After what seemed like eternity, Google announced Gemini for Home voice assistant in late October this year. For now, access is only rolling out through an early access program in limited numbers. Given the strong interest, the company has now decided to speed up the pace of rollout and widen its reach.
In an announcement on the Google Nest Community, Google says that it will start sending out invites to try out Gemini for Home “more rapidly.” Plus, anyone in the US who hasn’t yet received an invitation after signing up should get one within the next 24 hours.
If you have not already, sign up for the Gemini for Home early access program by tapping your profile picture in the Google Home app, followed by Home Settings > Early Access.
Remember that once you get access to the smarter new voice assistant, it will be immediately available to everyone else in your home and all compatible devices.
Also, there are several limitations to using Gemini for Home right now, including a relatively limited conversational context memory. You can find the full list of issues outlined by Google here.
If you run into an issue and want to send Google feedback, say, “Hey Google, send feedback.”
Gemini for Home comes to third-party speakers
Credit:Â Lucas Gouveia/Android Police
Lastly, the company is expanding Gemini for Home to third-party Google Home speakers. Sadly, access to the AI-powered voice assistant remains limited to the US with English for now. An international release with support for more languages will happen sometime early next year.
Alongside Gemini, Gemini for Home also provides access to Gemini Live. To talk to the former, you can say, “Hey Google.” And to invoke a Gemini Live session, you must say, “Hey Google, let’s chat.” The latter requires a Google Home Premium subscription, though, and it’s limited to selected devices, such as the Nest Hub (2nd gen), Nest Audio, Nest Mini (2nd gen), and Nest Hub Max.
Despite some flaws, Gemini on Home delivers a much better experience than Assistant. The older assistant now struggles with executing even basic commands reliably. Plus, Gemini’s superior natural language understanding makes everyday interactions noticeably easier.
