Amazon’s Echo is already a popular tool that many of you may have already purchased, but Google isn’t going to sit idly by as Amazon handles you questions. Meet Google Home, a device coming later this year.
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Google Home will be the obvious home to Google Assistant, a new voice-based personal assistant that Google detailed at I/O.
Just like with Echo, you’ll be able to ask Google Home to do a bunch of things for you, including providing answers to your questions, and controlling other apps.
Google Home lets you enjoy music and entertainment, manage everyday tasks, and ask Google questions. Google Home is supposed to become one of the most important devices in your house, able to control a variety of gadgets, including Chromecast, Wi-Fi speakers, Google Nest, and other devices.
Google Home will work in all rooms of your home, and will let you manage to-do lists, shopping lists, set alarms, and timers. Google Search is the main feature of Google Home, and the assistant will get better and better at… assisting you the more information you share with it.
Google will be available later this year, though we don’t have actual release dates or prices at this point. However, you can sign up for Google Home by going to google.com/home.
Third-party integration is coming later this year, with apps including Spotify, Open Table, Strava, NPR One, GrubHub already listed as future partners. Developers will be able to add Google Home functionality to their software in the future, Google’s Sundar Pichai said on stage, but that’s the kind of functionality coming later this year.
For more news and coverage from Google’s developers event, check our Google I/O 2016 hub.
