Google Nest Audio gets a MAJOR sound upgrade at a wallet-friendly price

Google's new smart speaker steps up to round out its product line-up balancing a refreshed design and essential features

Google Nest Audio
(Image credit: Google)

Google unveiled its newest smart speaker at its Launch Night In event, and the device is set to make quite the addition to your smart home, and replaces the Google Home to sit alongside the Google Home Mini.  

The first thing you'll notice is the design: ditching the aesthetic of an overpriced air freshener, the Google Nest Audio takes its cue from Amazon's Echo for much more modern look.

The second big change is the improvement to audio, for a fuller, clearer, more natural sound. 

Google's Launch Night In Event – all the other announcements

On the features front, you can use Google Assistant to carry out a variety of tasks hands-free, like checking the weather forecast, making calls, streaming music, and setting alarms.

There's voice control to manage the different aspects of your smart home, live the lighting, TVs, and other compatible smart devices, and you can also pair the device with another Nest speaker for stereo sound. If you group the Nest Audio with your other Nest speakers, you can easily have whatever it is you're listening to follow you around the house.

Specs-wise, the Nest Audio is kitted out with a 19mm tweeter for high frequency, and clear vocals. It's also packing a 75mm mid-woofer for a richer bass. Compared to the Google Home, the device boasts a 50% bass boost, and 75% more volume. 

The speaker is 6.9-inches tall, 4.9-inches wide, and 3.1-inches deep, and in keeping with Google's sustainability kick, the enclosure is made of 70% recycled plastic. As you'd expect, it has both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, and has Chromecast built in. 

Google Nest Audio is available in Sage, Sand, Sky, Chalk, and Charcoal, and hits shelves on Thursday, October 15 for $99/ £89. You can pick it up in Chalk and Charcoal at the Google Store, and other retailers including John Lewis, Argos, Dixons, Amazon, and Tesco here in the UK.

Shabana Arif

Shabana worked at T3.com as News Editor covering tech and gaming, and has been writing about video games for almost a decade (and playing them since forever). She's had bylines at major gaming sites during her freelance career before settling down here at T3, and has podcasts, streaming, and video content under her belt to boot. Outside of work, she also plays video games and should really think about expanding her hobbies. If you have any tech or gaming tips, shoot over an email or DM her on social media.