The Gemini-Powered Google Home Speaker Is Finally Here
The Gemini-Powered Google Home Speaker Is Finally Here
搭载 Gemini 的 Google Home 智能音箱终于来了
The last time Google released a smart speaker, the world was in the throes of a pandemic. Yes, it’s been six years since the company trotted out a dedicated speaker. 上一次谷歌发布智能音箱时，世界正处于疫情的阵痛之中。没错，距离该公司推出上一款专用音箱已经过去六年了。
However, this newest Google Home Speaker brings a big change with it: The device has been redesigned to showcase the new Gemini assistant instead of the Google Assistant that powered all previous speakers and smart displays. 然而，这款最新的 Google Home 智能音箱带来了一项重大变革：该设备经过重新设计，旨在展示全新的 Gemini 助手，而非此前驱动所有音箱和智能显示屏的 Google Assistant。
Google announced the speaker last fall alongside new Nest smart home cameras and video doorbells, promising a spring 2026 launch. We’re well into summer now, but it’s finally go time. 谷歌去年秋天在发布新款 Nest 智能家居摄像头和可视门铃时宣布了这款音箱，并承诺于 2026 年春季推出。现在已是盛夏，但它终于正式登场了。
The company today announced that preorders for the Google Home Speaker start June 17, with official sales kicking off June 25. It costs $100 and comes in Berry, Jade, Hazel, and Porcelain, though the first two colors are exclusive to the US. 该公司今日宣布，Google Home 智能音箱将于 6 月 17 日开启预订，并于 6 月 25 日正式发售。售价为 100 美元，提供浆果红（Berry）、翡翠绿（Jade）、榛果灰（Hazel）和瓷白（Porcelain）四种颜色，其中前两种颜色仅限美国市场。
The experience of using it should feel familiar if you’ve owned other smart speakers. You wake Gemini through the “Hey, Google” hot word and ask it questions. But Gemini is leaps and bounds better than the old Google Assistant at understanding natural conversation, so your queries do not need to be as rigid, and you won’t need to ask things in multiple ways to get what you want. Even if you make an error in your original ask, you can stop and rephrase your question midway through—just like you would if you were talking to a human—and Gemini will understand your intent. 如果你曾使用过其他智能音箱，那么它的使用体验会让你感到熟悉。你可以通过“Hey, Google”唤醒 Gemini 并向其提问。但 Gemini 在理解自然对话方面比旧版 Google Assistant 强得多，因此你的指令无需过于死板，也不必为了得到想要的结果而反复尝试不同的问法。即使你在提问时说错了，也可以中途停下来重新组织语言——就像与真人交谈一样——Gemini 依然能理解你的意图。
You can string multiple commands in one sentence, and Gemini should be able to take care of them. You can be hyper-specific—turn off all the lights except my bedside lamp—and it’ll parse it through. You can ask follow-up conversations without having to bring up the original context all over again; like with the Google Assistant speakers, the microphone stays on for a brief window after Gemini answers a question so that you can ask a follow-up without having to say the wake phrase again. This feature, called Continued Conversation, had been available only in English on the Assistant-powered speakers, but the feature has expanded to all supported languages. 你可以将多个指令串联在一个句子中，Gemini 能够处理这些请求。你可以提出非常具体的指令——例如“关掉除了床头灯以外所有的灯”——它也能准确解析。你还可以进行追问，而无需重新提及原始语境；与之前的 Google Assistant 音箱一样，在 Gemini 回答问题后，麦克风会保持开启一小段时间，这样你无需再次说出唤醒词即可进行后续提问。这项名为“持续对话”（Continued Conversation）的功能此前仅在搭载 Assistant 的音箱上支持英语，但现在已扩展至所有支持的语言。
If you have security cameras, you can use Gemini to ask specifically about anything the cameras might have seen, like “Did FedEx drop a package off today?” or “Did the dog eat a cookie off the counter?” You don’t need the Google Home Speaker for this specific feature—if you’ve opted into Gemini for your existing Google Home, it’s already available—though its inclusion here is a nice convenience. 如果你安装了安防摄像头，可以使用 Gemini 询问摄像头捕捉到的具体内容，例如“今天联邦快递送包裹了吗？”或“狗把柜台上的饼干吃了吗？”虽然这项功能并不一定需要 Google Home 智能音箱（如果你已在现有的 Google Home 中启用了 Gemini，该功能已经可用），但将其集成在音箱中确实更加方便。
As for what Gemini sounds like, there are 10 voices to choose from. You can also trigger Gemini Live—while Gemini expanded to older smart speakers last fall, this “Live” capability is restricted to newer devices like the Nest Audio and Google Home Speaker. Enter this mode by saying, “Hey Google, let’s talk,” and you can have a back-and-forth conversation with Gemini; no need to pause and say the wake word. 至于 Gemini 的音色，共有 10 种可供选择。你还可以触发 Gemini Live——尽管 Gemini 在去年秋天已扩展至旧款智能音箱，但这种“Live”功能仅限于 Nest Audio 和 Google Home 智能音箱等较新的设备。通过说“Hey Google, let’s talk”即可进入该模式，你可以与 Gemini 进行来回对话，无需停顿或重复唤醒词。
