What you need to know
Google Home Speaker users have reported a glaring issue: their device’s assistance has become incredibly sluggish.Other users have experienced the same; however, this latency problem appears to affect more than the Home Speaker, as other Nest devices struggle, too.Google has responded to this thread, stating a fix is being worked on “ASAP.”
Google’s latest smart speaker got off to a fast start, but users are reporting anything but good news, as problems emerge.
Earlier this week, reports surfaced on the Google Home subreddit from a user with a Home Speaker (via Android Police). The root of their report is that their Home Speaker has weirdly become sluggish. They say that the “First day all was smooth… the second day every single question (even ‘hello’) needs at least 30s of answer time.” Troubleshooting provided no such relief from this issue.
Users started flowing into the thread, stating that others with the Home Speaker are having the same problem. The publication spotted another thread from a user that blows this problem wide open. It’s not just a Home Speaker issue, but rather a Google smart home issue that’s affecting a range of its products. The user says, “Everything is timing out.”
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They add that their smart home devices are all struggling with delayed or sluggish response times. Resetting has seemingly offered no aid in solving the issue. One user said, “Definitely noticed this since the update. Especially for simpler tasks which used to be snappier, eg turn on the light, change to warm white, set 50%.” A subsequent report says they haven’t noticed anything timed out, but rather their streamed content (like music) is stopping midway.
Google has become aware of this smart home problem. A community member says the company is “working on a fix ASAP.” There’s no clear timeframe for when we could see this, so users will have to tough it out as best as possible.
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Updates were made to do the opposite
(Image credit: Google)
Android Central’s Take
It’s a bit strange to see issues surface for something Google has tried to make faster. It’s like being caught in the strangest whirlwind. An update will likely be required to solve this problem, the only thing is when will we see it?
It’s interesting to see users bring up the fact that the Home Speaker “used to be” snappy with its response times for mundane tasks. Google rolled out an update for Gemini’s home assistance in March, quickening its responses by ~30% to ~40%. This patch reduced the latency between the user giving the task and Gemini responding to it/following it.
Google’s smart speakers were brought into the spotlight a week ago, as the company fixed a long-standing SiriusXM radio problem. Users had been receiving errors with SiriusXM on their smart speaker, stating, “I looked for that, but it either isn’t available or can’t be played right now.” SiriusXM would work via the user’s phone, just not on Google’s smart home devices. All is seemingly well now after Google’s patch.
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