I switched to Gemini for Home. Here’s the Google Assistant feature I miss

I recently switched to Gemini on my Google smart speakers and displays, and for the most part I like it. Gemini is talkative without being a chatterbox, and it effectively controls my smart home while providing detailed weather reports and answers to my other queries. So far I’m impressed.

But there’s one Google Assistant feature I miss: Conversation Continues, which allowed Assistant to briefly continue listening after answering a question in case you had follow-ups. If you had anything else to ask, you can do so without having to repeat the wake word “Hey Google.”

Continuous Conversation mode can be enabled on any of your Google Assistant-powered speakers and displays, and it has proven useful in a variety of situations. For example, if you ask Google about the weather, you can quickly respond with questions like “will it rain today?” or “what’s the weather like for the rest of the week” without having to say “Hey Google” over and over again.

Now that Gemini for Home is gradually taking over from Google Assistant (Google has ramped up the pace of Gemini for Home early access invitations and has promised to send out invitations within 24 hours to those who request them), Google’s smart speakers are getting a host of Gemini-based features, and Google has promised that core Google Assistant features will be retained even if you don’t pay for a Google Home Premium subscription.

To my surprise, Continuous Conversation Mode is a Google Assistant feature that doesn’t seem to have done the trick, and I’m not the only one who’s noticed it. I contacted Google for more details.

Now, if you want to chat with Gemini without saying “Hey Google” before each question, you need to enable the free Gemini Live mode, which requires a Google Home Premium subscription starting at $10 per month.

Without the Google Home Premium plan, you have to use the wake word “Hey Google” before every query, leading to stilted Gemini discussions like “Hey Google, what’s the weather like?” Hey Google, is it going to rain tonight? Hey Google, what’s the weather like tomorrow? »

Continuous Chat mode still works with the Google Assistant on Google smart speakers and displays, but only as long as you stay with the Google Assistant. Once you upgrade to Gemini for Home, there’s no going back.

Is the absence of a Continued Conversation type mode for the free version of Google Home a deciding factor? Not for me, I’m impressed with Gemini for Home’s new capabilities, and will have more thoughts once I do more in-depth testing.

That said, saying “Hey Google” over and over again feels like a step backwards rather than forwards.

This news is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart speakers.