Google Nest Mini 2nd Gen

360 degree sound with 40 mm of driver in a puck the size of a scone. The Google Nest Mini is the cheapest way to put Google in a room, and it is the one people buy three of.

• The Google Nest Mini hangs on a wall, and that is the trick
• Voice Match, and why it matters in a family
• 360 degree sound from a 40 mm driver
• Buy more than one
• The details

Ask it anything, set timers and alarms, play music and radio, and control every light, plug and thermostat that works with Google Home.

The Google Nest Mini hangs on a wall, and that is the trick

There is a keyhole moulded into the base. No bracket, no adapter, no stand: one screw in the wall and the speaker hangs on it with the cable running down. In a kitchen with no spare counter, a workshop, a bathroom or a passage, that is the difference between a device that gets used and one that never comes out of the box because there was nowhere to put it. Almost nothing else at this price does it.

Voice Match, and why it matters in a family

Three far field microphones hear you across a room with music playing, and Voice Match means the Mini answers each person with their own calendar, their own reminders and their own playlists. In a house with four people sharing one speaker, that turns it from a shared radio into something each person can actually ask about their own day.

360 degree sound from a 40 mm driver

Be realistic about what a puck the size of a scone can do: this is a speaker for a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedside or a desk, not for a sitting room you play albums in. Within that, 40 mm of driver radiating in every direction is genuinely good, and it does not have a front you have to sit in.

Buy more than one

This is the cheapest way to put Google in a room, and it is the one people end up owning three of. They group for music across rooms and they work as an intercom between them, so the value climbs with the second and the third rather than the first.

The details

Google Cast is built in, so anything on a phone plays through it. Wi-Fi is dual band, Bluetooth 5.0, and there is a quad core processor with a machine learning engine inside for handling common requests. A switch on the side turns the microphones off. It is 98 mm across, 42 mm high and 181 grams, with a 1.5 m cable.

For a Google device with a screen, real stereo speakers and a camera, that is the Nest Hub Max. If the house is on Alexa instead, the equivalent small speaker is the Echo Dot. Google explain Google Home on their own site.