Google Home with hefty update
The smart home platform Google Home is expanding with a lot of improvements and new features. We see new products from the company, but there are many more changes. We summarise those for you im this comprehensive article.
Google Home speaker
The most notable hardware announcement is the Home Speaker, a small spherical smart speaker that works directly with Gemini. The device costs 100 euros and will appear in four colours in spring 2026.
The speaker looks a bit like the Nest Wifi in shape, but is flatter and has a light stand. That stand changes colour to indicate whether Gemini is listening, thinking or responding. The audio focuses on 360-degree sound, and you can pair two speakers with a Google TV Streamer for surround sound.
The standard version already lets you give voice commands, but those who want to engage in an ongoing conversation with Gemini without saying "Hey Google" every time, need an additional Google Home Premium subscription of at least €10 a month.
The speaker also acts as a Home hub, Matter controller and Thread border router. This makes it a central hub for managing all kinds of smarthome devices. The new speaker will be released in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, the UK, the US, Canada, Sweden, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Australia and New Zealand in early 2026.
Nest Cams
In addition to the speaker, Google is coming out with new security cameras: the Nest Cam Outdoor (2nd generation) and the Nest Cam Indoor (3rd generation). These will soon be widely available in the Netherlands and Belgium, for €100 and €150 respectively.
Both cameras have a 2K sensor, with a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels and film at up to 30fps in hdr, even in the dark. The Outdoor version sees up to 6 metres far in the dark, the Indoor up to 4.5 metres. Differences are mainly in the power supply: the Indoor has a fixed USB-C cable, while the Outdoor comes with a longer cable and is also IP65 waterproof.
Images are sent encrypted via Wi-Fi and secured with two-step verification. What is new is that these cameras directly use Gemini for Home, enabling features such as smart notifications, contextual analytics and summaries. Some of these AI features require a Google Premium subscription.
Google Premium
And for that Google Premium subscription, you have to pay. This allows you to use all the new AI features. It is a replacement for Nest Aware and is available in two variants: Standard and Advanced, with the same prices as before (€10 and €18 per month).
There are also free features: for example, you can give more complex commands in natural language, such as, "Turn off all lights except those in the office." In addition, it has become easier to ask follow-up questions in an active conversation.
An overview of the paid features:
- Ask Home: ask, for example, how long appliances have been on.
- Gemini Live: have brainstorming conversations without repeating commands all the time.
- Automation in natural language: describe a scenario, such as "At sunset every day, turn on the outside light and lock the front door," and Gemini takes care of the rest.
- Home Brief: a daily summary of camera images showing important events.
Gemini for Home
There is also a successor to the Google Assistant. It is Gemini for Home. According to Google, the new voice assistant is more natural and smarter, and no longer requires you to give short commands. You can have an entire conversation, with AI itself able to understand the context, perform multiple steps and ask further questions when needed.
For example, Gemini for Home offers the ability to add the ingredients for a recipe to the shopping list. Gemini then looks up the ingredients itself, where it can also ask about dietary requirements and portions. It then adjusts the list accordingly. Gemini can also perform multi-step commands, such as controlling multiple devices at once, and understand exceptions, as we had highlighted earlier: "Turn off all the lights except the one in the living room."
The launch is happening first as a beta test. All Google devices from the past decade will get the update, including speakers, displays and cameras. Gemini will also eventually come to partner hardware, with Walmart as its first confirmed partner. For now, there is no Dutch language support. It is not known when Google will add this.
