Gemini on Google Home is here — how’s it working out for you?

Google finally rolled out Gemini to Google Home devices at the end of October. It’s been a little over a week now, with the next-generation voice assistant available across the vast array of Google’s smart home products. The rollout is still slowly trickling throughout the globe, but if you have had any experience with it so far, what are you feeling? Do you hate it or love it?

I’m not part of the first release wave, so while I wait for the update to roll out, I want to share my excitement and apprehension — first, the positives. There’s the promise of Gemini’s improved contextual prompt understanding. Its ability to discern what’s a command and the context of that command, including the details within it, is something I’ve wanted on my kitchen speaker for ages. I’ve seen reports that users are experiencing richer answers to some queries as well.

Now, for the apparent negatives. Gemini is still somewhat limited in its ability to perform specific tasks. For one, setting a timer is a much quicker process on Assistant than on Gemini. Then, of course, there are existing Google Home issues regardless of its new voice upgrades. Users have long reported various reliability issues, including lapses in responsiveness or total misunderstandings in some cases.

Then there’s the demand for payment to unlock useful features. You’ll need to fork out for the Home Premium subscription if you want access to Gemini Live’s continuous interaction and other AI smarts like Home Brief summaries. This subscription starts at $10 per month, which might be well beyond what some users are willing to pay.

Either way, Gemini on Google Home will become the voice control option for the company’s smart home products in the future. Is that a positive? Well, that’s something I’d like you to answer.

Here are some more questions:

• Have you received Gemini on your Google Home devices yet? If so, what has been your experience so far?
• Do you think that Gemini is better than Assistant across all Google devices, including Home, and beyond?
• What is your one big problem with Gemini that you want Google to fix in the future?
• Are you planning to subscribe to Home Premium to gain access to Gemini Live and its other AI features?
• Do you think the price is fair, or should these features be rolled into the Home experience for free?

👇 And if you have a specific comment related to your poll choice, or want to answer any of the questions posed above, be sure to have your say in the comments below.