Google Nest Hub 2nd Gen Review

Table of Content

• Display
• What you need to get started​
• Google Home Mini (1st gen)
• Google Nest and Home device specifications
• Sleep Sensing
• A smart home control center

My favorite feature of the Nest Hub is now available on third party Google Assistant displays as well. Swipe down on the touchscreen for a smart home control panel. The panel shows a status of your home including how many lights are on and the current temperature.

View Google Photos — Enjoy a slideshow of your personal photos from your Google Photos library on any voice-supported TV with Chromecast or Chromecast built-in. Watch news — Watch the news on any voice-supported TV with Chromecast or Chromecast built-in. When you look outside of the Google Home line at comparable visual smart home products, there are more factors to consider. Sleep Sensing uses motion and sound to analyse your sleep – so there’s nothing to wear or remember to charge. Learn when you go to bed, when you wake up and how long you’ve slept for.

Display

Personalised features require additional enrolment and setup. Use your voice to get important info as you get ready for your day. Nest Hub helps you get ready and stay on track throughout the day, every day.

Simply use your voice to watch YouTube and play songs from YouTube Music on a crystal clear speaker. And with Voice Match, get your personalized calendar, commute, answers from Google, and more. Hub helps with the little moments so you can enjoy the big moments. Play YouTube videos on TVs — Initiate and control YouTube videos to any TV with Chromecast or Chromecast built-in using only your voice.

What you need to get started​

Sign in to the Nest app in your web browser with your Google Account or non-migrated Nest Account. Connect your Nest Thermostats, Nest Cams, Nest Doorbell, or Nest devices and add Nest Aware to one or more devices. TheGoogle Terms of Serviceand supplementalNest Terms of Serviceapply to use of the Google Home app and devices set up via the app.

The Google Nest Hub's touchscreen is responsive and works well in combination with Google Assistant, whether you ask for help on a recipe or check what's on your calendar. Pictures and videos look particularly crisp thanks to an ambient light sensor that adapts the screen brightness and warmth to match the room. A control panel screen makes it easy to organize and control your smart home devices.

Google Home Mini (1st gen)

This is all possible thanks to “Thread” — the local and low-power networking technology that works as a wireless mesh. 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.

If the device has been used before, factory reset your speaker or display before you continue. All Google Assistant smart displays make similar use of the touchscreen. They’ll hear you on all of your Nest speakers and displays.

These Google Nest and Android devices have been automatically updated, so you don’t need to do anything. Like the previous model, the new Nest Hub is also capable of controlling many of your smart home devices. Google Nest Hub provides help at a glance in any room at home. With the Google Assistant built-in, you’ll always get your best and latest shots from Google Photos. Plus, view and control your connected devices from a single dashboard.

Unlike most of the other smart displays, the Nest Hub doesn't have a camera, which might be a negative for some, but privacy-minded folks will appreciate its absence. Otherwise, it offers all the same features as the other smart displays for a reasonable price. The Google Nest Hub is a cute, useful gadget, and an even better value now than it was when it debuted. The Nest Hub's interface is intuitively organized and easy to navigate, with tabs at the top for Your Afternoon , Wellness, Home Control, Media, Communicate, Family, and Discover.

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Whether the Nest Hub is right for you will depend on your values and budget. But for those who are a fan of Google's products, it may be a good option. The Google Home Hub is a visual, touchscreen-based interface that's designed to help you navigate daily life. Tap Nest Hub to turn on the lights, lock the doors or turn up the thermostat. We are participants in various affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. Qualifying purchases could enjoy No Interest if paid in full in 6 months on purchases of $99 or more.

On the back of Nest Hub, press and hold both volume buttons together for about 10 seconds. Before becoming an analyst in 2020, I spent eight years as a reporter covering consumer tech news. Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security.

Sleep Sensing

The Echo Show 8 debuted at $130, but you can also regularly find it on sale for under $100, especially around the holiday shopping season. Diya Jolly, Google's VP of product management, told Ars Technicathere was no particular reason for the change. 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 service costs $12 (£12, AU$15) a month after the trial ends and allows you to listen to YouTube's music library without ads.

In the new year, we'll enable even more Google devices with Matter and bring iOS support to the Google Home app. We’re excited to see how the smart home grows and evolves as more Matter-enabled devices become available and we will be sure to keep you updated on the Nest Community blog. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. The Sleep Sensing feature is a nice option for those who find it too uncomfortable to wear a fitness tracker or smartwatch to bed.

Set up your Google Nest or Home speaker or display Android Google Nest Help

Table of Content

• Set up your Google Nest device
• 'What is a Google Home Hub?': Everything you need to know about the Google smart device that can help you navigate daily life
• 如何使用手機配對由 Google Assistant驅動的揚聲器
• Audio
• Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen.) Smart Display - Charcoal, lot of smart devices
• Processor

Pictures look like they would if you'd printed them and framed them. Turn off the lights or move the Hub and the sensor adapts the picture quickly. In a darkened room, other displays blare light such that they look like a glowing billboard. The Nest Hub adapts and fits dim lighting conditions perfectly as well. You can always swipe right on the screen to go back a page, or swipe up for quick settings like volume and brightness. You can't download apps or browse the web as you could on an ordinary tablet, but all of the content of the Google Nest Hub is meant to be visible from across the room.

Join the Public Preview to try new Google Home app features early. Get your personalized schedule, commute, reminders, and more with Voice Match. Plus, get visual answers from Google and watch helpful videos from YouTube. Watch YouTube, and play songs and music videos from YouTube Music, and listen to Spotify and Pandora. Shopping list — Create a shopping list and check what's already on it. Play audio on speakers and TVs— Stream audio to any speaker that has Chromecast Audio plugged in or Chromecast built-in.

