ISSUE 68 • ANDROID ADVISOR 87that leave its competitors shrugging their virtual
shoulders. Assistant is even better if you’ve organized
your life around your Google account, alerting you to
upcoming appointments, sending driving directions to
your phone, or even (thanks to the Nest Mini’s support
for Google’s Duo voice- and video-calling app)
making voice calls to your Google contacts.
Google added a new machine learning chip to the
Nest Mini, allowing it to boost the responsiveness of
Google Assistant by handling more of its processing
chores locally rather than in the cloud. The chip
should also help Assistant get a handle on your
favourite commands and requests more quickly.
Over time, the Nest Mini’s machine learning chip
may well reap benefits when it comes to speeding up
its performance, but in my initial testing, Assistant on
the Nest Mini still took a beat or two to respond to my
queries, about the same as on the Home Mini (or the
Echo Dot, for that matter).
Google also says that it’s added a third far-field
microphone to the Nest Mini, making it easier for the
speaker to hear you when you’re across the room. In
my tests, the Nest Mini outperformed the Home Mini’s
listening skills by a tad, hearing me from a good 30
feet away while I was speaking in a normal voice, with
a whirring fan nearby. The Home Mini could only hear
me when I was closer than 25 feet away – still not
bad, but yes, that third mic does make a difference.
Controlling your smart devices
It’s still tough to beat Alexa when it comes to smart
home control, with Amazon’s digital assistant nearly