If you’re interested in what a smart speaker can do for you, the Google Home Mini is a decent place to start. It comes with Google Assistant, which is significantly smarter than Amazon’s Alexa, and although the sound quality isn’t amazing, it’s perfectly good for listening to podcasts, audiobooks and chatting away with your new assistant. It’s also rather cheap, retailing for £50. And right now at John Lewis you can get even more value, as the store is offering a free Chromecast with the smart speaker for the incredibly low price of £24 . Given the Chromecast normally retails for £30 on its own, that’s an astonishing deal. As well as being a fine product in its own right, Chromecast is especially impressive when paired with a Google Home. From there, you can control your movies with the sound of your voice. Just say “OK Google, play Star Wars trailer on TV” and your screen will kick into life, with the clip found for you on YouTube. It’s pretty magical. As I said in the introduction, however, the sound quality on the Google Home Mini itself isn’t the best, and it’s if that’s a problem then it’s also worth noting that John Lewis has slashed the price of the full-sized Google Home smart speaker, bringing it down to just £59. True, you don’t get the Chromecast with it, but it’s ideal for those who already have a TV streamer and want to see what all the smart speaker fuss is about. Sadly, unlike their Amazon equivalents, neither Google Homes have 3.5mm audio jacks, meaning the sound you get from the speakers is as good as it’ll get – unless you have a Chromecast Audio, with which Google Home plays nicely. But, for most people, the sound quality from the regular-sized Home will be enough. Both deals offer excellent value – it’s just a matter of whether you’d rather have the Chromecast or better sound quality. Your call. Buy now from John Lewis