Google's got a new smart speaker and you can pre-order it today.
Nest Audio is a new fabric-covered speaker with Google Assistant built in. It's priced at $99.99 and is available for pre-order from the Google Store now in five colors: Sage, Sand, Sky, Chalk, and Charcoal. It'll launch on October 5.
The Nest Audio features a 19mm tweeter and 75mm mid-woofer, and compared to the Google Home, the Nest Audio is 75% louder and offers 50% stronger bass. The included Media EQ feature enables the Nest Audio to automatically tune itself for whatever you're listening to. There's also an Ambient IQ feature that'll let the Nest Audio adjust its volume based on the background noise in your home.
If you've got two Nest Audio speakers, you can pair them together to get left and right channel separation. The Nest Audio can also be connected with a Google Home, Nest Mini, or Nest Hub to give you whole-home audio, or you can use the stream transfer feature to move your audio from one speaker to another as you move throughout your house.
Because this is a smart speaker, Google Assistant is included. It's got a machine learning chip to help it learn your most common music commands and respond two times faster than Google Home. You can use your voice to control smart home devices, ask questions, check the weather, stream music, and more, and YouTube Music as well as Spotify Premium subscribers can say "Hey Google, recommend some music" to help you find some new tunes.
If you'd prefer to control the Nest Audio without using your voice, there are three capacitive touch controls on the device as well.
When it comes to privacy, the Nest Audio features a mute switch on its backside that'll physically turn off the device's microphones. You can also delete your Google Assistant history by telling the speaker, "Hey Google, delete what I just said."
It's been 4 years since the Google Home launched as Google's original smart speaker, so it's good to see a successor finally arrive. Because it's been so long, the improved audio of the Nest Audio is a welcome feature, and the updated design looks like something that will blend in with your home better.