Home, I can no longer set reminders via voice on my phone.
 
Google Home has been decent so far. I've mulled over ideas of future integrations of the device after I noticed that Google Home said "I'm sorry, I can't help with that right now", or something to that extent, after it picked up a phone ringing off the television set. The future of the device is wondrous - yet terrifying - to ponder.
 
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