Google Nest Wifi and Mini

Google Nest Wifi - the combination of 

a Smart Speaker and a Router

Nest Wifi

Google Nest is introducing its new mesh Wi-Fi router system now called the Nest Wifi, and compared to the Google Wifi currently on the market, it stands out with a round cylindrical design, plus it comes in a few color options. Also, it has the ability to double as a smart speaker," Google Home". Google Nest is introducing two versions of the Nest Wifi: one that is a router that plugs into your modem, and the other (called a “point”) that can double as a smart speaker.

The router is slightly larger than the Points and only comes in white, while the slightly smaller Points come in three colors: snow, mist, and sand. They are made of matte plastic and are about as close to characterless as a Wi-Fi router could possibly get.


It will be available starting November 4th a pack of two will cost $269 and a pack of three is going for $349.

As a smart speaker, the Points have a lot in common with the new Nest Mini smart speakers also announced today. They share many of the same internal parts, but the Point is slightly taller than a Nest Mini, which means that it has more room inside to create a bigger sound. It’s still a single speaker driver, and it still won’t sound as good as an Amazon Echo or Google Home, but it is just a little richer than a typical mini speaker.


It also shares the Nest Mini’s main party trick: it lights up when you reach for it to show you where the volume and play / pause touch areas are on top. But the more interesting light is on the bottom. It projects a ring of white light underneath the Point when it’s activated and listening to you — sort of like the running lights on a car.


When you flip the switch to disable the microphone, it projects a ring of orange light instead. Fortunately, there is a setting to turn that orange ring off if you leave your Point muted a lot. Unfortunately, all the settings — including the Wi-Fi settings — will now live inside the Google Home app, which is a virtual labyrinth of nearly every Google and Google Assistant setting you could possibly imagine.


One Wi-Fi setting will get slightly easier to control. However, You’ll be able to issue voice commands to turn Wi-Fi on or off for specific devices or groups (e.g., for family dinner time or bedtime).

Nest Mini

Google's new Nest Mini is simply the next Gen or you may say a smarter Home Mini with the Nest's branding and double the bass. It looks like a Google Home Mini, but a few things seem to have been changed. There’s now a hole in its underside to let you mount it to your wall, and it appears to use a sensor to turn on indicator lights when you move a hand toward it. Google Nest says that it'll ship on October 22nd and cost $49.99, the same price as the Home Mini.

Eero, Google, and others first tried to solve this problem by making consumer mesh network routers that looked nicer, but that’s not really enough. You need to want to put a gadget on your counter, and that’s one of the main reasons Google is taking a shot at turning the router into a smart speaker.

Google says that a two-pack of Nest Wifi should provide about the same coverage as the old three-pack of the Google Wifi (3,800 square feet). They’re also backward-compatible, so if you already use Google Wifi you can just buy a Point to expand your network. In fact, they should work with any mesh Wi-Fi router that supports the 802.11s standard.

That improved coverage comes thanks to upgraded radios, which Google says are twice as fast and have 25 percent more range. Some of it also comes from a better antenna structure — both the Router and Point are taller than the original Google Wifi routers.
The main Router supports AC2200 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi, with 4x4 (5GHz) and 2x2 (2.4GHz) antenna configurations. The point isn’t as powerful; it supports AC1200 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi, using a 2x2 setup for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. There’s no Wi-Fi 6 support, merely 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, and Google doesn’t believe it needs a dedicated backhaul channel, either. When I asked after that, a spokesperson emailed me this statement:
I can’t actually speak to whether Google’s performance and range claims are accurate, of course. We’ll need to actually use and review the Nest Wifi.

For smart home applications, Google says Nest Wifi supports Bluetooth Low Energy and Thread. Yes, Google is still trying to make Thread a thing just like Eero. Thread won’t be supported at launch, however, and Google tells me to watch for more Thread news and device support next year. In that way, at least, Thread has achieved parity with Bluetooth: it’ll be better next year.

• Standalone Nest Wifi Point: $149

• Standalone Google Wifi point: $99

• Three pack: one Nest router + two Points: $349