Google Home and Google Home Mini launched in India

Google today announced the latest addition of hardware products in India – Google Home and Google Home Mini.

Powered by Google Assistant, Google Home and Google Home Mini are Google’s voice-activated speakers that are customised for India. So next time when you are cooking in the kitchen, get an extra hand by asking it for step-by-step instructions (“Let’s make Dum Biryani”) or unwind in the evening with “Play songs from the movie “Satte Pe Satta” or just ask it to add “Atta” to your shopping list before heading out to the supermarket and you’ll have it right there on your smartphone.

From your home to your smartphone, the Google Assistant works across all your devices — it is the one assistant across your life. With the ability to understand context, it will help with things like your commute, your daily schedule and so more.

Google Home and Google Home Mini will be priced at Rs. 9,999, and Rs 4,499 respectively and will be available for purchase online exclusively on Flipkart, and in over 750 retail stores across the country including Reliance Digital, Croma, Bajaj Electronics, Vijay Sales, Sangeetha, and Poorvika. Google Home Mini is available in two colours – Chalk and Charcoal – while Google Home will be available in Chalk. Coral will be coming soon.

When buying Google Home or Google Home Mini on Flipkart you get a free JioFi router along with special offers on music subscriptions; when buying Google Home or Google Home Mini on Flipkart you get a free JioFi router along with special offers on exchange and streaming music subscriptions; when buying a Google Home at Reliance Digital or MyJio stores you get a free JioFi router with 100 GB of high-speed 4G data (worth Rs. 2,499), and at select Philips Hue and Croma outlets you get a Philips Hue + Google Home Mini at a special bundled price.

Also ACT Fibernet retail customers subscribing to 12-month advance rental plans of 90MBPS and above, will receive a Google Home Mini. And above all, users get 10 percent cashback when purchasing using HDFC Bank credit cards.

Speaking at the launch event, Rishi Chandra, VP of Product Management and General Manager of Home Products, Google said, “These products have been customised to match the needs of the Indian consumer and you will see that Google Home is truly ‘desi’. It understands Indian accents, and will respond to you with uniquely Indian contexts. Another unmatched feature of our product is that the Google Assistant can work across all your devices – giving you a personalised Assistant experience in its truest sense.”

Google Home has been designed with two microphones that utilize a technique called neural beam forming to enable accurate far-field voice recognition. Google has simulated hundreds of thousands of noisy environments and applied machine learning to recognize patterns that allow it to filter and separate speech from noise. This allows Google Home to deliver best-in-class voice recognition and minimize error rates — even from across the room.

Google Home Mini is sleek and smooth, with no corners or edges. Google has created this material from scratch, right down to the yarn. It’s durable and soft, but also transparent enough to let through both light and sound. The four LED lights underneath the fabric light up to show you when it hears you or when it’s thinking. Mini has far-field mics so it can hear you even when there’s music playing or loud noise in the background. Its circular design can project 360-degree sound, with just one speaker.