Here is something that users of the Google Home Mini would be rejoicing – the Mountain View company has come up with a new update that restores to some extent many of the touch functionalities that a previous update had removed. However, the top touch feature is still elusive though the sides have been made receptive to touch once again.
The latest firmware update v1.30 that Google has begun rolling out just recently will let users to long press the sides to end a call. Similarly, users will also be able to play or pause music using the side touch mechanism, something that applies to silencing an alarm as well.
Interestingly, the above functions aren’t anything new with the smart speaker.
In fact, the same used to be part of the Google Home Mini package though all of that used to be activated using the top touch feature.
However, with the top touch feature found to get activated hundreds of times on its own, this led to privacy concerns as even the casual conversation within the house made its way to the Google servers. The immediate response from the company was to disable the entire top touch feature though everything else with the speaker remained the same.
With the latest update, the same features have now been moved to the sides, which, let us hope, will not bring back the privacy issues all over again.
That said, it still can be seen as a positive development as Google hasn’t entirely given up on its efforts to re-install the touch feature with its Home Mini speakers, even though the top touch isn’t enabled yet. And touching the top is what comes as the most natural reaction for users to go for.
Further, the Home Mini is basically tuned to respond to user’s voice commands, with terms like ‘Hey Google’ and ‘Ok Google’ being the catch words to activate the device. Maybe Google might introduce the top touch feature as well via another update in future though that too is akin to being speculative at the moment.
