Gemini for Home feels like a big downgrade, and your phone can prove it

Google finally brought Gemini to Google Home and Nest users, allowing smart speaker and smart display owners to get in on the action. Unfortunately, many users have complained that Gemini struggles with basic features compared to Assistant on these devices. But just how bad is it? Well, a new YouTube video paints an extremely ugly picture.

YouTuber Adam Hrivnacky posted a video (via Reddit) comparing Gemini on his Android phone to the chatbot on his Google Nest Hub. The clip, seen above, reveals a major quality gap between the two platforms.

“Hey Google, I’m feeling cold today,” Hrivnacky told the two devices. This resulted in Gemini on Android providing tips to stay warm, while Gemini on the smart display noted that “your Spotify account needs to be linked first.” By contrast, Assistant on smart displays would apparently adjust the thermostat or tell users that the thermostat wasn’t connected.

The YouTuber then asked Gemini on his smart display how Spotify would help him keep warm, with the chatbot subsequently apologizing and acknowledging that it had made a mistake with the original answer.

This wasn’t the only area where Gemini on Google Home fell short. The video shows it’s unable to summarize emails, set a reminder for a month from now (you need to mention a specific date), or change the color of smart lights within predefined parameters (e.g., “something in between blue and green”). By contrast, Gemini on Android was indeed able to accomplish these tasks with the same commands. The YouTuber also made a point of using imperfect queries throughout the video, and Gemini on Android still handled these commands just fine.

The reminder functionality is particularly unpolished, as the video showed Gemini on Home couldn’t successfully name the reminder “cancel Google Home Premium trial” when prompted to name it. Instead, the service conducted a Google search. The lack of polish doesn’t end here, as Gemini Live on Home can’t access the calendar, urging you to end Live Mode first. Again, this isn’t a problem when using Gemini Live on an Android phone.

The issues don’t end here

Hrivnacky asserted that the Nest Hub isn’t actually using Gemini but uses Assistant for any queries that can’t be accomplished via Google Search:

Gemini for Home is only used when answering questions from the internet, from the search. But when you need Gemini to act with your home or Google account, it’s mostly unable to do that. Or to be more specific, it’ll just use the usual, regular Google Assistant (sic).

It’s also worth reiterating that you lose out on Continued Conversation capabilities by upgrading to Gemini on your smart display or smart speaker. Instead, users have to splash out on a subscription to use Gemini Live. While Gemini Live is faster and more responsive, Continued Conversation still allowed you to ask follow-up questions and was a free feature.

Either way, I think you might want to hold off on “upgrading” your Google speaker or smart display to Gemini for now. It evidently looks like Google has taken the familiar approach of releasing a broken feature with the aim of fixing it later.

We’ve asked Google for comment regarding this video and whether it has a timeline for addressing these problems. We also asked the search giant if Gemini on Home falls back to Assistant for some queries. We’ll update the article when the company responds to our query.