Skip to main content

Google Home is coming to Canada and is finally available for pre-order

smart speaker home security google thumb
Google

Google Home has been helping Americans manage their households for over a year now, and finally, other countries will be able to get in on the fun, too. Our neighbors to the north can now pre-order the smart home hub, either from Google’s online store or from one of the company’s retail partners, including Best Buy.

The California Silicon Valley company initially made the announcement regarding Google Home’s Canadian availability at I/O earlier in 2017 but now, Canada’s waiting game is over. You will be able to buy one of these hubs for $179 CDN (about $132.50), which is about what the hubs are selling for stateside. It will take about two to three weeks for you to get your Google Home at home if you order from Google’s online store and the company noted in its official blog  that the Home will be available at retail on June 26.

Of course, it could pay off to buy a little early, as Best Buy will give you a free Chromecast if you place an order now.

Because Google knows who its Canadian audience is, the associated virtual assistant (Google Assistant) will speak both English and French. Users will be able to access Google’s entire suite of resources, including Search, Maps, and Translate, and will also be able to stay up to date on weather, traffic, finance, news, sports, and local businesses.

Google Home can also play music, manage users everyday tasks, serve as a speaker, and of course, control your smart home.

“Spending quality time with our family and friends at home is important,” Google writes on its blog. “What if technology could make the most of those special moments by helping us get things done?” Canada, now is your chance to answer that question.

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Your Google smart home devices just got a lot less talkative
A person standing in a living room while looking at a Google device.

Smart assistants are an indispensable part of any smart home, making it easy to give hands-free commands and control a variety of gadgets. Google is looking to further streamline the performance of its smart assistant, with the expansion of chime alerts to cut down on how talkative your Google Nest gadgets are when responding to instructions.

For example, after asking Google to turn on a fan, you’ll now be able to hear a quick chime to confirm the assistant has heard your instructions. Previously, confirmation would come in the form of a short sentence, such as “OK, turning on your fan.”

Read more
Google stops updating third-party smart displays
The Lenovo Smart Display on a table.

Google Assistant is one of the most popular smart home assistants of 2023, but it looks like big changes are in store for the remainder of the year. According to an updated support page, Google won’t be pushing any more Assistant updates to select third-party smart displays.

The Lenovo Smart Display, LG Xboom AI ThinQ WK9, and JBL Link View are the three smart displays in question -- and if you currently have them in your home, don’t expect to see further updates for their Assistant platform. They will, of course, continue to function as they did before this announcement, but they won’t receive any more software updates to enhance their performance.

Read more
The smart home market might see big changes in 2023
Apple HomePod 2023 next to a TV.

The smart home market is arguably the strongest it’s ever been. Apple recently reintroduced the HomePod to rave reviews, Roborock is gearing up to launch its new lineup of powerful robot vacuums, and nearly half of U.S. households interact with a smart home gadget every month. That’s an impressive number, and it’s an increase from 2022 -- meaning the market is trending in the right direction, and folks seem to be buying into the dream of an interconnected household.

This incredible market saturation means it’ll take a long time for the smart home market to completely vanish -- and its death probably isn’t going to happen this year (or anytime soon). But the rest of 2023 will be an interesting year for the smart home industry, as Amazon and Google have run into financial issues with their smart home offerings, while Apple finally seems to be gaining momentum.
Money trouble at Amazon and Google

Read more