Walmart accidentally leaks Google Home Mini ahead of Oct. 4 announcement

AppleInsider

Thought it pulled a product page within a matter of minutes, Walmart on Tuesday briefly offered preorders for the Home Mini, a new smartspeaker expected to be officially revealed in a Wednesday Google announcement.

The disc-like speaker is a little over 4 inches wide, with four lights on top presumably matching those on the full-sized Home, according to photos and text from the product page, shared by Gizmodo. The device should weigh less than a pound, and cost $49.

The leak would appear to back up Droid Life information from last month, which also suggested that the Mini will come in three colors: charcoal, gray, and coral.

The device appears to be a direct competitor with Amazon's Echo Dot, which costs $49.99 and likewise serves as a cheaper alternative to a full-size speaker. The regular Google Home costs $129, and hasn't achieved as much traction as the growing Echo lineup, despite Google Assistant often being considered a better voice assistant than Amazon's Alexa. Amazon was the first company to succeed in smartspeakers, and Alexa now integrates with a number of apps, services, and smarthome accessories.

Other Google products anticipated on Oct. 4 include two Android phones, the "Pixel 2" and "Pixel 2 XL," plus a "Pixelbook" Chromebook with a stylus.

Apple's first smartspeaker, the HomePod, will only ship in December for $349. Unlike the Echo or Home the product is being aimed at an audiophile market, helping to explain its richer pricetag.

lmac

If Apple's version costs $349, you'd better hope it's aimed at the audiophile market.

EngDev

Source

tzeshan

Smartspeaker is a misnomer. The Echo is offering content just like Google Home trying to compete. If HomePod is for audiophile then it is not trying to compete or replace Echo or Google Home. 

cali

Any company who invades our privacy, steals IP, disrespects their customers, wants photos of our children and access to our brain deserves to get shitted on.

Sog you’re Ok here and it’s true, generally no one cares about their leaks. IDK why AI is reporting this either. 

gatorguy

tzeshan said:

Smartspeaker is a misnomer. The Echo is offering content just like Google Home trying to compete. If HomePod is for audiophile then it is not trying to compete or replace Echo or Google Home. 

I think it's meant to serve as a smart-assistant much like Echo and Home, but sound a heckuva-lot better doing so. Marketing it as a speaker gives Siri for the home some space to mature a bit more while avoiding much of the direct comparison to Alexa and Google.

NY1822

shocker, same colors as homepod

rotateleftbyte

sog35 said:

No one cares about leaks about Google hardware. No one.

Man, you are so very, very wrong. Amazon will care for one. This is in the same price bracket as Echo.

To state that no one cares about this stuff is just plain wrong. Time to get a sheepskin noseband for those blinkers you are obviously wearing.
 

bdkennedy1002

lmac said:

If Apple's version costs $349, you'd better hope it's aimed at the audiophile market.

Unless Apple starts streaming lossless audio, this isn't an audiophile product when the audio is only 256kbps.

EngDev

NY1822 said:

shocker, same colors as homepod

Or the same as the Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay A1





Or maybe it has to do with the fact that black and white is the theme of their new devices (Android Oreo).


Hmm...

gatorguy

NY1822 said:

shocker, same colors as homepod

Assuming the earlier pics are correct that's hardly true. Homepod comes in either all-white or all-Space Gray doesn't it? The leaked Mini pics appear to be a fairly dark gray over black and a very pale gray over white. Seems closer to the original Google Home color scheme than Homepod. 

AI_lias

This Google device is not in the same category as the HomePod. You get one of these and connect it to your existing audio system for some good sound. This way you have an inexpensive voice assistant around the house, with the music it can play and everything else. The HomePod is for people who don't already have a better sound system. It's obvious from the price. But these little devices might turn out to be good trojan horses getting into homes, to expand their respective ecosystems. Apple does not and will not have a comparable device. Not saying it should or not, but it's not comparable. 

foggyhill

AI_lias said:

This Google device is not in the same category as the HomePod. You get one of these and connect it to your existing audio system for some good sound. This way you have an inexpensive voice assistant around the house, with the music it can play and everything else. The HomePod is for people who don't already have a better sound system. It's obvious from the price. But these little devices might turn out to be good trojan horses getting into homes, to expand their respective ecosystems. Apple does not and will not have a comparable device. Not saying it should or not, but it's not comparable. 

