Google’s Home Max thinks it’s the smartest speaker of them all

“Hey Google, could you inflate the Home into an audiophile-friendly speaker with window-rattling sound please?”. That’s what we just asked our favourite digital genie and, hey presto, Google came up with the Home Max ($399, due December 2017). It’s twenty times more powerful than the current Home speaker, and also comes with automatic, Sonos-like ‘Smart Sound’ that tailors the sound to your room. Its smarts also apparently go one step further, cleverly making tweaks like lowering the volume in the morning and raising it when your dishwasher’s running. And you can naturally stream music from the likes of Google Play Music, Spotify and Pandora too. In fact, the only thing this Assistant-packing speaker can’t do is find its way out of the US, as it’s only going to be available Stateside in chalk and charcoal versions this year. But fear not, it’ll be ready to do battle with Apple’s Homepod and the Echo clan in other countries sometime in 2018.

Mark Wilson Features editor

About

Mark's first review for Stuff was the Nokia N-Gage in 2004. Luckily, his career lasted a little longer than the taco phone, and he's been trying to figure out how gadgets fit back into their boxes ever since. While his 'Extreme Mark Wilson' persona was retired following a Microsoft skydiving incident, this means he can often be spotted in the wilds of South West London testing action cams, drones and smartwatches, and occasionally cursing at them.

Areas of expertise

Smart home tech, cameras, wearables and obscure gadgets from the early 2000s.