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Both devices can group nest speakers or other Google home devices to fill your entire house with songs. But what sets the nest apart is that it can pair two speakers for true stereo sounds. The difference is that nest mini provides a clearer direction on things. With the home mini, when you tap the side of the unit, the dots at the center will start to blink.
The devices respond to both voice and manual controls, play music, have Google Assistant, and more. It’s very slightly smaller (so slight, it’s hard to tell), and comes in slightly different color options. There’s also an integrated wall mount on this model, where the Home Mini requires buying a wall mount accessory. The touch controls on either side of the device and the LED lights on the top function the same way in both models.
Nest Audio vs. Nest Mini: Which Google smart speaker is right for you?
In looks, the newer Google Nest Mini didn’t veer too far from the Google Home Mini that it’s quite difficult to tell them apart. The controls are hidden beneath this fabric but generally tapping the sides will adjust the volume up or down. LED dots in the center light up when the microphones pick up sound. A microphone switch manually toggles the microphone on and off.
This new sensor can detect when someone is close and reaches toward the Nest Mini to adjust the volume or press the top button, and will illuminate the buttons to better facilitate usage. It's a charming addition that makes the unit just feel a bit more user-friendly. While the unit obviously ships with the proper cable to power it, you won't have the same luxury of having a universal cable as the Google Home Mini had.
Price and warranty
The Nest Mini is currently selling for $50 and can often be found bundled with other smart home hardware, like thermostats and security cameras. Often, the value of these bundles is so good that you’re essentially getting the Nest Mini for free. The Nest Mini uses a Quad Core 64-bit ARM 1.4GHz processor with an added ML hardware engine. Think of these essential peripherals as the brains and brawn of both Nest speakers.
Alexa’s version is a bit more complex, but once you get the hang of it you can easily set up detailed routines based on exactly what you want to do. Alexa also still beats Google Assistant when it comes to compatibility, so there’s a greater chance of your smart devices actually working with the Dot. The Nest Mini may not have a clock option, but it still uses LED dots to communicate, and it’s available in chalk, charcoal, coral, and sky.
Apple HomePod mini is more expensive
On top, the Home Mini features four LED dots signaling the running functions, listening, and initiating setup. One additional far-field microphone on the Nest Mini means that the unit can hear your commands better in any room, especially when there's other noise happening. The Google Home Mini only features two mics and sometimes has a hard time hearing commands if you've got kids playing loudly or are making a racket while cooking, for example. During the HomePod Mini reveal, Apple showed an iPhone user putting their phone next to the smart speaker, at which point the song being played showed up immediately in Apple Music on the iPhone. The Google Assistant has come leaps and bounds over the years, becoming one of the best smart assistants available.
Another design difference to consider is how each speaker fits into your specific space. The Nest Mini includes a slot on its base that allows for wall mounting right out of the box. It may not seem like much, but mounting a smart speaker on the wall is incredibly handy for areas where counter space is at a premium or in wet areas like bathrooms or kitchens. It's a significant improvement to an already excellent product, and it makes this the easiest small speaker to recommend if you want Google Assistant everywhere in your home. Enter the Nest Mini — Google, er, Nest's second generation of the device. Not only did Nest keep the things fans loved about the first iteration like its size, mult-colored options, and price, but it managed to address some of the major concerns from the previous version.
The Nest Mini is the obvious champion between these two smart speakers. A full-range driver and two passive radiators for accentuating bass tones are the audio peripherals at play, and they make the HomePod Mini sound great. The sound is rich and clear, and the bass a bit punchier than competitive miniature speakers. While the HomePod Mini lacks the adaptive sound features of its taller HomePod brethren, Apple’s onboard S5 chip brings a feature called computational audio that helps to balance sound output. It’s not the kind of calibration you get on the bigger HomePod, but it makes a small difference for the listening experience. In terms of actual listening, four far-field microphones are at play with the HomePod Mini (over Google’s three).
But with the nest mini, there’ll be lights that will indicate where to touch the soonest you approach the device. Everyone and everything is hopping on the green bandwagon nowadays. The sight of the poor polar bear clinging on a thin sheet of ice or dead seagulls from eating plastic are enough for most to make a change, at least the decent companies. Thus, in line with going green, the nest mini’s fabric is now made from recycled plastic bottles. And the external enclosure is manufactured from 35 percent of recycled bottles.
Unfortunately, Google gave up a fantastic opportunity to further unify its hardware offerings with a USB Type-C cable, instead opting for a proprietary power cable. The Google Home Mini shipped with a micro-USB cable, which, even at the original time of release was a bizarre choice since USB Type-C had already established itself as the next big universal cable. Even though it's much smaller than the Google Home, it packs a better microphone array, a more comparable speaker setup, and it is more flexible in terms of where you can put it. It comes in more colors, and is still half the price of its bigger sibling. With the Nest Mini occupying the low end, and the Nest Hub the high end, it makes me wonder if the Google Home will see a refresh or if it will be put out to pasture.
The HomePod Mini comes in swinging with an aesthetically pleasing bulb design. Like the Nest Mini, the HomePod Mini is also fabric-wrapped, and it measures 3.9 inches wide and 3.3 inches tall. Color options are a bit more limited than the Nest Mini, with only white and space gray as choices.
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