The caveat is that the Gemini Live experience is available only if you subscribe to Google Home Premium. (Anyone who buys the Google Home Speaker gets six months of this service for free.) Other subscription perks include the ability to easily set up automations with natural language, 30 days of event video history, and smarter notifications from security cameras. (There’s another Advanced tier that unlocks even more.) 需要注意的是，Gemini Live 体验仅在订阅 Google Home Premium 后才可用。（购买 Google Home 智能音箱的用户可免费获得六个月的服务。）其他订阅福利包括：通过自然语言轻松设置自动化、30 天的事件视频历史记录，以及来自安防摄像头的更智能通知。（此外还有一个 Advanced 高级层级，可解锁更多功能。）
Anish Kattukaran, chief product officer at Google Nest and Google Home, says the speaker runs local models that better isolate sound, meaning the Google Home Speaker will filter out background noise to better identify when you’re talking to it. Also new is a glowing ring of lights at the base of the speaker that lights up the surface around it, making it easier to identify when the speaker is listening or churning through a request. Google Nest 和 Google Home 的首席产品官 Anish Kattukaran 表示，该音箱运行本地模型，能更好地隔离声音，这意味着 Google Home 智能音箱将过滤背景噪音，从而更准确地识别你何时在与它交谈。另一项新设计是音箱底部的发光环，它能照亮周围的表面，让你更容易识别音箱何时在监听或处理请求。
(Google seems to be bringing back these kinds of LED visual indicators. Its upcoming Googlebooks platform will have dedicated Glow Bars, and rumors indicate its next Pixel phones may feature something similar.) （谷歌似乎正在回归这类 LED 可视化指示灯。其即将推出的 Googlebooks 平台将配备专用的发光条，传闻称其下一代 Pixel 手机也可能具备类似功能。）
The Google Home Speaker’s orb design, much like Amazon’s new Echo speakers and Apple’s aging HomePod Mini, offers “balanced” 360-degree audio. It also lets you place the speaker anywhere in the room, and it should still deliver robust audio quality even from spots that aren’t acoustically ideal. Kattukaran also says the company intentionally designed it to be significantly more compact than the previous Nest Audio, so it’s easier to find a place for it to sit. But at the end of the day, this is a smaller speaker, so audio quality likely won’t be as strong as larger speakers. Instead, Google says, the Home Speaker is a “massive audio upgrade” over the diminutive Nest Mini, with a driver that’s twice as large and bass that’s much more powerful. Google Home 智能音箱的球形设计与亚马逊新款 Echo 音箱及苹果的 HomePod Mini 类似，提供“平衡”的 360 度音频。它允许你将音箱放置在房间的任何位置，即使在声学条件不理想的地方，也能提供稳健的音质。Kattukaran 还表示，公司特意将其设计得比之前的 Nest Audio 更紧凑，因此更容易找到摆放位置。但归根结底，这是一款小型音箱，音质可能不如大型音箱强劲。不过谷歌表示，相比小巧的 Nest Mini，Home Speaker 是一次“巨大的音频升级”，其驱动单元大了一倍，低音也更加强劲。
The underside of the Google Home Speaker features a ring of LEDs that indicate when the speaker is listening or thinking. The lights are visible around the base of the speaker. Courtesy of Google Google Home 智能音箱底部设有一圈 LED 灯，用于指示音箱何时在监听或思考。灯光在音箱底部清晰可见。（图片来源：Google）
You can pair two Google Home Speakers with the company’s Google TV Streamer for an approximation of surround sound, though this capability isn’t available yet for other products—like TVs with built-in Google TV—that seem as though they should be able to support such an integration. You can still create speaker groupings in the Google Home app and cast music or podcasts to the speaker, just like with the company’s older products. 你可以将两台 Google Home 智能音箱与公司的 Google TV Streamer 配对，以获得近似环绕声的效果，尽管此功能目前尚未支持其他产品（例如内置 Google TV 的电视），尽管这些产品看起来理应支持此类集成。你仍然可以在 Google Home 应用中创建音箱组，并将音乐或播客投射到音箱上，就像使用该公司旧款产品一样。
The speaker supports the Thread and Matter standards, so you can use it as a hub to set up other Matter-enabled smart home devices. (It supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4.) There are capacitive touch controls on top, three far-field microphones for talking to Gemini, and crucially, a hardware mute switch so Gemini can’t listen. 该音箱支持 Thread 和 Matter 标准，因此你可以将其作为中心来设置其他支持 Matter 的智能家居设备。（它支持 Wi-Fi 6 和蓝牙 5.4。）顶部配有电容式触摸控制，三个用于与 Gemini 对话的远场麦克风，以及至关重要的硬件静音开关，以确保 Gemini 无法监听。
Kattukaran says ever since Google opened early access for Gemini in Google Home last fall, more than 3.5 million homes have opted into the Kattukaran 表示，自去年秋天谷歌为 Google Home 开启 Gemini 抢先体验以来，已有超过 350 万个家庭选择了加入。