Google Reactivates Home Mini's Touch Controls With a Few Changes
Google is now reactivating its Home Mini speakers' touch controls after applying a few changes in its functions.
When the Home Mini was first announced, it was originally designed to recognize tapping gestures so its owners could control it and execute several functions including voice input.
However, it was shortly revealed by a report from Android Police that some Home Mini units were not performing as expected. The said speakers incorrectly recognized "phantom" touch events as legitimate tap gestures and automatically activated the device's voice recording feature.
It was then learned that because of this error, a number of Home Mini speakers had been constantly recording audio without the user's knowledge. So to avoid further user privacy issues, Google decided to remove the tapping and touch controls from the Home Mini.
Fortunately, it appears that Google has finally addressed the issue and was able to come up with tweaked touch controls to keep the Home Mini from taking "phantom touches" and recording audio without the user's request.
According to reports, the ability to start and stop playback by tapping the top part of the device is still inactive. However, this can now be done by using long presses on the side buttons of the device to manage speaker activities - such as listening to music, phone calls, alarms and more - without the need to speak to Google Assistant.
To ensure that the Home Mini speakers would no longer continuously record audio from its surroundings without the user's knowledge, Google opted to remove voice input as one of the functions covered by the said long presses.
Meanwhile, it is important to note that the reactivation of the touch controls are currently limited to users who joined Google's Preview Program. But the new long press functions on the Home Mini are expected to be made available to everyone through the release of firmware update 1.29.
Home Mini is Google's more affordable option for people who want to have access to Google Assistant's basic services. It is currently priced $29 after a $20 discount.
