There's nothing especially remarkable about Google Home Mini, except perhaps one thing: it does everything the bigger Home product does, but is much, much smaller. Home Mini isn't designed as a speaker for music, though.

Attractive design; Google Assistant delivers good responses to questions; Growing support for third-party devices

Fabric won't clean easily; No audio output; Sound quality isn't great (but then it's not designed as a speaker for music; Really

The Google Home Mini is everything that's great about Google Home at a fraction of the cost.

Google Assistant is hard to beat; Surprisingly good sound for a tiny speaker; Design you won't mind staring at

No aux connector; Awkward touch controls

If you're after a dinky smart speaker to tuck away out of sight, or perhaps some affordable secondary units to spread your smart home control to other rooms, the Home Mini is a solid choice.

Compact and subtle; Impressive mics; Smart app control

The assistant usually works very well. It understands what should be done even if one is not completely clear or if one stems. But I lack the option of being able to lower / raise the volume directly from the phone. Sometimes you sit a little away and then it does not hear when you call it.

The next-generation Google's mini speaker assistant is available in Singapore from 23 October. Called Nest Mini, it takes over the "Nest" sub-brand for home networking products. The launch retail price of S$79 is the same as the predecessor. The Nest Mini retail box is larger…

So, which mini smart speaker should you get – Google’s doughnut or Amazon’s hockey puck? It depends on a few things. Firstly, whether you’d prefer an friendly, engaging digital assistant (the Home Mini) or a more efficient, if slightly robotic one (the Echo Dot). But it also depends on what you’re going to use it for. The Home Mini does a lot right and is better than the Echo Dot in a few areas. It looks and sounds much better. It’s also far more likely to have a stab at answering random trivia questions, making it the best bet for young families with inquisitive kids. Another strength is controlling your smart home, with Google’s Home family supporting most major brands now (although it’s worth checking the compatibility list). Alexa certainly has more ‘skills’ for connecting to third party services, but it’s pretty close when it comes to smart lights and heating. If you and your family mostly use Google services (like Photos, Calendar and Chromecasts), the Home Mini is likely to be the better bet too. Unless you want to connect it to your work Gmail calendar, strangely. But for everyone else, the Echo Dot remains the best all-round mini smart speaker. Unlike the Home Mini, it has a line out and can play through Bluetooth speakers, making it the more versatile musical assistant. It’s also better for voice shopping (at least in the UK) and will support voice recognition soon. One thing’s for sure – at £49, both are bona fide tech bargains that are now better entrées to the glorious world of voice control than their bigger brothers. And with new features being added on a seemingly weekly basis, they’re only going to get better.

Fluffy, friendly design; Sounds better than an Echo Dot; Just as knowledgeable as bigger Home; Strong smart home support; Recognises the voices of up to six people and gives personalised replies; Good value;

Doesn't have a 3.5mm line-out or have Bluetooth out; Touch buttons on the top have been disabled; Still favours Google services over others; Echo still more versatile for music and shopping;

A neat way to add smart home control where you need it, the Google Home Mini is a great-looking mini speaker with tonnes of features but it lacks some of its rival's flexibility

Good looks; Affordable;

No 3.5mm or Bluetooth audio output; No top touch controls besides volume;

Fluffy, friendly design; Sounds better than an Echo Dot; Just as knowledgeable as bigger Home; Strong smart home support; Recognises the voices of up to six people and gives personalised replies; Good value;

Doesn’t have a 3.5mm line-out or have Bluetooth out; Touch buttons on the top have been disabled; Still favours Google services over others; Echo still more versatile for music and shopping;

Google's smart speaker just got smaller. The Home Mini is, as you can deduce from its name, a smaller version of the Google Home speaker the company launched last year. It has all of the same capabilities as its larger forebear, but comes with a smaller price: $49 versus the larger speaker's $129...

Good sound quality for voice responses; Attractive design; Impulse purchase pricing

Fabric may not last long; Limited audio output options; Fewer smart home tricks than Amazon's Alexa

When it comes to speakers, Google has the $50 Mini, the $129 Home, and the $399 Max. Google Assistant is also available on every recent Android phone, without you having to hunt down an app.

Inexpensive; Nice design; Better sound quality than the Echo Dot; Better at answering music-related queries than Alexa

Lacks audio out; Google Home still offers less support for third-party services than Alexa