My mother, ever the tech-autodidactic, got Google Home - and I offered to review it.
Way to go Mom!
TL;DR
Great Promise - Yet to be Delivered - and Much to Look Forward to!
==> Total: 3.8 out of 5
I was highly excited to get Google Home - and within 3 minutes of the unboxing, it was set up and we all started "OK Google"ing it...
==> Setup: 5/5
We were mainly focused about asking it all kinds of things, and getting good answers - kind of like googling things - only by voice. Worked like a charm.
Then it played my music (which I totally forgot backing up on Google Music a while ago).
==> Performance: 5/5
The main challenge I had (and have) is finding non-anecdotal use for it - I'm looking at the many "smart" devices and still didn't find the one that makes a difference for me - but it being a Google device, and cloud-based, I'm sure we'll be getting many new additions shortly.
The one major design flaw is that there's no Bluetooth Audio - or at the minimum - an AUX jack...
I mean, they call this a "Smart Speaker"???
WWTT???
What do I mean by "non-anecdotal"? In its current incarnation, out-of-the-box (meaning, without buying additional hardware), Google Home is a fancy voice-operated version of Google...
Useful for anecdotal things such as asking it what is the distance between the Earth and the moon (384,400km, if you were wondering), and what is the expected weather in Tel-Aviv on Friday (sunny, 17 degrees centigrade if you have to know).
All things cool - but things one could do without.
It can be useful if you add this or that - "smart bulbs", a Nest smart-home devices, a Google Smart TVs and other smart-hardware (which at this stage I don't and won't).
BUT - and this is why I wanted it - it holds great promise, since it's Google, and they have strong cloud services, which I expect will in the future add functionality.
==> Value/Impact: 3/5
Looking forward to software improvements, and willing to bet the next hardware version will also have Bluetooth Audio or at least an AUX jack...
Want to buy it? Here's the link to Google's site.
...and the video promoting it...