Google Home: The Complete Manual

Our homes are getting smarter. And who better to help us take advantage of this than the search engine we turn to with all of our queries? The Google Home is a revolutionary product in the same vein as the Amazon Echo and Apple HomePod. Where it differs is in its ability to leverage Google’s awesome powers of search, making it easy for it to answer any query you have, from news to weather to traffic and travel, in real time. In addition to that, it can take advantage of Google Cast technology to serve up music and video to your TV or stereo, function as the connected hub of your smart home, play audio-based games with you, and much more. The ability to install a wide range of apps…

The Google Home is a voice-controlled smart speaker, powered by Google Assistant, which enables owners to use a wide range of Google and third-party services. Originally released in mid-2016, Google Home has a growing number of integrations with many different types of services and products including music, video, news, weather, games and home automation. Updates are released frequently by Google ‘over the air’ and install transparently, adding new features and improvements to enhance the abilities of the Home device. Several different Google Home devices are available including the original unit (simply ‘Google Home’), a smaller version called the ‘Google Home Mini’, a larger ‘Google Home Max’ that focuses on excellent audio quality and models featuring screens, called ‘Google Smart Displays’. Google has designed the range to fit in in the…

Listen to music One of the most used aspects of Google Home… Whether it’s from Google Play Music, Spotify or even the radio, Google Home makes listening easy. Smart Home control Google Home connects to a wide range of Smart Home products, allowing you to set your heating, hot water, power devices on and off and control smart lighting. Use Google Assistant If you can ask Google Assistant, you can ask Google Home. Weather, sports scores or just general knowledge, Google’s knowledge is always on tap.…

Nest Thermostat The Nest Thermostat provides a connected way to control the heating and hot water in your home. Not only can it be controlled from your Google Home device, it learns your usage too. Price: £279 (installed) Web: nest.com/uk/thermostats/nest-learning-thermostat/overview/ Nvidia Shield The Nvidia Shield is the perfect companion to your Google Home device, providing the ability to cast audio to the Google Home and play, pause, fast-forward or adjust the volume on your TV. Price: £179.99 (remote only version) Web: www.nvidia.co.uk/shield/shield-tv/ Philips Hue Philips Hue allows you to control your lighting from your Google Home – not just whether the lights are on and off but the colour too, individually or in groups. Price: £149.99 (colour starter kit) Web: www.meethue.com/en-gb Logitech Harmony The Harmony is an all-in-one remote taken…

TuneIn: TuneIn provides the ability to listen to radio on your Google Home. You can request your station by name or frequency as well. Sky Sports: The Sky Sports app works in a similar way to the BBC, adding the latest updates from the Sky Sports News HQ channel to your sources. Trainline: The Trainline app allows you to plan your journey and check train times. It also includes the ability to add a regular commute for quick access. BBC News: The BBC app provides an extra news source for Google Home. Asking to ‘listen to the news’ will include the latest BBC headlines. Recipes by Course: Google’s culinary offering allows you to retrieve step by step recipe instructions using your Google Home. Shopping List: You can add items to…

1 Check you have everything you’ll need Before you get started, check that you have everything you need to get the device running. You will need the Google Home or Google Home Mini and the power supply, which is located under a compartment in the box. You will also need a phone or tablet for the software part of the setup. Both Android and iOS devices support the Google Home app. 2 Download the Google Home app All of the settings and controls during the setup process are carried out through the Google Home app, so you’ll need to download it to your phone or tablet. Go into the app store on your device. On iOS this is the App Store and on Android devices it is the Google Play…