Ten months later, the $100 Google Home Speaker is finally available for preorder
Ten months later, the $100 Google Home Speaker is finally available for preorder
时隔十个月，售价 100 美元的 Google Home 智能音箱终于开启预购
Good things take time, but not all things that take time are good. The jury is still out on the Google Home Speaker, but it certainly took a while to arrive. After announcing its new speaker last August, Google finally has a release date. The company’s first new smart home speaker in years will launch on June 25, and you can preorder it today for $100.
好事多磨，但并非所有耗时良久的事物都是好的。Google Home 智能音箱的表现尚待观察，但它确实让用户等了太久。在去年 8 月宣布这款新音箱后，Google 终于确定了发布日期。这是该公司多年来推出的首款全新智能家居音箱，将于 6 月 25 日正式发售，目前已开启预购，售价为 100 美元。
The generically named Google Home Speaker is Google’s first home audio device in almost six years. The last one was the Nest Audio, which debuted back in September 2020. The new device is small and round—an oblate spheroid, technically. It’s covered in a partially recycled fabric available in four colors: hazel, porcelain, jade, and berry (jade and berry are limited to the US). Google says the device produces “360-degree sound” for a uniform listening experience anywhere in a room.
这款命名平平的 Google Home 智能音箱是 Google 近六年来推出的首款家用音频设备。上一款产品是 2020 年 9 月首次亮相的 Nest Audio。这款新设备小巧圆润，从几何学上讲是一个扁球体。它表面覆盖着部分回收材料制成的织物，共有四种颜色可选：榛果色、瓷白色、翡翠绿和浆果红（翡翠绿和浆果红仅限美国市场）。Google 表示，该设备可提供“360 度全向音效”，确保房间内任何位置都能获得均匀的听觉体验。
Previous Google speakers included Assistant-style illuminated lights, but the Google Home Speaker features a light ring around the bottom that glows when the device is listening, “thinking,” or responding. This is becoming a trend with Google. The company will require a similar glowing lightbar embellishment on the upcoming Googlebook laptops. There are three far-field microphones distributed around the speaker that will pick up your speech, and there’s a mute switch when you don’t want it listening for the “OK Google” trigger.
之前的 Google 音箱配备的是类似 Assistant 的指示灯，而这款 Google Home 智能音箱在底部设计了一个光环，当设备处于聆听、“思考”或响应状态时会发光。这正成为 Google 的一种设计趋势。该公司即将在新款 Googlebook 笔记本电脑上也采用类似的灯条装饰。音箱周围分布着三个远场麦克风，用于拾取语音；如果你不希望它监听“OK Google”唤醒词，还有一个静音开关可供使用。
Inside, the speaker has a quad-core A55-based processor clocked at 2 GHz with a dedicated NPU. It runs local AI models for better sound isolation, allowing it to filter out background noise better than past smart speakers. Smart speakers have an annoying tendency to mishear, so the Google Home Speaker could be less frustrating in that way. If you don’t want to talk to the speaker, there are capacitive touch controls on the top to control media playback.
在内部配置方面，该音箱搭载了一颗主频为 2 GHz 的四核 A55 处理器，并配有专用 NPU。它运行本地 AI 模型以实现更好的声音隔离，从而比以往的智能音箱更有效地过滤背景噪音。智能音箱常有听错指令的恼人倾向，因此 Google Home 智能音箱在这方面可能会减少用户的挫败感。如果你不想通过语音交互，音箱顶部还设有电容式触摸控件，用于控制媒体播放。
Interestingly, the new device may not be an upgrade on all fronts. The Nest Audio had a 75 mm woofer and a 19 mm tweeter, but the Google Home Speaker has only a single 58 mm full-range driver. Google tells Ars that the new speaker’s audio quality will fall between the Nest Audio and the smaller Nest Mini. Despite the apparent drop in audio quality, the Google Home Speaker does have some utility beyond talking to Gemini. If you have a Google TV Streamer, up to two Home Speakers can pair with it for “Immersive” audio output. It also integrates with any other Nest speakers and displays on your local network.
有趣的是，这款新设备可能并非在所有方面都有所提升。Nest Audio 配备了 75 毫米低音单元和 19 毫米高音单元，而 Google Home 智能音箱仅有一个 58 毫米的全频驱动单元。Google 向 Ars 透露，这款新音箱的音质将介于 Nest Audio 和更小巧的 Nest Mini 之间。尽管音质似乎有所下降，但 Google Home 智能音箱除了与 Gemini 对话外，还有其他用途。如果你拥有 Google TV Streamer，最多可以将两台 Home 智能音箱与之配对，实现“沉浸式”音频输出。它还可以与你本地网络中的其他 Nest 音箱和显示设备集成。
Buying the Google Home Speaker also gets you six months of Google Home Premium. This adds various AI features to the Home app, which you may or may not want. It also enables Gemini Live on the speaker, allowing you to have a back-and-forth conversation with Google’s AI. Even if you want this feature, you may not need the new speaker, as Gemini is also available on Google’s other speakers. Your old speaker may not have the local processing and noise-filtering capabilities of the new model, but Gemini lives in the cloud—the Google Home Speaker is just a new way to interact with it, and it can be yours for a hundred bucks.
购买 Google Home 智能音箱还可获赠六个月的 Google Home Premium 会员资格。这会为 Home 应用增加各种 AI 功能，无论你是否需要。它还能在音箱上启用 Gemini Live，让你能够与 Google 的 AI 进行双向对话。即使你想要这个功能，也不一定非要购买这款新音箱，因为 Gemini 在 Google 的其他音箱上也同样可用。虽然你的旧音箱可能没有新机型那样的本地处理和降噪能力，但 Gemini 是运行在云端的——Google Home 智能音箱只是与之交互的一种新方式，只需 100 美元即可拥有。