Every morning, I boot up my Google Nest Mini like there was never a time I never had a smart speaker in my life. Sure, it’s a great smart speaker for playing music, but it’s also a jack-of-all-trades that can do so much more. It’s like having a butler ready to do my bidding at a drop of a hat.
Here are some of the things you can do with Google Nest Mini:
Control your smart home devices
I often find myself asking my Google Nest Mini to toggle the lights, thermostats, cameras, locks or adjust the temperature, without getting up or fiddling with remotes and smartphone apps. The fact that my voice is all that it takes beats walking over and doing it all manually from my experience.
Play media
You can ask Google Nest Mini to play your favorite songs, podcasts, audiobooks, and radio stations from popular services like YouTube Music, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more. You can also stream music from your phone to the speaker via Bluetooth or Chromecast. And if you have other Google Nest speakers or displays in your home, you can create a speaker group and enjoy multi-room audio.
I often have Spotify playing random music as I go about my day, and often times, it helps me discover new music I wouldn’t give a chance if my thumb was inches away from the Next button.
Find your phone
Silly as it sounds, I can’t count how many times I misplace my phone at home. It’s well and good if I have someone else to call my phone for me, but it isn’t often the case. One of my favorite commands is “Hey Google, find my phone.” With that, my Google Nest Mini will call my phone at full volume, even if it’s on silent or do not disturb mode.
Speak multiple languages
In my homestead, the only international language we speak fluently is English. But the Google Nest Mini can understand and speak multiple languages including English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish so anyone can communicate with it in any of the over 30 supported languages. More to this, you can set up to two languages in the Google Home app and switch between them by saying “Hey Google” in either language. You can also use Google Nest Mini as a translator and ask it to translate words or phrases in multiple languages
Make broadcasts
Another command I rather like using is making broadcasts. You can use Google Nest Mini to send messages to other Google Home devices in your home. Just say “Hey Google, broadcast” followed by your message and it will announce it on all the speakers and displays in your home. You can also use predefined messages like “Hey Google, broadcast dinner’s ready” or “Hey Google, broadcast it’s time to leave”. You can also use your Google Home app on your smartphone to send a broadcast to your Google Nest Mini which rather comes in handy for me.
Answer questions
Once my three-year-old discovered that she could talk to the speaker tucked away in the corner, her questions have been relentless. Because, yes, you can ask Google Nest Mini anything you want to know, and it will give you an answer. You can ask about the weather, traffic, sports, news, facts, jokes, trivia, and more. You can also ask it to do calculations, conversions, timers, reminders, and alarms. As for my daughter, her questions can be as simple as “Why is the butterfly blue?” or “Why was my friend mean to me today?
Create routines
You can create custom routines that trigger multiple actions with one command. For example, you can create a routine that says “Hey Google, good morning” and it will tell you the weather, the news, your calendar events, and play some music. You can also use ready-made routines that are suggested by the Google Home app based on your habits and preferences.
Summary
The Google Nest Mini is a versatile smart speaker that can be used to get the latest news and weather, set reminders and alarms, control my smart home devices, and even play games and tell jokes. What you can do with it depends on you, really. You can use it to entertain the kids, or to help with other tasks around the house all without lifting a finger. How’s that for smarts?
