The Google Home is fun, functional, and should only get better with time.

At its core, Google Home is a voice-controlled life-aid that aims to take the smartphone out of the equation to allow apps, video and audio, and smarthome products to be controlled by speaking.

Google’s air-freshener style unit is comprised of two parts: a customisable base and a rigid plastic upper shell with a single button to disable the inbuilt far-field microphones. It’s being sold in the Google Store and a number of partner stores including Argos, Dixons, John Lewis and Maplin.

On the top of Google Home is a sloped touch-enabled surface meaning it can be controlled with a small tap. As well as the internal microphones, there’s also 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth capability (although this can’t be accessed at launch), and its speaker system.