Google Home is the connected speaker powered by Google Assistant that aims to make your day a little easier. Released in November last year, Google Home helps you find out the local weather, check what’s on your current schedule, get traffic updates and more. It’s the only real competitor to the Amazon Echo right now and both are vying or a place in your household.
But Google Home isn’t just there to answer questions, it’s also a way to control your household using your voice. In this article, we’re focusing not just on the Google Home’s native functionality, but at how it can be more than it already is. Join us now as we explore the best Google Home accessories, and if you’re looking for all the compatible Google Home services, visit our dedicated article at the link.
Editor's Note: Anybody who has read our best Amazon Echo accessories will see some crossover between the products. The market is still young, folks, there isn't a great deal of competition among smart devices currently.
Best Google Home accessory
Chromecasts and Google Home go together like pancakes and even more pancakes. They aren’t just the best Google Home accessories in a specific category — they are the best Google Home accessories.
The Chromecast, Chromecast Audio, and Chromecast Ultra are gadgets that connect your TV or stereo system to your smartphone. Content can then be streamed directly from your phone to one of these devices, breathing new life into old products or just expanding the possibilities of current gen devices.
The Chromecasts and Google Home rely on the same Google Home app to operate and, consequently, work harmoniously together. You can use them to conduct searches for movies, TV shows and actors; browse and cast content from Chromecast-enabled apps like YouTube; play, pause and change the volume of music that you're streaming and more — all with the power of your voice.
Of course, to make the most of them, it would be beneficial to have subscriptions to relevant content providers like Netflix, Spotify, Google Play Music or similar, but it’s not strictly necessary.
If you’re interested in adding some interesting, low-cost voice control to your TV or speakers, these are a must.
Best Google Home smart thermostat
The Nest is basically the smart thermostat product right now. It comes from a great pedigree, the company was launched by former Apple employees before Google purchased it several years ago (it now operates under Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc).
Now in its third iteration, the reason that the Nest thermostat is such a great product is that it learns from your behaviour. I know people who spend whole days adjusting the thermostat settings in their apartment, but the Nest uses intelligent algorithms to help avoid this. Play with it for a couple of weeks, changing its temperature settings periodically as you normally would, and watch how it becomes trained to recreate your preferences automatically.
And when it does need manual adjustment, why not use Google Home? By pairing these devices you can ask Google to set your Nest to a specific temperature, raise it or lower by a certain number of degrees, as well as get it to confirm what the current temperature is in one of your rooms.
The Nest also has a proximity sensor which will activate the device when you walk by, displaying temperature, time or even weather information, and it can provide an energy usage history from its dedicated app. It’s a brilliant overall package.
Best Google Home smart light bulb
For all your smart lighting needs, look no further than the Philips' Hue bulbs. These come in white or colored versions and you can use them in conjunction with Google Home to turn your lights on and off — as you would expect — or manage the settings of individual lights.
You can give your bulbs names such as "living room" or “kitchen", for example, and control them independently, including changing the colors of certain bulbs with the command "turn all the lights [color]." You can even set a brightness to a specific percentage, too.
The Philips Hue A19 white starter kit we recommend comes with two white bulbs (which can’t change color) and a hub for $69.99 — possibly the best bang-for-buck you can get when starting out with these. The hub is required for these bulbs to operate, but, that said, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the Philips unit — others, like Samsung’s SmartThings hub, are available.
For a lighting solution that works without a hub, check out the LIFX bulbs. Note that they’re quite a bit more expensive to buy individually than the Philips bulbs.
Best Google Home smart plug
One of the easiest and most effective ways to control your home is with a smart plug like the WeMo Switch. This Wi-Fi-based plug doesn’t require an additional hub and is compatible with a dedicated WeMO app which you can use to operate it.
The WeMo Switch can be set up to automatically turn household items on or off, and has options for scheduling, as well as an “Away Mode.” This will switch on your lights periodically when you’re not home to make it look like someone is still there (if you’re wondering why you’d do that, think Home Alone).
Better yet, the WeMo Switch also integrates with the Nest thermostat to do things like switch off the lights when you leave your house.
The Google Home can be used with the WeMo for voice control over your appliances, just ask Google to switch them on and off. It won’t work with typical wired lights (as they’re not plugged into the WeMo Switch) but anything with a standard power cable is game for voice control.
Best Google Home hub
A smart hub can be used to connect the various electronics devices in your home together and give you control over them. Samsung’s solution is compatible with a range of products, including those from Honeywell, Netgear, Halo and Phillips, with more being added all the time.
Though the SmartThings hub comes with its own Android app, it can also be voice-controlled with the Google Home to control the lights and temperature.
Of course, the SmartThings hub is only as good as the gadgets that you use with it, but Samsung seems to be investing pretty heavily in AI, having purchased AI platform developer Viv Labs last year. The possibilities, and compatible smart products, for Samsung’s SmartThings hub look like they’re only going to increase from here on out.
Best Google Home TV and/or speaker system
…Nope
Here's the thing: if you're buying a new TV or speaker system, you should focus on the features you care about most from those and forget about Google Home integration. Why? Because almost any TV or audio system can be used in conjunction with the Google Home if you own one of the aforementioned Chromecasts.
These provide a cost-effective way to Google Home-ify your products and mean that you don't have to limit yourself to TVs with “Chromecast built-in” functionality. Just make sure your prospective TV has a spare HDMI port, or your speakers have a 3.5 mm audio input, if you do want to use a Chromecast or Chromecast Audio with them (the TV should also run at 4K resolution to take full advantage of the Chromecast Ultra).
Of course, if the TV or speaker system you want does have a Chromecast built-in — as many now do — then it will work seamlessly with Google Home without an additional accessory.
What is your favorite addition to the Google Home? Let us know in the comments.
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