The Google Home Mini is a smart speaker built on the same platform as the original Google Home, but it's significantly smaller. Google Home Mini comes with access to the powerful Google Assistant, so you can use it to listen to music, check the news and weather, make appointments, and perform all sorts of other tasks. The built-in speaker doesn't offer the same audio quality as the larger Google Home, but you can connect it wirelessly to any Cast-compatible speaker for richer sound.

The Google Home Mini is essentially a miniature version of the Google Home, so it consists of a speaker, some computer hardware, and a couple of microphones. It's a bit larger than the Amazon Dot it was introduced to compete with, but its edges are rounded to create a look that's somewhat reminiscent of candies like M&Ms and Skittles.

For connectivity, the Google Home Mini can connect to both 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless networks, supports Chromecast and Chromecast Audio, and accepts audio input via Bluetooth 4.1. That means you can connect it to the internet over Wi-Fi regardless of what type of router you have, stream music and other audio to your Chromecast or Cast-compatible speaker, and stream music and other audio from your phone to the Home Mini over Bluetooth.

Unlike the competing Amazon Dot, however, the Home Mini doesn't have a physical audio output, and you can't connect it to Bluetooth speakers that don't have Cast functionality.