Google Home Speaker unboxed early, revealing an unfortunate hardware decision

The new Google Home Speaker may not be officially shipping out just yet, but one lucky shopper appears to have gotten their hands on it early.

A Reddit user says they spotted the new Google Home Speaker sitting on a Walmart shelf while traveling for work. According to the post, a store associate unknowingly sold them the device despite it apparently not being scheduled for release yet.

The user has since shared their early impressions along with an unboxing video, and the biggest surprise isn’t the speaker’s design or sound quality. Instead, it’s the permanently attached power cable.

According to the buyer, the Google Home Speaker appears to come with a non-removable USB-C power cable that’s about 5 feet long. The cable then connects to a removable 30W power brick. In other words, while the power adapter itself can be replaced, the cable attached to the speaker cannot simply be unplugged and swapped out.

“Unfortunately, the biggest thing that stood out to me was the irremovable power cable,” the Redditor wrote, calling it a “nightmare for repairability.”

The attached cable is also shown in the user’s unboxing video. It doesn’t look like there’s a standard USB-C port on the speaker itself. While it’s possible the cable could be removed internally during repairs, that would still be a much less consumer-friendly approach than using a detachable cable.

Beyond that disappointment, the user’s early impressions about how the speaker sounds are largely positive.

The Redditor, who says they have experience with professional audio equipment, described the sound quality as better than expected. They noted good midrange and low-frequency performance for a speaker of this size, though they preferred slightly boosting the treble in the audio settings.

The speaker also reportedly gets fairly loud and delivers enough audio quality that the user plans to make it the main speaker in their living room.

On the hardware side, they highlighted Google’s touch controls, which use hidden lights beneath the fabric mesh to indicate volume controls. Setup was also said to be straightforward, taking less than 10 minutes using an existing Google Home account.

Not everything about the physical design impressed them, though. In addition to the attached cable, the user noted that the fabric mesh covering feels somewhat loose compared to the hard body underneath. This may be an issue with that single unit, but it raises concerns about long-term durability and potential tearing.

Of course, these are just first impressions from a single early owner of the Google Home Speaker. We’ll need more hands-on time to fully evaluate the speaker.