Happy Memorial Day to those who are celebrating. I recently just got a Nest Mini from a friend and signed up for the Gemini for Home early access program. I read somewhere in a blog post that I should've received access within 24 hours. All my settings are correct. What has your experience been? How long did it take you? Was there anything that stood out to you?
Thanks in advance!
By Kyler G, 25 May, 2026
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Smart Home Tech and Gadgets
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Not used it much
I think it must have been early access when I signed up for it as it took months for me to get my invite, which I received a few weeks ago (This is in the UK).
So far I've not really used it to do any smart home stuff as I mainly use A lady for that. So I'm mostly just asking it questions - what's the weather like, settling an argument with the wife, acting as a substitute for my memory, that kind of thing.
Like the previous version, you can set up different voices, so it recognises mrs grieves and me independently. This works pretty much like it used to, except I needed to set up voice match again which is easy enough. I've not looked into it, but I think the nest mini now only has one tts voice on it at a time. Before it would use a man's voice when talking to mrs grieves and a lady when talking to me. When she set up hers it switched to her voice, but later I changed my voice and it switched again for both of us. Hopefully this is coming soon as it's quite nice because then you know it's recognised you properly.
It feels a little slower than before, there's definitely a good couple of seconds before you get a response. Nothing too bad but was noticeable.
The responses are generally pretty good - think I am getting better info from it than I did before. You can set it to keep listening after a command and have a conversation with it but I've not done that as that's usually annoying in this context.
It was able to tell me my appointments from my google calendar as before without me having to do anything. Mrs grieves tried and it didn't seem to work - I'm guessing she hasn't set up something properly but we've not looked into it. We both think it used to work but can't be sure.
So far I'd say it generally feels a bit more intelligent than before, but not in a game-changing way.
But then we're not really doing anything special with it yet. Would be interested to hear if someone else has had a deeper experience with it.
Slow but a bit smarter
I have a nest mini we got with spotify in the good old days of <2020 :)
It's definitely slower, but the most useful thing it's done for me was when I said something like this
Remind me thursday in 3 weeks for x thing.
It was actually something like
What's the date on Thursday in 3 weeks?
It answered.
Then remind me x that date.
It felt very natural.
Thing is that now whenever I ask what's the weather it always tells me only the current temperature, before it would say the forecast for that day so I have to follow up. But I have not explored the options at all I am sure there is a way to customize it. I'll probably never pay the gemini home plan but there my pure guess is that we may have some kind of memory or something.
TLDR I'll use this any time over current siri.
Update: I Got Access
I got access this morning and set it up immediately. I like where Google is going with their TTS engine. I chose Magnolia because for some reason I gravitate towards lower-pitched female voices. :)
Most things seem to be working OK. I WAS slightly annoyed because neither Google Assistant nor Gemini seemed to want to play my SiriusXM channels when I asked, even though I linked my account.
I'll be using this as a backup if for some reason I can't afford Alexa+. There's no way I'd go back to using a legacy voice assistant.
jaws
How is it playing with jaws. Last time I use it, did not and they did not get along. Long live cats.
Re: Update: I Got Access
Why wouldn't you be able to afford Alexa plus? It's supposed to be included with Amazon prime, unless Amazon has changed their stance on that, or of course you don't have Amazon prime. 🤷
@Brian
I'm just trying to prepare for any scenario where for some reason I couldn't afford Prime. I'm in college and still figuring everything out, so I'm trying to be cautious. But at the same time, going back to classic Alexa after Alexa+ would feel like going back to a flip phone from an iPhone. :)
Kyler G
Just ask her if you can have it. I have it and to tell you the true, I miss the old voice of her, This new voice is not friendly. She does not even sing. What is that about? Long live cats.
@Holger Fiallo
I'm not certain I understand your question. They are talking about the Gemini Home Assistant made for smart speakers here. Some of its technology is also in the Google Home app and can be used to summarize camera feeds. But the subscriptions seem to be all over the place and it is confusing what you get with what. It is separate than any Gemini stuff that is browser based.
If you're asking how Gemini search, etc., works with JAWS, it is fine. The Gemini in Chrome side panel is useful both for any query and to share a tab such as an Amazon product page and ask questions. Note JAWS 2026 May update fixed (mostly fixed) rereading of responses as they are generated.
IF you meant something else, try again?
Kyler G
Not trying to insinuate anything here, but Amazon has discount programs for people with disabilities.
Just FYI. 😇
Found one useful thing
When it's either a wet day or very hot I have to ask A lady or old G man the weather for every hour in the day, trying to figure out when it might be safest to go out. I tried asking the new G lady "when would be a good time to take my dogs out for an hour?" and it told me the window I had and that it would help me avoid the rain. Actually it's a small thing but that made me quite happy. I do like being able to ask more complicated questions.