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As the rumours predicted, Google used the opening presentation of its annual developer conference, I/O, to reveal a new personal assistant aimed at the home.
Called Google Home and voice-activated with the entire power of Google’s search engine built into it, Home is set to launch later this year.
The device connects to your home WiFi network and can also sync with Chromecast devices, meaning it can control TVs as well as other connected devices including speakers and smart appliances.
The device has a striking similarity function-wise to Amazon’s Echo, which launched last year – something even Google CEO Sundar Pichai referenced when announcing the device.
At the heart of Home is the updated and supposedly more intelligent Google app software and the new Google Assistant. This is said to be better at understanding context and able to offer better proactive suggestions to users as a result.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence were at the heart of the entire I/O keynote, with Pichai also suggesting that Google’s aim is to reach a level of understanding of every user that they receive “their own individual Google” each time they use it.
