ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Google’s release includes fixes to its Home app, cameras, speakers, doorbells, and more.
- Gemini gains greater spatial awareness of your home.
- Cameras and doorbells get fixes to minor but irritating connectivity issues.
Google’s latest release notes detail early access updates to Gemini for Home and software updates for the Google Home app, focusing on bug fixes and general improvements to cameras, doorbells, Nest Wi-Fi, Google TV streamers, and in-app controls and interfaces.
Also: Google Home Speaker vs Amazon Echo Dot Max
There are 42 fixes Google addresses in its release notes, ranging from stability improvements to more pressing issues like Gemini misunderstanding commands and devices connecting faster after a network timeout.
Gemini for home is getting smarter (hopefully)
Google’s release notes promise improvements in Gemini’s ability to transfer music between rooms. If you have several Google Home speakers around your house, you may want to use your voice to command one to transfer audio.
According to Google, Gemini’s understanding of these commands is now deeper and more aware of the rooms in your home. (It’s something Sonos does really well.) Now you can tell Gemini to “move the music here,” and it should work.
Also: I changed these Android Auto settings to limit what Gemini learns about me
In the same vein, Google says it fixed a volume issue where users would command Gemini to adjust the volume on a speaker in another room, but the speaker in close proximity would respond instead.
The Google release notes also cite fixes for timer and alarm volume issues, unprompted responses from speakers and displays, and more reliable YouTube TV commands on smart displays.
Big fixes for cameras
The release from Google addresses major bugs in the Google Home app when users try to access the live view of a camera. For iOS users, the problem with scrolling to the end of an event and getting a “Video Not Available” error should be fixed. On foldable Androids, watching a live event while the phone is unfolded or unfolded would cause an error. Google says this issue is also fixed.
In addition, software updates for Nest Cam (1st gen), Nest Cam Outdoor (1st gen), Nest Doorbell (wired, 1st gen / Nest Hello), Nest Cam IQ Indoor, and Nest Cam IQ Outdoor have all migrated to the Google Home app as Google continues to phase out the older Nest app.
Also: How Apple’s Video Doorbell Privacy Compares to Ring, Wyze, and Blink
I enjoy my home’s outdoor nest cameras, but their connectivity issues are often frustrating, especially in bad weather. The camera over my garage would often disconnect from Wi-Fi, so I bought a cheap extender to help it maintain a connection.
If my power went out, even for a brief moment, the garage camera would not come online for hours, an issue my backyard camera did not experience. According to Google, a software update has addressed the issue that caused the cameras to freeze or crash when reconnecting after brief interruptions.
Also: Amazon’s Echo Show 16 makes Apple’s 7-inch HomeView weak
During the same brief power and Wi-Fi outage at my home, my Nest thermostats also showed up as offline, even though my furnace and air conditioner were working fine. My power currently cuts out frequently during hurricane season, so these issues have been very frustrating. According to Google, devices that were inaccurately shown as offline were affected by an iOS-specific bug that has now been fixed.
If you have a wired 1st-gen Nest doorbell, the software update also includes improvements to Familiar Face Detection and audio/video synchronization.
See full bio