Google Home Speaker has one design flaw. You can't unplug the power cable from it

Google has been teasing the new Home Speaker for months, and the first units have now reached owners even before the official start of sales. Along with the first impressions, however, an inconvenience arrived that you won’t notice from marketing photos: the power cable is permanently attached to the speaker and cannot be removed.

The power cable is integrated with the speaker

With a smart speaker, you usually expect the power cord to be removable from the body – whether via USB-C or another connector. The Google Home Speaker doesn’t offer this. There is no port on the speaker itself into which the cable would plug; the USB-C cord leads directly from the body and cannot be removed without disassembling the device. As the website 9to5Google writes, Google itself even refers to the cable as “captive” in its technical specifications, meaning permanently attached. It’s just that no one has really noticed it yet…

The second catch is the length. The cable measures just under one and a half meters (roughly five feet), and according to the first owners, this is its biggest weakness – you can only place the speaker where the cord reaches, and it cannot be extended or shortened. The thirty-watt power adapter can be disconnected from the wall, but the cable itself at the speaker cannot.

What else are the first owners reporting

Besides the cable, a minor detail regarding the build quality has emerged – the fabric braiding reportedly dangles slightly on the hard body of the speaker. Otherwise, however, the first impressions are not bad: one owner, who works professionally with sound, described the Google Home Speaker as good enough to serve as the main speaker in the living room, and praises the adjustable equalizer and well-defined bass. Beneath the fabric is a 58mm full-range driver, and the device promises 360° sound; the entire system is controlled by the Gemini assistant, with Google primarily highlighting seamless conversation with it.

Google Home Speaker has one design flaw. You can't unplug the power cable from it Adam Kurfürst News Adam Kurfürst News

Price and availability

You cannot officially buy the speaker in the Czech Republic – the country is not among the supported markets, and Gemini for Home only understands ten languages at launch, with Czech not among them. Nevertheless, you can pre-order it now on Alza for 2,999 CZK. Sales abroad start on June 25.

Would a non-detachable cable on a speaker bother you?

Sources: notebookcheck, 9to5Google