Code in the latest Google app APK adds likelihood to the veracity of rumours about a forthcoming Google Home device with a display.
In a teardown by Android Police‘s Cody Toombs, code in the Google app version 7.14.15 revealed a device codenamed ‘Quartz’ — different from the ‘Manhattan’ moniker written about in a previous rumour from TechCrunch — that operates on voice commands, plays YouTube videos, displays recipes, features a photo gallery and allows for Google Maps browsing, among other things.
AP suggests the marquee feature of this device might be the recipe feature, which situates the smart home assistant in the kitchen — where AI speakers frequently sit — and offers a functionality that a voice-only assistant cannot reproduce.
While some of the features could also suggest a smartwatch — which would make sense with the name ‘Quartz’ — many, including the recipes and YouTube feature, don’t make sense when scaled down to a smartwatch form factor.
TechCrunch‘s leak suggests Google will release a display-bearing Home device that runs a version of Android and will feature a 7-inch screen. That leak further suggested support for YouTube, Google Assistant and Google Photos.
If this new Home product does come to market, it will have stiff competition in the form of the Amazon Echo Show, which features a display and was announced earlier this year. It is not yet available in Canada, though there has been a recent indication that at least one Echo variant could debut here soon.
Source: Android Police
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