Hardware Bargains - Open Thine Wallet

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Lupus said:
I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the one gifted to me
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I use to
1. Control my lights, switch on tv and cast/stream to tv
2. Broadcast messages in house to kids
3. Music - usually the bigger home speaker and nest hub screen.
 
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adielk said:
I use to
1. Control my lights, switch on tv and cast/stream to tv
2. Broadcast messages in house to kids
3. Music - usually the bigger home speaker and nest hub screen.
Click to expand...
Yeah also if you have a bluetooth sound system / soundbar you can even link the google mini to that via bluetooth and it will take requests for music and play it on the bigger system, so one do not need the bigger google home speakers that can cost around R7-8k.
 
enerdude said:
Yeah also if you have a bluetooth sound system / soundbar you can even link the google mini to that and it will take requests for music and play it on the bigger system, so one do not need the bigger google home speakers that can cost around R7-8k.
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Got a few Bluetooth devices laying around for sound, so could use it like that
 
Yeah the google home speakers are a main stay. Can’t believe most folks don’t have them.

Have the original ones paired in stereo in the bedroom and a mini in each kids room.

Kitchen has the hub and living room has the max.

I’m trying to get another max because once you go max you can’t go back. It was a special from Walmart but now I see it’s out of stock and 9k locally. If anyone sees them drop again to 5k please post it here.

As a sound bar for a tv it also works incredibly well paired with a DAC. And it sounds like there is a person with you in the room...
 
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johnjm said:
Have the original ones paired in stereo in the bedroom and a mini in each kids room.
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Yeah forgot to say you can pair them for stereo sound. Only the one speaker listens for commands though. I had to move my one because it was obstructed by an ornament and could not always react properly. The google home and max also has better / more microphones and works better from a distance.
 
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johnjm said:
I’m trying to get another max because once you go max you can’t go back. It was a special from Walmart but now I see it’s out of stock and 9k locally.
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Cheapest I can see locally is smartspeakers.co.za for 8k
I have bought other stuff from them in the past, they are legit and from time to time cheaper on phones, accessories etc
 
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enerdude said:
Yeah forgot to say you can pair them for stereo sound. Only the one speaker listens for commands though. I had to move my one because it was obstructed by an ornament and could not always react properly. The google home and max also has better / more microphones and works better from a distance.
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My minis are actually sensitive, sometimes reacts at quite a distance. Might be sensitivity settings?

But yep they pretty useful for broadcasting and voice control of my smart automations. And broadcasting

Have a smart remote control in bedroom and lounge. Thus voice control brilliant at controlling remote controlled devices eg TVs and aircon.
 
enerdude said:
Cheapest I can see locally is smartspeakers.co.za for 8k
I have bought other stuff from them in the past, they are legit and from time to time cheaper on phones, accessories etc
Click to expand...

Yeah I regret not buying them for 5200 three weeks ago. Hoping it drops again after Christmas.
 
adielk said:
My minis are actually sensitive, sometimes reacts at quite a distance. Might be sensitivity settings?

But yep they pretty useful for broadcasting and voice control of my smart automations. And broadcasting

Have a smart remote control in bedroom and lounge. Thus voice control brilliant at controlling remote controlled devices eg TVs and aircon.
Click to expand...
Yes one can also voice control wifi cameras, I've been looking for specials and decided on a pair of TP-Link C100's that is going for a good price on takealot
These also have motion detection and alarm funtionality.

Ordered today as I won a R150 voucher on justcodes.co.za lol so it works out to R525 per camera.
You can then view them via a chromecast device on your tv
 
adielk said:
Have a smart remote control in bedroom and lounge. Thus voice control brilliant at controlling remote controlled devices eg TVs and aircon.
Click to expand...
Yes got this broadlink one from geewiz for R256 on black friday, see currently going for R395 which is not bad for a device that simplifies things so much.
 
enerdude said:
Oh the possibilities is endless....
You can get some humour by swearing at her, asking for a joke etc.
You can play multiple games, like rock paper scissors for instance.
You can play any artist's music in 'shuffle' mode using spotify free account (specific song request and playlists if you have premium)
You can stream radio stations, especially nice ones that has poor reception in your area.
You can turn lights and switch off (I have a colour wifi light bulb that cost about 200 bucks).
I also have some sonoff wifi switches which I hooked up to various devices e.g. my pc monitor to turn it off by voice when I don't want to get up.

Ask the weather, ask chances of rain in your area, etc etc etc
You can even tell her to remember your favorite number and when you ask her again she will tell you.
Same with things like e.g. 'What is my brother's name' - if you tell her she will remember and all of this info get saved in your google account for future use.

Also, multiple people in the house can install the google home app and let her record their voice print - this means I can say: 'Ok google, where is my phone' and it will ring my phone even though it might be on silent.
But if my brother gives the same command, his phone will ring.

Then there is of course 'routines' - if I tell her 'Ok google, good morning' she will tell me the weather and read the latest news as well as tell me about my daily schedule if I put it in the google calendar app.
These routines you can edit in the google home app, add things like turn lights on and off etc
The default 'good night' routine would for instance ask you what time you want the alarm set and then play some sleeping music (crickets lol).

Possibilities are endless and the AI get improved in the cloud daily, so the speaker gets new functionality on a regular basis.
If you tell her 'Ok, google, I hate you' she would even offer to record your voice in order to give feedback to the google team on how they can improve.

Basically ANY THING you can think of asking you can try and see the response, also stuff like conversions e.g. inches to cm, anything you can google you can ask via voice.
Click to expand...
You can do all of that from your phone as well. What makes this better?
 
Park@82 said:
You can do all of that from your phone as well. What makes this better?
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Speaker quality / microphone sensitivity from a distance and controlling all your home devices when your phone is not around.

Also you cannot broadcast to another phone.
Emergency use as I mentioned few posts back when you not around but your mom are home alone and maybe fell and cannot get up, then you use the speaker as a speaker phone
etc etc etc

And last but not least, finding your phone that is lying somewhere and set to silent.
 
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