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Best smart home product of 2017

Look out, Alexa. There's a new boss in town

By Kim Wetzel Published April 25, 2023

Every year, Digital Trends editors hand pick the most exciting products we’ve had the privilege of handling this year. Make sure to check out award winners in categories from cars to computers, plus the overall best product of 2017! Read on for the smart home products that floored us this year.

Winner

Google Home Mini

What’s not to love about the Google Home Mini? The small, round smart speaker literally sits in the palm of your hand like a cute cloth pebble. Google’s answer to the iconic Amazon Echo Dot, the smart speaker is equipped with Google Assistant, which is getting smarter every day.

We chose the Google Home Mini because of the thoughtfulness and attention to detail on design of the compact device, as well as the smart features and capabilities Google Assistant brings to the table. Seamless integration with the Google platform also makes the Mini extremely easy to use. If you already use Google Maps or YouTube, for example, you can use Google Assistant via the Mini to access both seamlessly.

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You can buy the Mini in three colors – coral, chalk, or charcoal. The fabric coating makes the device feel warm, and it can sit unobtrusively on just about any surface without looking like a cold piece of hardware.

The app is easy to use, and the “voice match” feature allows you to receive customized responses based on voice recognition – a wonderful thing if you have multiple users for the device. In fact, this feature was such a good idea that Amazon quickly incorporated a similar system after Google announced it. This makes things like getting traffic information for your commute — not your partner’s — as easy as pie.

Seamless integration with the Google platform also makes the Mini extremely easy to use.

Google obviously did its research, and realizing that kids are using smart speakers just as often as adults are (sometimes to do things like sneak cookies on grocery lists), implemented the Family Link feature, which includes interactive children’s games, storytelling, beatboxing, and more.

As for sound quality, Digital Trends’ Google Home Mini reviewer Caleb Denison noted that “The Google Home Mini blows the Amazon Echo Dot’s on-board sound quality right out of the water. The Mini is louder, clearer, and generally higher in fidelity. If decent sound from a compact speaker is a priority, the Google Home Mini is the clear choice.”

Its cute, warm, button-like look, quality sound, and ever-improving Google Assistant features made the Google Home Mini an easy choice for the product of the year.

Read our full Google Home Mini review

Runners up

Former Smart Home Editor

Before joining Digital Trends as Home Editor, Kim was an adjunct journalism professor at Linfield College and high school…

Topics

Computing

Google’s first new smart speaker in six years might finally have a release date

Google's self-imposed Spring 2026 deadline has come and gone without a word.

Electronics, Speaker

Google has been unusually quiet about its Gemini-powered Home Speaker ever since announcing it in October 2025. I was expecting the device to make an appearance at the I/O 2026, but that didn’t happen either.

Now, a product page on Best Buy Canada just casually posted (read leaked) a release date, suggesting the wait is almost over.

Branded Content

My Lawn Used to be a Never-Ending Weekend Job Until the LEBOSBO V3 Took Over

The revolutionized yard care solution that acts less like a machine and more like a helping hand

Grass, Lawn, Plant

I used to think tedious lawn maintenance was simply one of those unwritten rules of homeownership, a chore you quietly accept and force yourself to deal with every weekend. I would promise myself I’d quickly get it done, only for it to spiral into hours of work. Instead of enjoying slow summer weekends outdoors, I often found myself dragging a mower through the heat, edging borders, bagging endless clippings, and dealing with equipment that somehow always demanded more effort than expected. Even after sacrificing an entire Saturday morning, the yard rarely stayed looking sharp for more than a few days.

That frustration eventually pushed me toward smarter lawn care solutions. The problem was that most robotic lawn mowers I came across did not feel all that smart. Between burying messy perimeter wires, dealing with bulky installations, and watching machines bounce around the yard like confused pinballs, the entire setup often looked more exhausting than the mowing itself. I direly sought some respite, and that's exactly why LEBOSBO stood out to me.

Branded Content

YEEDI S20 Infinity Ultra: redefining what robot vacuums should actually clean

The real problem with robot vacuums is not navigation anymore

Electronics, Speaker

YEEDI S20 Infinity Ultra enters a category that has already refined navigation, mapping, and basic automation to a point where daily dust cleaning is predictable and reliable. The expectation from a robot vacuum today is no longer about whether it can move efficiently through a home, but whether it can handle the kind of mess that defines real, everyday use. Floors accumulate dried spills, sticky residue, and layered grime that cannot be removed through suction or light mopping alone, and these conditions continue to expose a limitation that has persisted across the category. Users still find themselves stepping in before or after a cleaning cycle, either by manually scrubbing problem areas or by running multiple passes to reach an acceptable result, which defeats the purpose of automation in the first place.

This is the gap YEEDI S20 Infinity Ultra is designed to address, approaching robotic cleaning through stain treatment and surface recovery rather than simply increasing suction or expanding coverage. The product’s focus on solving persistent real-world cleaning limitations has also earned it the Digital Spotlight Award, reinforcing its positioning within a category that is increasingly shifting towards more intelligent and outcome-driven automation.