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;

If you want something from the internet, you Google it. We've been doing it for decades - more than a trillion searches per year by Google's own estimates. Google is so good at it that it gets to be its own verb.

The Google Home Mini is a stylish-looking speaker with surprisingly strong sound quality; The Google Assistant is a capable Alexa competitor, especially thanks to its ability to search out detailed answers to a wide variety of questions

There isn't much the Home Mini does that Alexa can't do, too; It also lacks a line out jack, and requires Chromecast Audio in order to connect with at external speaker setup

The Google Home Mini is both affordable and capable -- for $49 it can pull up loads of information, control your music and videos and manage a wide variety of smarthome devices. Its tiny speaker sounds better than expected, though you probably won't want to play music on it.

Extremely affordable; Does everything the bigger Google Home can do; Manages many popular smarthome devices; Speaker sounds pretty decent for its tiny size

Microphones aren't very good for voice calling; Doesn't have as much third-party support as Amazon's Alexa; Somehow still doesn't support professional Google accounts

There is a smart speaker party going on in the tech world, and some of the major brands are already there. While Amazon may seem like a veteran in the game with its Echo range of smart speakers, Google has recently stepped in as well.

Compact Design; Good sound quality for the size; Good speed of response

Cloth covering the speaker gets cracked; Can be inconsistent sometimes

If it wasn't for the Amazon Echo Dot ($17 at Amazon), I'd recommend the Google Home Mini to everyone. Google successfully fit all of the smarts of the original Google Home into a fun-size package. You can give it voice commands, just like you can with the Google Home or any of Amazon's Echo line of products. Like Google Home, the Mini has Google's version of Alexa (called Google Assistant) built in, and Google Assistant is a great and well-rounded digital assistant.

The Google Home Mini stands tall as one of the best affordable smart speakers out there, along with the Amazon Echo Dot, but it doesn't do enough to supplant the Dot at the top of the list.

The Google Home Mini puts all of the smarts of Google Assistant into a small and affordable package; The Mini sounds surprisingly good for its size and features a colorful design that can blend into your home's decor.

The Mini's touch controls aren't intuitive; it doesn't have a line-out jack like the Amazon Echo Dot; and the built-in Google Assistant still doesn't have quite as many features as the Dot's built-in assistant; Alexa.

The Google Home Mini is an excellent smart speaker. True to its name, it can do everything that the bigger Google Home does, at almost half the price and quarter the size. The device's sound quality allows it to be more than just a smart gadget, instead, it can be used as an actual speaker for your...

Great Sound Quality; Neat and Clean Design; Google Assistant is quite smart

No AUX-in port; Google Assistant still needs to improve a bit