WebUser – 04 April 2018

74 4-17April 2018 [email protected]

conferencecallcostmethe thickend

of afiver!

Then adeviceentered my life that

changed everything: theGoogle Home

Mini.Iboughtthishandy little smart

speakerout of sheercuriosity,having

read so many reviewsclaiming how

muchbetterit

wasthanthe

AmazonEcho

Dots that I’ve got

–well–dotted

around the

house.Google

washavingone

of itsregularprice cuts, whichdropped

theprice to only£40,and in that very

sameweekitlaunched anew feature

that wouldshortlycoverthatoutlay:

free callstoUKlandlinesand mobiles.

Makingcalls on theGoogle Home Mini

couldbarelybeeasier. If you’ve gotan

Android phone, as Ihave,Google

probably alreadyhas your contacts

stored in itscloud.Now allIhave to do

is say“OK Google,callRobertIrvine”,

BarryCollins findsacheapspeaker

to beathis mobilereceptionwoes

Page 404

forinstance, and it starts ringingthe

editor of this fine organ.

It’s much smarterthanthat, too.

BecauseGoogle knowseverything,

youcan even ring abusiness forwhich

youdon’t have anumber stored.

Ican commandGoogle to call “Chifoo

restaurant in

Burgess Hill”if

Iwanttoorder a

Chinesetakeaway,

or “the nearest

Pets at Home

store” when

Ineedtoget

thedog wormed (don’t ask) –and all

withoutfirst having to find theirnumber.

If youalready have anumber to call,

youcan tell Google to do that,too.

Better still,you canenter your mobile

numberin theGoogle Home Mini’s

settings and have that displayedasthe

caller ID when you’re makingcalls from

thespeaker,sofriends and family know

it’s youcalling and notsomerandom

stranger who’sheard they’vebeenin

acar accident.

Theonlytimethe Google Home Mini

comesupshortiswhen you’re

confronted by acomputerised call-

answeringsystemthatwants you

to “press onetospeakto an advisor”.

There’sno“one” to press on aGoogle

Home Mini –it’sabuttonless puck of

aspeaker.However, if youhangonthe

line anddon’t press abutton, those

systemstendtothrow youtoahuman

operator eventually,soyou canusually

getwhatyou called for.

At astroke, this cheaplittledevice

hashalf-solved my dodgy mobile-

receptionwoes–itcan’t take incoming

calls, butIcan at least have those

routed to my landline when I’mathome.

If onlymyother BT problems were so

easy to solve.

MyBTMobilereceptionhas

becomesopatchythatIhave

to climbatreeinthegarden

justtohearmycallers

S

ometimesIthink BT exists purely

to find inventivenew waysto

diddleme.Mybroadband

charges seemto irreversiblyand

incessantlytick upwardslikeataxi meter,

I’vehad morefaultyrouters than

microwaved dinnersand nowmyBT

Mobilereceptionhas becomeso patchy

thatIhavetoclimb atreeinthe garden

justtohear my callers.

So poor has thereception become

that Irecentlyresortedtomakingcalls

on my landline phoneinsteadofmy

mobile, to save me from having to guess

everythird word.Whatthatdidn’tsave

me, of course, wasmoney.

I’ve gotenoughbundled minuteson

my mobileplantoreciteWarand Peace

withoutfearofcreepingintoextra call

charges, yetthe onlytimeIget free calls

on thelandline is at weekends.And

have youseenthe regularBTcall

chargeslately? 13paminutetocall

landlines, 17paminutetomobiles and

a22p ‘set-upfee’toplace thecallinthe

first place. Arecent30-minute

Illustration: Andr

ew Torrens

It’s good to talk –

to theGoogleHomeMini