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You can also set it to cycle through your own images stored in Google Photos, or display the time in full-screen mode with your choice of clock faces. The latter two can be streamed to the Google Home Hub via a live feed while the former can be controlled either via voice or the UI on the Hub itself. If you haven’t yet bought any smart home products and are leaning towards the Made by Google ecosystem, give them some serious consideration.
The lack of a camera is also comforting for those with younger children, and just like Alexa, the Assistant’s dumb jokes are family-friendly. You might even feel it’s OK to put Home Hubs in the kids’ rooms so they have a controlled, limited, and stationary window to the internet. Google describes the Home Hub as having a full range speaker, but there’s no more information than that. It’s safe to say that this isn’t a smart speaker in the same vein as the Google Home Max or even the Echo Show.
Google Nest Hub: Display
Many big-name publishers have done this, so their recipes load cleanly onto the Home Hub’s screen. But just as many haven’t put in the effort, so many of my recipe queries showed up as regular web pages. Google, which is already deep into the talking gadget, is one of the companies working to convince us that voice interfaces are ready to supplant touch interfaces, at least for the stuff you do around your house. Its latest device, Home Hub, marries a small voice-activated speaker with a 7-inch display that you can tap and swipe. Like the Google’s three previous Home speakers , it also houses Google Assistant. The software, a stripped-down version of Google’s mobile OS called Android Things, feels familiar, like a cousin to your Android phone that’s been tuned to suit this particular form.
You can also choose to disable coughing and snoring detection, but keep sleep tracking on. You can always review and delete your sleep data in the Google Fit app. Google has a helpful page explaining the ins and outs of the Sleep Sensing experience. The app used to be strictly for setting up Google's smart speakers and connecting your smart home devices. You can also segment your gadgets into multiple homes if you have an office and an apartment.
What the Google Home Hub lacks in size, it makes up for in substance
Another hitch is that Google Assistant’s ability to control the smart home is still a bit wanting. I can command any of my Google-ready things like Nest cameras, Wemo plugs, and August door locks. But the most-used internet-connected things in my smart home are my Sonos speaker system and my Apple TV, and Google Assistant can’t control either of them. I can turn on my television and soundbar with my voice since it’s all connected to a Logitech Harmony Hub, but I can’t cue up SMILF on Showtime.
To detect submillimeter movements of the person sleeping closest to the display. And the JBL Link View, Google Assistant makes good use of the touchscreen with helpful visuals after you ask a question. Check the weather, and you'll see illustrations of the forecast for the week. Search for local restaurants and you'll see pictures of nearby places. The Google Home Hub brings a visual face to Google Assistant and adds an extra dimension to the information it serves. This gadget is small enough to sit in the corner or edge or any room and intelligent enough to adjust its display to its surroundings.
Setup and Google Assistant
Overall, the Google Home Hub provides excellent value at just $149, as long as you’re already a big user of Google’s services. The introduction of a display makes Home more useful than ever before, but I still found some lingering issues getting my smart home setup just the way I want it. We’ve already talked about YouTube integration, which Google is clearly pushing with 6 months of YouTube Premium included in every purchase. It’s a bit of a shame there’s no opportunity for third-party video services to see the same level of integration, but at least casting provides an alternative way in for other apps. Home Hub is clearly built to deliver information from Google Maps, Google Calendar, and Search seamlessly too. The Google Home Hub is about much more than just adding a display — it’s designed as the Hub for all of your other smart appliances.
Add to that basic calling functionality through Duo and some of the oldest members of your family can now keep in touch even when you’re far away. It's the pricing of the Echo Show 8 that really makes the comparison harder than it was last year. Even when it's not on sale, the Echo Show 8 offers a lot of benefits over the Nest Hub for manageable price increase. The Nest Hub remains our Editor's Choice winner for smart displays, but we awarded the Echo Show 8 an Editor's Choice when we reviewed it earlier this year as well.
Setting Up and Navigating the 2nd Gen Nest Hub
Where we have to start, however, is with the dimensions of the Home Hub. Despite what it may look like in press photos, at just 178.5 x 118 x 67.3mm , the Home Hub is surprisingly small. It’s so small, in fact, that the screen portion is about the size of a large phone or small tablet and the base is so petite that you could easily pick it up and place it in the palm of your hand. Google has also launched another Google Assistant speaker, the Google Nest Hub Max – the first product to launch under the new converged brand name of Google and smart home device manufacturer Nest. From YouTube, Netflix, and Disney Plus and more on the 7-inch HD display.
For example, it has the auto-updating Google Photos gallery and Home View, which shows your entire smart home at a glance and adds Google's touch to things. Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. The second-gen Nest Hub is not overwhelmingly impressive or entirely redesigned.
However, you don't be beaming any video out from your Home as there's no camera. We appreciate the focus on smart home control, the pull-down control panel, and the digital photo frame capabilities. We also appreciate the lack of a camera for those concerned about privacy.
Thanks to the touch screen, Google Assistant's answers appear in text as well as through the speaker, sometimes with accompanying images. Although Google advertises the Home Hub as “thoughtfully designed for any room,” I initially had a little trouble seeing where it fits into my household. Youtube and casting feel redundant in a living room with a TV and Chromecast. The Hub still fits in as a digital photo frame, but that’s wasting a lot of its potential. In the bedroom, the screen is too small to make a useful TV alternative and it’s just not a room I’m in enough to make use of its best features. This leads to perhaps the biggest new feature with the Google Home Hub — YouTube and casting.
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