We have seen some cool tech surface in 2017. From all-display phones to Pixel Buds and the Google Assistant built into more and more devices, it’s hard not to find something to purchase that will likely blow your mind and instantly make your life easier. But still to this day, I have to admit that one of the coolest items I saw this year first arrived way back at CES in January during the event’s opening keynote. I’m talking about the NVIDIA Spot, the little Google Assistant-powered wall plug that has yet to go on sale for reasons we have yet to figure out.
Before we dive in, let’s recap Spot. NVIDIA Spot is a $49.99 circular wall plug with a speaker and microphone that has access to the Google Assistant. Think of it as a mini Google Home that’s even smaller than the Google Home Mini and plugs directly into an outlet without the need for a cable or extra shelf space. NVIDIA explained it back in January as a “tiny microphone” with “far field processing” and “echo cancellation” that doesn’t have to do any heavy lifting because it sends signals to and from a SHIELD TV unit that does all of that for you. In other words, the NVIDIA Spot just relays information to you wherever it’s plugged. That make sense?
I was so excited about Spot (and still am) out of the gate because as someone who continues to tweak my smart home setup, this seemed like the perfect add-on. Rather than putting $130 Google Home units in each room that all need a shelf or desk or nightstand to sit on, I could instead have $50 Spots everywhere that hide in the open through an outlet. Spot would then give my entire house access to Google Assistant to control things like music or lights or thermostats or cameras at a fraction of the price.
At the time, NVIDIA showed off this vision for the future of SHIELD as the ultimate hub for your smart home. They not only unveiled a revamped SHIELD TV unit and Spot, they also talked about a specially made SmartThings dongle that would plug into the back of SHIELD units to aid in smart home control. As you all know, that product has now been released as the SmartThings Link. The other piece of the puzzle was Google Assistant launching on Android TV, and yes, that has now happened too. If you look at the progress we’ve made, the only item left we are waiting on is the NVIDIA Spot. So where is it?
Well, we don’t know. Has NVIDIA cancelled it or is it still coming? It’s still on their website with a “Notify Me” button next to it, so that’s at least a positive. As for the official word from NVIDIA, Tim has reached out to them on multiple occasions and they haven’t said much in recent months other than there is nothing new to update us on. We’ve reached out again and will update this post if we hear anything meaningful back.
Of course, we now have Google Home Mini and other third party Google Assistant device options that are both affordable and probably more powerful as standalone devices than that original NVIDIA Spot concept from CES. As I mentioned above, the Spot they showed off at CES was supposed to connect to SHIELD for processing and smarts and to create a sort-of-WiFi-web around your house that was filled with Google Assistant. One has to wonder if the delays in Spot were not just related to Google Assistant rolling out, but maybe to NVIDIA re-thinking the hardware and how it might interact instead of just being a WiFi spot with a microphone. Or maybe they realize now that a price reduction from $50 is essential and that’s taking extra time. Or maybe, just maybe, the slow arrival of Google Assistant to Android TV and third party devices has really been the reason for Spot silence?
All I know is that I still want NVIDIA Spot, even as I’ve slowly added Google Home units here and there and as our phones have picked up the ability to do all of the Assistant stuff we need anyway. Who couldn’t get some use out of a Spot plugged into a bathroom outlet as you take care of morning business?
I think something most users are forgetting is that you CAN’T use any Google home products as voice input for the shield. So while you can cast something to the shield, you can’t use a home / mini for search in the system or any app – which is huge! I don’t have a 2017 remote nor do I want to have a game controller in my living room that I constantly have to charge. I want the spot for searching!
I’m still looking forward to the Spots.
The Assistant as implemented on the Shield is different that the Assistant implemented on Google Home speakers. For example, I can tell the Shield Assistant to play specific content directly from Plex, and it knows what to do. But if I ask a Google Home Mini to play something from Plex on the Shield, it doesn’t know what to do.
I have been waiting for this also but since my Pixel XL 2 is coming with a Google Home Mini I no longer have a use for it.
I still wonder if they ran into issues with the Shield being able to handle more than a few of these Spots without conflict since the Shield itself it doing all the heavy lifting. Great idea for sure, and wish google would have taken a page from Nvidia and allowed the Mini to be plugin-direct or corded. I have a feeling though it is to late for the Spot at this point though unless they reveal a next Gen Shield and it comes with a spot.
The Spot was only every interesting because the Google Home price. Mini makes things DOA at a price point over $25 unless there’s some additional features.
Nvidia clearly missed the mark on this. Only way the NS would sell is if they sold them for $25 max.
Um, dude… You can buy a Google Home Mini that does everything you say you’re excited about, but that doesn’t need a Shield. They’re #50 right now at Google Play…
He mentioned he didn’t want to have to put them on shelves/desks/nightstands so that definitely factors into the decision not to buy several Home Minis.
They shouldn’t even waste their time with this nonsense. What small % of people actually own SHIELD’s anyways?
I’ve been waiting for these since we bought our Shield. Now I’m getting two minis for free.
Sorry NVIDIA, but I won’t be needing those now.
The spot was half the reason I bought a Shield. Google Assistant came way later than they initially stated, and the Spot is still MIA, so I sold my Shield and outfitted my house with Google Homes/Minis.
You probably aren’t alone! Would be nice if they would at least give us a heads up on if it’s still coming or not.
A take action kind of guy. Don’t wait around for these companies.