On October 5, the guys from Mountain View presented, apart from the new Google Pixel 2, a new smart speaker that goes by the name of Google Home Mini, a smaller version of the Google Home and that offers us the same features. But it seems the first units that have been sent to different media to carry out the corresponding review, they do not work as they should, we do not know if they are defective units or it affects all units that will be put on the market soon. The Google Home Mini has a button so that Google Assistant listens to us and performs the tasks we entrust to it. That button has intentionally stopped working after the last update that Google has released.
Apparently that button activated Google Assistant continuously, so it was always listening to the conversations around it. With the latest update that Google has sent to these devices, the button has completely stopped working And the only way to get in touch with the assistant of this speaker is through voice command, either through Ok Google or Hey Google.
Google has published on its website la solution to this problem that put the privacy of any user who owns or intends to purchase this device at risk.
We take privacy and the quality of the products we make very seriously. Although we have only received a small number of reports about this problem, we want people to be calm if they have Google Home Mini in their homes.
We have made the decision to completely disable the button that activates the wizard. As up to now, the best way to activate the Google Home Mini is through voice commands "Ok Google" or "Hey Google", as we can already do in most Google products with our assistant. The tactile buttons that control the volume located on the side, will continue to work as before.
We do not know if in future updates the button dedicated to activating the assistant will work again or will remain as a useless button like the Galaxy S8 with Bixby in countries where it is not currently available. Time will tell.