The Google Home Speaker is set to start shipping very soon but, ahead of that, one user was able to buy one from a retail store early. They’ve since shared their first impressions, which unfortunately confirm that the speaker has a fixed power cable that’s also pretty short.
After being first announced back in October 2025, the Google Home Speaker officially went up for pre-order last week. The $99 speaker is Google’s first new release in half a decade and, as such, there are quite a lot of questions about it. Ahead of its formal release, one user managed to get their hands on the device, revealing a few tidbits and first impressions.
Warner B on Reddit noticed a Google Home Speaker on the shelves of a Walmart and they were able to buy it – it’s not uncommon for Walmart to inadvertently put products on shelves early, but there’s usually a block in place for this sort of thing, so your results may vary if you try to get one early.
A quick unboxing doesn’t show anything of particular note, aside from the fact that the power cable is fixed to the speaker. That’s quite the departure from Google’s past releases, which all had removable cables, either with a barrel plug, microUSB, or USB-C. The Google Store notes that a 30W USB-C adapter is included and also says it has a “captive cable.” So Google hasn’t really hidden this detail, but it certainly went a bit under the radar. The cable is just under 5ft long, which the poster notes is the biggest downside that stood out so far.
The post turned into a Q&A of first impressions, where it’s mentioned that there are “no obvious” points of entry. On the audio quality side, it’s apparently not half bad. The poster here is actually an audio engineer, and says it’s good enough to be the “main speaker” in their living room, “making the mark” in that room while other rooms have “nice analog” systems. There’s mention of tweaking the audio settings, implying there’s an EQ, with the speaker having “decent low range clarity, and a good high to mid range.” That’s just compared to other smart speakers, though, so we’ll have to wait and see further tests.
Google Home Speaker pre-orders are open now.
Thanks David!
More on Google Home:
- Google TV Streamer update adds Google Home Speaker support, more
- Google Home gets another big update with app improvements, voice & camera upgrades
- RIP Nest Mini – The Google Home Speaker isn’t a replacement, but hopefully the start of a new era
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