Bose's latest announcement is two-fold: 1) the diminutive Bose Home Speaker 300 (which can be pre-ordered now) will arrive in the UK on 25th July with Google Assistant on board, and 2) existing Bose smart speakers and soundbars can now be firmware updated to receive the Google voice control functionality – as was promised back in May.
As of now, any owner of an aforementioned Bose smart device — Bose Home Speaker 500, Bose Soundbar 500 and 700 — will receive the over-the-air addition, which can be uncovered in the Voice Settings section of the accompanying Bose Music app. For those who certainly do not want Google or anyone else listening in, then bear in mind that Assistant will not be activated unless selected from the menu.
The Google Assistant feature brings access to millions of songs, podcasts and will also let you search any questions by voice and even control any smart home devices including anything Chromecast-enabled. That means voice-controlling your TV watching, your lights and whatever else you may have connected.
The Bose Home Speaker 300, meanwhile, will be the smallest Bose smart speaker in the range when it hits the shelves later this month for £250. Available for pre-order now, it’s a compact (16.1 x 14.2 x 10.2cm), aluminium-finished device with 360-degree sound produced by a single, proprietary, full-range driver that fires down into an acoustic director.
There’s a 3.5mm line in, Bluetooth connectivity and, like the others in the Bose smart speaker range, it also supports Spotify Connect, Apple Airplay 2 and Alexa voice control. The Bose Home Speaker 300 will work as part of a multi-room set-up with the smart speaker family.
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