Australia finally gets its hands on Google Home Max
Google Home Max will be available in Australia next week, over eight months after customers in the United States first got their hands on one.
"We get to countries as soon as we can," said Chris Chan, product manager at Google, during a briefing in Sydney on Wednesday. "And that applies to Google hardware and Google Assistant.
"Google Home Australia has been and continues to be a priority."
Australian customers can purchase Google Home Max from the usual suspects -- the Good Guys, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, David Jones, Officeworks, and the Google Store -- from August 9, 2018, for a cost of AU$549.
The device comes in two colours: Chalk and charcoal.
Reviewing Home Max in January after using it in his office for a month, ZDNet's Jason Cipriani labelled the device's sound impressive:
"It is easy to recommend to someone who wants a stellar speaker that works with Google's ecosystem and is integrated into a myriad of home automation systems compatible with Google Assistant."
Must read: Google Home Max review: Sound this good comes at a price
The speaker measures 335mm x 187mm x 152mm and weighs 5.3kg.
A small placement mat comes with the Home Max. Using magnets, it helps keep the speaker from sliding or vibrating and moving, and the device can be placed in vertical or horizontal orientations.
Home Max is Google's first speaker with Smart Sound, which is labelled as an "audio experience", powered by Google AI.
Smart Sound will essentially adjust the sound quality from the speaker based on not only the room the device is placed in, but where in the room it's placed. Each time the device is moved, the speaker will automatically readjust Smart Sound.
Users can also manually adjust the sound using standard toggle controls through the Google Home app.
The "Hey Google" or "OK Google" commands still work while music is playing. And it gets pretty loud: The device boasts two 4.5 inch woofers, with 22mm of excursion; it's 20 times more powerful than Google Home.
In pictures: What it's like inside a life-size Google Home Max
It also allows for the storing of up to six different voice profiles -- that is different people -- attached to separate streaming service accounts, including Spotify, Google Music, and YouTube. Voice Match is activated simply by speaking to the device.
Users can pair more than one Home Max and also pair it with other smart speakers for that surround sound feel.
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