The Google Nest Mini is one of our favorite smart speakers around. It's tiny, adorable, and does all of the same Google Assistant tasks as its more expensive siblings. One of the most useful Assistant features is being able to control smart home gadgets with your voice, and the Nest Mini does this wonderfully. Here are a few of our favorite ones that work with it!
Smart lights should be a staple of any smart home, and if you want some of the best smart lights money can buy, you'll want to go with Philips Hue. This starter kit includes four A19 bulbs that are capable of over 16 million colors, each of which should last for 25,000 hours of usage. It also comes with the necessary hub that connects the lights to your home Wi-Fi network and allows them to work with the Google Assistant.
Similar to smart bulbs, smart plugs are another smart home essential. The Wemo Mini plugs into your existing wall outlet, and then when you plug in a lamp, coffee pot, or anything else into it, you can turn it on and off with your voice using the Nest Mini, the Wemo mobile app, or set up a schedule to have it turn on and off automatically. Also, since the Wemo Mini is so small, you can have two stacked on top of each other in one outlet!
If you have a Nest Mini, the best smart thermostat you can get is the Nest Thermostat E. Installation is surprisingly easy, and once it's set up, it begins to learn your usage habits and adjust your furnace/AC automatically as it learns when you go to bed or come home from work. You can also make manual adjustments by talking to the Google Assistant, using the Nest app on your phone, or physically turning it.
Google's Chromecast is one of the easiest ways to stream video on your TV. Just plug it into your HDMI port and then use your phone to cast content to it from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and countless other apps in 4K HDR. With your Nest Mini, things get even more convenient as you can say, "Hey Google, play Stranger Things on my TV." You'll be watching in no time without having to touch a thing.
Traditional door locks are pretty dull, but the August Smart Lock is anything but. Once installed on your door, you can remotely lock or unlock your door using the August app or by talking to your Nest Mini. With the Auto Unlock feature, the Smart Lock will automatically unlock when it detects you are approaching. You can also grant one-time keys to guests. The best part? You never have to mess with physical keys ever again.
No one really likes vacuuming, but it's something that has to be done. With the Roomba 960, you can rest assured your floors are clean without ever having to touch a regular vacuum ever again. Just ask the Nest Mini to have the Roomba vacuum, and it'll get your hardwood and carpet floors clean with incredible power. It even goes as far to map your home's layout, so it knows precisely where it's going.
If you already have a Google Nest Mini, we recommend going out and picking up another one — for a couple of reasons. If you have a larger house or apartment, having multiple Nest Minis in different rooms will ensure it can always hear your questions/commands. Plus, with home groups, you can play a song or podcast on all of your Nest Minis at once for impressive multi-room audio.
Traditional power strips are great for protecting your devices in the event of a storm or power outage, but even if you already have one, it's worth upgrading to a model with some smarts. This power strip from Kasa Smart has six individually controlled outlets, three USB ports, surge protection, and connects to your Nest Mini for voice control. How cool is that?
Your garage door isn't very smart in its current form, but with this gadget from Chamberlain, you can change that in an instant. Once you've got the MyQ set up, you can remotely open and close it at any time from your phone, schedule it to open/close at specific times during the day and get alerts whenever it's used. And, of course, you can ask the Google Nest Mini to control it.
If we're making some suggestions
As you can see, just like with most smart assistants these days, there's a lot of variety when it comes to smart home gadgets that work with the Google Nest Mini. For most people, though, we'd recommend starting with the Philips Hue 4-Pack Starter Kit.
Smart bulbs are convenient, fun, and help to save some money on your energy bill thanks to the LED design. This starter kit is pricey, but once you have the included hub, you can buy new bulbs and connect up to 50 to it.
If you're looking for something more affordable, you also can't go wrong with the Wemo Mini. Smart plugs can be used for so many things, and without a doubt, this is one of the most reliable and easy-to-use.
