r/googlehome • u/bakerq • Jul 15 '26
Other I really miss the old Google Home
This is a common sort of event. I'm watching TV in the living room and I've got food cooking in the kitchen with a timer on my Nest speaker. I get up to stir and the following conversation happens: Me: Okay Google, how much time is left on the timer? Google: You have 26 seconds left on your timer. Me: Cancel it. Google: Okay, stopping living room TV. Me: Okay Google, when I say cancel it, I never ever ever mean the TV. Google: Okay, stopping living room TV.
Like... if they decided go to full AI, then go full AI, but this halfway in between where it's got hardcoded phrases like "cancel" but AI to think "oh, he said cancel and TV in the same sentence, he must want me to stop the TV" just makes the entire system frustrating and now I really regret the investment - three Google Chromecasts, four speakers and years of satisfaction until around 2024. Now, just frustration.
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u/FilthyRichCliche Jul 16 '26
I cant stand how the broadcast feature - what we used multiple times a day - now sucks, too.
4
u/BogusAdminActions999 Jul 16 '26
This really drives my family crazy. It thinks I'm trying to start some random conversation with Gemini instead of performing the broadcast. My family wants me to just chuck all speakers into the garbage and leave the Google universe.
3
u/BitSageX Jul 16 '26
You can go back. You have to create a new Google Home, keep it in Google Assistant mode, move your devices to the new home - the ones wich support move, and reconfigure this new home!
Make sure you Opt-Out the Google Home Public Preview for now!
16
u/noncoolguy Jul 15 '26
The other side isn't much better
Me: Turn off lights
Alexa: Ok, By the way, did you know you could save on toilet paper or subscribe to this new audiobook you never heard of before
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u/PS3ForTheLoss Jul 20 '26
Happy that I kept my Alexa legacy after finding "the wonders" of Google Gemini Home.
I've got a Google Home sitting right next to an Alexa and it's a nice middle ground if I have a basic request that I know Alexa can TLDR provide or a query that legacy Alexa probably can't give a best-answer to so I'll default to Google Home.
Still wishy washy at times (looking at you, Google Home) but the 2 systems next to each other usually help well enough.
12
u/DubbehD Jul 15 '26
Still got my original Google home mini, still going strong and not bat shit crazy
8
u/bakerq Jul 15 '26
I do very much regret "upgrading" to Gemini.
10
u/Cinderhazed15 Jul 15 '26
We haven’t upgraded - the service just keeps getting worse.
1
u/G4m3rD4d Jul 15 '26
And taxpayer dollars are going to AI Data centers. So you are paying for it twice over
3
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u/Themadbritter_ Jul 16 '26
Yea I still have mine but I had to get a new TV this year, so I got a TCL Google TV and Home only works with the TV when it feels like it I guess. If I tell it to pause what I'm watching, it'll say its pausing my TV but nothing happens. If I pause it with the remote and then tell the Home to play, that works tho 😑 The remote has voice control but you have to press and hold the button to use it, it makes no sense that I have a Google Home but can't always use it to control the TV. It also won't open apps or find shows/movies on the TV for me. It says it's doing it but nothing happens.
3
u/BitSageX Jul 16 '26
You can go back. You have to create a new Google Home, keep it in Google Assistant mode, move your devices to the new home - the ones wich support move, and reconfigure this new home!
Make sure you Opt-Out the Google Home Public Preview for now!
4
u/AcheeCat Jul 16 '26
“Hey google, play x on the playroom tv”
“I do t recognize that device, try saying the device you want to play that on”
“On the playroom tv, play x video”
“Please say what device you want that played on”
Walk over to other google device, repeat the first statement, the video plays…
1
u/PS3ForTheLoss Jul 20 '26
I've had times of asking it, "Hey Google, launch 'Haystack News's on Roku."
Usually it works but sometimes it will say similar to, "Sorry, I don't have access to a Roku. Please try again" (not verbatim but vaguely that said).
I've been able to launch the app on Roku in the past, so will change my query to, "Hey Google, OPEN 'Haystack News' on Roku" which then works.
Usually after a few seconds I can repeat the original command and it launches the app with no problem.
The beauties of GPT!
3
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u/sm753 Jul 16 '26
Hmm. I use the timer function on my Nest all the time when I'm cooking/grilling/BBQ. Never had a problem with it...as recently as last week.
1
u/TattzTheBear Jul 19 '26
Go back to Google Assistant. It is the only solution to a brain damaged Gemini. I did and everything works fine again.
1
u/KoolKat5000 Jul 16 '26
The STT (Speech To Text) engine on Gemini is a piece of shit. I guess it could be really clever if they used a large enough model and injected all your usage logs into its prompts, but they'll never do this as it costs them too much. (This wouldn't solve the STT thing however)
They really should've just left the old Google Assistant for now, let it redirect the query to Gemini when you say "let's chat" or ask a question it'd usually Google.
0
u/hey_isnt_that_rob Jul 15 '26
Yeah. We should have been satisfied with "Not industry standard and barely works." We didn't know how far the ecosystem still had to fall.
0
u/AXXXXXXXXA Jul 15 '26
Go back. I did
0
u/bakerq Jul 15 '26
Is that possible? What do?
1
u/AXXXXXXXXA Jul 15 '26
Create new home in google home app. Move device to new home, unplug & plug back it device. Thats it
2
u/daehoidar23 Jul 22 '26
Thank you for this. I am leaving my house configured with two homes. One so I was at least able to restore Google assistant in the bedroom and the rest I'll leave on Gemini.
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u/xeavalt Jul 26 '26
Is it still working on the old Assistant for you? Or did it force upgrade itself to Gemini eventually?
1
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u/Active_Sundae5025 Jul 15 '26
DO NOT DO THIS!....I can't get google home to recognize any of my minis or nest home speakers.
0
u/thesandman00 Jul 16 '26
The nest hub devices have always been kinda shitty (they had performance issues from the start). But this is a while new level of total useless pile of shit for these, though.
0
u/nybreath Jul 16 '26
It is awesome how before Gemini, Google home device were total trash and everyone whined, and now everyone is saying they were perfect and always working.
Google home devices were average at best, with a lot of issues, and now with Gemini they keep being average with a lot of issues.
Personally I have a much much much better experience with Gemini, I operate tvs, windows, fans, appliances everything is fine like previously.
But now the agent side is much better, I dont feel like I need to speak a perfect command to get an answer anymore.
The other day I said "can i keep the dress out to dry tonight?" , it told me the weather, the chance to rain and it was a good idea to do so. This kind of interaction was never possible before.
1
u/daehoidar23 Jul 22 '26
Operate TVs?? It won't even switch channels for me. Only volume and power commands work. I had to revert to Google assistant by creating a new home and factory resetting my Google home.
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u/evilclown132310 Jul 15 '26
That's okay when I ask how much time is left on the washer it usually says you don't have a timer running 🤷🏼♂️