From my own experience no one has good sound from even their expensive sound system and that is what Apple is aiming to solve with its adaptive speaker

suddenly newton

bdkennedy1002 said:

lmac said:

If Apple's version costs $349, you'd better hope it's aimed at the audiophile market.

Unless Apple starts streaming lossless audio, this isn't an audiophile product when the audio is only 256kbps.

I listen to my ears, not a specs sheet.

jbdragon

I'm looking at this stuff that Google is releasing and going wow, talking about some high prices.  For example, the Pixel 2 XL at 128 gigs is the same price as the iPhone 8 Plus which has 256 gigs, which is double the storage space and it only has a single camera unlike the 2 on the iPhone.  

The chromebook prices are crazy high.  Here I thought if you wanted a cheap computer you get a chrome computer.  At these prices you might was well get a MacBook or  a Microsoft Surface.  

This new mini speaker is just more copying Amazon like they're copying Apple.  Personally I think these devices are 5 years too late!!! It's a device locked into a room by a power cord.  So now you're littering your house with these things.  My original Apple Watch can do the same things and it works everywhere I'm at inside my house, outside my house, away from my house!!! If you don't have one or really use it, you have no idea what the Apple Watch is really capable of!!!.

The prices Google wants for this stuff, I just don't get.  Why would any Android user pay?.  Android has been marketed has the cheaper devices.  Yet they're basically higher prices now then the iPhone 8 and 8 plus.  Well the 8 U.S. $100 more, but again, twice the storage space..

I really don't see big sales numbers for their hardware.  Maybe they'll seek a few more of their $50 Google speaker, Amazon echo clone. I'm not sure they can even beat last year's Poor Pixel sales of less then 2 million in a year.  They're trying to be more like Apple for the last couple years, and yet it's not really working for them.  I can't really figure out what they're trying to do currently.  It's not working and it doesn't make much sense for them to even do.

Do Google fans really care about any of these new hardware products? Anyone plan to buy any of it?  

entropys

The prices Google wants for this stuff, I just don't get.  Why would any Android user pay?.  Android has been marketed has the cheaper devices.  Yet they're basically higher prices now then the iPhone 8 and 8 plus.  Well the 8 U.S. $100 more, but again, twice the storage space..

I suspect the pixel is positioned as reference hardware, not intended to compete with Android OEMs. Thus not intended to be a big seller.

Google does this because it can, not because it needs to, as after all the true reference smartphone is an iPhone.

tallest skil

sog35 said:

That just proves I'm not biased either way. I just say FACTS.

Centrism is cowardice. Sometimes fact is as radical as the people who state it. Also, it’s a damn shame that the makers of The Circle couldn’t be sued by Apple for defamation, particularly when it’s Google that they’re modeling.

StrangeDays

NY1822 said:

shocker, same colors as homepod

I find it strange that Google, Apple and Amazon are now all releasing smart speakers with fabric-mesh finish. Wut

StrangeDays

bdkennedy1002 said:

lmac said:

If Apple's version costs $349, you'd better hope it's aimed at the audiophile market.

Unless Apple starts streaming lossless audio, this isn't an audiophile product when the audio is only 256kbps.

256k is fine and I'd bet (seem to recall?) that blind tests show/ed most people can't tell the difference.

StrangeDays

AI_lias said:

This Google device is not in the same category as the HomePod. You get one of these and connect it to your existing audio system for some good sound. This way you have an inexpensive voice assistant around the house, with the music it can play and everything else. The HomePod is for people who don't already have a better sound system. It's obvious from the price. But these little devices might turn out to be good trojan horses getting into homes, to expand their respective ecosystems. Apple does not and will not have a comparable device. Not saying it should or not, but it's not comparable. 

So basically they're netbooks, all over again. 

kevin kee

The market is flooded with so many cheap products (not necessarily cheap quality), sometimes it gets a little overwhelming. I tend to do spring cleaning once in awhile, and the amount of items that I found I have never used anymore are just shocking. So, no, I am not getting one of these. But kudos who do.