I've got a few questions, home anyone can help me out...What things can you do with Google Home? Can you set the region to your NZ city?

What things can you do with Google Home?

Can you set the region to your NZ city?

Does it have NZ information?

Can you access USA 'apps'?

Can you change countries easily?

Is it able to tell you local traffic information?

michaelmurfy: Looks like they're also getting the mesh router which is nice. A little pricier though compared to importing from the US right now.

I read somewhere that you can't setup your own DNS and that it uses Google DNS, thereby preventing use of DNS to appear in a specific region. That would be a shame as I need that for Vudu and Hulu.

nurcopolics:

 

I've got a few questions, home anyone can help me out...What things can you do with Google Home? Can you set the region to your NZ city?

 

What things can you do with Google Home?

 

 

 

Can you set the region to your NZ city?

 

 

 

Does it have NZ information?

 

 

 

Can you access USA 'apps'?

 

 

 

Can you change countries easily?

 

 

 

Is it able to tell you local traffic information?

 

While it does not officially support New Zealand, you can set your street address in New Zealand and it will adapt automatically.

It will give you local weather, traffic and other information.

I did not manage to use it to order an uber, but most other things work.

kryptonjohn:

 

michaelmurfy: Looks like they're also getting the mesh router which is nice. A little pricier though compared to importing from the US right now.

 

I read somewhere that you can't setup your own DNS and that it uses Google DNS, thereby preventing use of DNS to appear in a specific region. That would be a shame as I need that for Vudu and Hulu.

 

 

 

You can actually choose between Google DNS, ISP DNS or Custom manual entry.

Cool - GoogleWifi back on my watchlist then!

One SSID no matter where you are in the house is the appeal to me, along with the ability to nip the kids off when they are supposed to be in bed, doing homework or coming to the dinner table!

@droopanu  - when you mentioned the ability to configure DNS... you were talking about GoogleWifi not GoogleHome, right?

kryptonjohn:

 

One SSID no matter where you are in the house is the appeal to me, along with the ability to nip the kids off when they are supposed to be in bed, doing homework or coming to the dinner table!

 

@droopanu  - when you mentioned the ability to configure DNS... you were talking about GoogleWifi not GoogleHome, right?

 

 

 

yup, google wifi allows dns changing.

google home is fixed to google dns :)

Was curious to see if there were any going cheap on TradeMe... no. But some entrepreneur is selling the 3 pack for $799 +$25 shipping vs $600 direct free shipping from the Google Store! (And $349 for one vs $229 form Google!)

Maybe the TM guy hasn't noticed Google is selling them from their NZ store now.

nurcopolics:

 

I've got a few questions, home anyone can help me out...What things can you do with Google Home? Can you set the region to your NZ city?

 

What things can you do with Google Home?

 

Lots of things.  We use it for our shopping list (this was the killer feature for TheWife™). Play music through it (Spotify), ask it questions, get it to tell you jokes, control your lights (if you have some home automation bits and bobs). Get it to convert values (measurement, weight, size etc) for you.  Ask it how to cook something.  Not so great on some local content - e.g. I doubt it'd know what movies were showing at my local cinema.  That said; its surprising what it does know too.  Definitely got better since I've had mine (from around Christmas).

nurcopolics:

 

Can you set the region to your NZ city?

 

Yes

nurcopolics:

 

Does it have NZ information?

 

Yes.  Not always as good as say the US.  Essentially its scraping info from some popular sites (think Wikipedia and the like).  If its there it can generally answer.

nurcopolics:

 

Can you access USA 'apps'?

 

I'm assuming you mean things only available in the US (e.g. Pandora going away). I would imagine so if you use a VPN.  I havent tried this.

nurcopolics:

 

Can you change countries easily?

 

Yes

nurcopolics:

 

Is it able to tell you local traffic information?

 

Yes. You can even have it know your home/work addresses and ask it how long it'll take you to go to work.

nzkc:

 

 

 

Lots of things.  We use it for our shopping list (this was the killer feature for TheWife™). Play music through it (Spotify), ask it questions, get it to tell you jokes, control your lights (if you have some home automation bits and bobs). Get it to convert values (measurement, weight, size etc) for you.  Ask it how to cook something.  Not so great on some local content - e.g. I doubt it'd know what movies were showing at my local cinema.  That said; its surprising what it does know too.  Definitely got better since I've had mine (from around Christmas).

 

I must admit I have given up on GH for automation. Probably it's my specific issue but I have a mixture of emulated Hue Bulbs (via OpenHAB and HABridge) that allow me to use international Insteon devices which have no Alexa (nor GH) support and real Hue bulbs which Google does support. When I first got the GH I could control both but Google broke the interface with the latest release of GH and now I can control either the emulated or the real bulbs, but not both.

I also have a Harmony hub in a box and it's touch and go if GH can control that without possibly using IFTTT which I don't want to.

So I have Echo Dot's for automation and GH for all the other stuff like providing information, playing music (mine is from Google Play), timers, calculations etc. It's way better than the Dot for that and having it location aware is a great bonus.