Set up your Google Nest device

Even better is the fact that you can now get the Google Nest Hub at half the price, which sends us back to Black Friday price levels, which means it will cost you $50. You can't use your voice or the Google Home appto factory reset Google Nest Mini. On the back of your device, press and hold the microphone mute button for about 15 seconds. Additionally, if you sleep with someone else, it might attribute their coughing and/or snoring to you. A Google spokesperson acknowledged that the device might accidentally pick up noise caused by co-sleepers, but said the company is actively working on improvements to prevent that from happening. For Sleep Sensing to work, you must place the display at the right height and angle, which takes a bit of work.

The speakers produce sound that, while audible, is more than a little anemic. And that gorgeous Ambient EQ-powered screen is surrounded by a bezel that could make a first-gen iPad blush. And of course, consumers who need a camera for video calls are left in the lurch (although the more privacy-minded crowd will be more than happy to have one less security concern). Sleep Sensing features are subject to your permissions and settings. They use motion, sound and other device and sensor data to work.

'What is a Google Home Hub?': Everything you need to know about the Google smart device that can help you navigate daily life

The Google Nest Hub's touchscreen is responsive and works well in combination with Google Assistant, whether you ask for help on a recipe or check what's on your calendar. Pictures and videos look particularly crisp thanks to an ambient light sensor that adapts the screen brightness and warmth to match the room. A control panel screen makes it easy to organize and control your smart home devices.

Nest Hub is the one place to control your smart home – it works with hundreds of compatible devices. The enhanced speaker delivers 50% more bass than the original Nest Hub. Create groups with other Nest speakers and displays for brilliant sound in every room. With Matter, you will need a hub to control your smart devices. If you want to control your smart home with Google Home, you’ll need a Google Home or Nest device that can double as a hub for Matter. These devices include the original Google Home speaker, Google Home Mini, Nest Mini, Nest Audio, Nest Hub , Nest Hub Max, and the new Nest Wifi Pro.

如何使用手機配對由 Google Assistant驅動的揚聲器

These Google Nest and Android devices have been automatically updated, so you don’t need to do anything. Like the previous model, the new Nest Hub is also capable of controlling many of your smart home devices. Google Nest Hub provides help at a glance in any room at home. With the Google Assistant built-in, you’ll always get your best and latest shots from Google Photos. Plus, view and control your connected devices from a single dashboard.

Matter-enabled devices can connect to your home network over Wi-Fi or Thread — a networking technology that’s helpful when you need a low-power connection, like when connecting smart locks on your front door. We’ve also updated Nest Wifi Pro, Nest Hub Max and the Nest Hub to work as Thread border routers, so you can connect Thread devices to your network too. Thanks to the Nest Hub's built-in microphones, it can also detect coughing and snoring, and that audio is processed on the device, not sent to Google's servers. Additional sensors allow the Hub to detect light and temperature changes in the room to offer insights about how those factors affect your shut eye. With the ability to track your sleep in addition to all of the voice control capacity of the original, the second-generation Nest Hub smart display is an ideal bedside companion for Google Assistant users. Control your smart home devices — Control supported smart home devices like thermostats, plugs lights, and more.

The Nest Hub features three far-field microphones so Google Assistant can hear you . In testing, Google Assistant always quickly and reliably responded to requests, even ones made from the adjacent hallway. For privacy, there's a mic off switch on the back of the Hub. The new Nest Hub can fill a small room with audio, but it doesn't sound better than a similarly priced dedicated Bluetooth speaker. When blasting The Knife's "Silent Shout" at full volume, the drivers distort a bit on the bass hits at the beginning of the song. The highs sound good, but the bass is unfulfilling, especially compared with listening to the same track on the Echo Show 8.

The feature could eventually be included with Fitbit Premium memberships, but Nest is still working that out, a spokesperson says. The company is also currently exploring other ways to integrate experiences with Fitbit. View and control compatible lights, cameras, TVs, and other devices from a single dashboard. Works with Nest along with thousands of smart devices from popular brands. That it’s “enabling more Nest devices with Matter” in the new year.

Your Afternoon is a home screen from which you can access the weather, news, smart home controls, your previous night's sleep data, and other useful features based on the time of day. At night, the home screen offers a button for relaxing sounds. At $99.99, the second-gen Nest Hub is debuting at a lower price than its predecessor, which arrived in 2018 as the $149 Home Hub. Google later renamed that model the Nest Hub, and last year lowered its price to $89.99.

You can also use this menu to "view rooms" and see all of your devices organized by room. Using the Google Photos app on your phone, Google Assistant can help you sort pictures by people or places based on where they were taken and who it recognizes. Then, if you tell the Nest Hub to use pictures of your kids in ambient mode, you can keep taking shots and Google Assistant will automatically add new ones to the mix. Google successfully curated the pictures I took of my coworkers. It filtered out the bad ones where the subject was out of focus or not properly framed, and showed the rest on the Hub. The ‘Your evening’ page helps you to wind down at night and get ready for the day ahead.

Processor

Broadcast voice messages to your speaker or display— Send a message to everyone in your home by broadcasting messages on all of your speakers or displays. Apps for the Google Assistant — Get things done and have some fun on your speaker or display with third-party created apps for the Google Assistant. Play YouTube TV — Ready to start to watch content with your speaker or display and YouTube TV? Learn how to set up and use YouTube TV with your speaker or display. Multi-room audio — Group any combination of speakers and displays, or Chromecast Audio with Chromecast Audio built-in together for synchronous music throughout the home. Voice Match — Share your speakers or displays with family and friends.