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I also appreciated that when I made a request, Google Assistant displayed the words it heard me say on the screen, so I knew if it had misheard me. . While it’s not as large or loud as the Echo Show, the Google Home Hub is an affordable and capable alternative for those looking for a smart display. While it’s not as large or loud as the Echo Show, the Google Home Hub—now called the Google Nest Hub—is an affordable and capable alternative for those looking for a smart display. Overall, the Google Home Hub provides excellent value at just $149, as long as you’re already a big user of Google’s services.
Sadly, though, although the Home Hub boasts that it can play live TV, I was disappointed to see this only works via YouTube. Out of the entire library of products, though, what works best with Google Home Hub are the Nest family of products including its smart thermostat, smart security camera and video doorbell system. In practice that means the speaker will dial down the blue light output when it’s on your bed stand before bed before automatically turning the display down to near invisible levels when you turn off the lights. You can also cast from some apps on your phone to the Home Hub, like iPlayer and ITV Hub, but not others, like Google’s own Slides app. Not that you’d really want to show a slideshow on there, but the point is, it is a little limited right now.
What's new for Google Home?
As well as being able to have a two-way conversation, the Home Hub also allows you to use the quick responses. If you don’t have the time or inclination to deal with someone, you can just let the Nest Hello give a canned response and you’re off. This is a great update to the Google Home Hub, although it also works on all other Google-powered Smart Displays. With very thin bezels all around the screen adding to the effect; the original Echo Show had the same-size screen but looks massive in comparison. It’s no surprise to see that the Google Home Hub is designed along the same lines, with a display hanging off the material base.
They’re clear, fun and functional, and do nothing but add solid functionality to what could’ve been a generic ‘me too’ product. While we could focus in on any number of these in-depth, trust us when we say that Google handles all of their first-party services with a level of tact and care that’s rare to find in a first-generation product. Even some third-party services work great - though many don’t feel as rich or as natural as Google’s own first-party apps.
Google Nest Hub Max review: What you need to know
Quality smart home controls, integrated YouTube, and a brilliant use of the display to give access to some Google services, such as Maps and Photos make this model better than the Echo Show in some regards. Restrictive Google Account support and the inability to play Netflix restrict the appeal slightly. As you’d expect from a £130 device with such a small footprint, the Home Hub’s sound quality won’t blow you away. Having said that, for its size it’s decent enough and is a good step up on the Home Mini.
Right, so before you start your smart home odyssey, you’ll need to setup your new device. For Google Home Hub, that will require downloading - or, for some of you, re-installing - the Google Home app. Once that’s locked and loaded on your mobile device of choice, you can simply tap the plus icon under the Home heading, and the app will search for any nearby Made by Google device. After a short pairing process you’ll need to select which room the Hub is located in as well as add any new smart devices you might have purchased alongside the Home Hub. The interface is also really snappy and never slows down — if you ask for a party playlist, the device will figure out it needs to open Spotify and start playing music within seconds.
Everything the Google Home Hub can do
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. Google Photos is also an integral part of the Google Home Hub, as it’s the only way to use the photo frame feature.
Even better, right now adverts seemed to have been removed, which made the viewing experience better than if you were on a phone or computer. If you’re on a Google Android device, you can cast other services to the Home Hub, but you can’t easily cast to it from an iOS device. Voice control works well across the supported services though, allowing you to say “Play pop music on Spotify”, or “Play BBC Radio 2” and Google will do as you command. The small, affordable Google Assistant-powered Nest Hub smart display is functional and convenient, but won't impress anyone with its sound quality.
The supplied 15W power cable feels premium too, with a novel circular three-pin plug. On the back of the Hub’s screen, there’s a slider button to turn off the three far-field mics along the top edge and volume controls along the right-hand side, all of which are easy to locate and maximise screen space. Recipes are particularly good on the Home Hub, while the added one-touch smart home control, status and camera display is brilliant. It’s not a great music speaker for the money though and the fabric surface is going to be more difficult to keep clean in a kitchen. Expensive, custom installation smart homes have had this kind of touchscreen dashboard system for a while, but it’s been difficult to achieve with off-the-shelf kit until now. Voice control is great, but when you’re trying to do lots of things at once and see the status of devices, touchscreen buttons are better.
PCMag supports Group Black and its mission to increase greater diversity in media voices and media ownerships. Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox. Underworld's "Bruce Lee" sounds similarly treble-heavy, with the jangly guitar strums and vocals coming through prominently, but the rest of the track almost completely lacking any bass response. It's slightly louder than the Echo Spot, but it doesn't sound much better than your average clock radio. Pop Team Epic from Crunchyroll to the Nest Hub without any issue, but Netflix was unable to detect the display in its own Google Cast menu. I could read through the list of steps and ingredients, and go back and forth between steps as needed with my voice or a button.
The Lenovo Smart Display, for example, is available in both 8in and 10in configurations and the larger one currently sells for £180. Swiping up from the bottom of the Hub’s screen is another easy way to access volume, brightness, alarms and settings. Google clearly sees this particular Nest Hub as a lifestyle aid above all else – it even wants to optimise your sleep. When the electric bass kicks in, the Nest Hub again sounds a bit weak and underwhelming. If you're looking for a powerful audio experience on the Nest Hub, you're going to be disappointed.
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. My favorite feature of the Nest Hub is now available on third party Google Assistant displays as well. The panel shows a status of your home including how many lights are on and the current temperature. You'll see shortcut buttons for common tasks that change based on which devices you have synced to your Google Assistant. Honestly, I think the Home Hub seems a little cheap, down solely to the 7-inch, 1,024 x 600 resolution display.
Check the weather, and you'll see illustrations of the forecast for the week. Google has recently brought custom Routines to everywhere in the world, after an initial US roll-out. Routines let you control several devices at once with a single voice command, say making it easy to shut down your home when you go out. As the Home Hub is powered by Google search, it’s far more accurate when finding local businesses and answering generic questions than the Echo devices.
It’s clear why Google is locking down its platform like this — it wants you using its services and hopefully paying for them in the longterm. However, it’s a bit disappointing for those who may be used to traditional digital photo frames, which provide microSD card slots, USB support and internal memory, and support other online storage platforms. 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. In addition to its looks, the Home Hub will feel very familiar to those who already use other Google Home products.
There are still issues with the limited amount of things it could do at launch, and it lacks the video conferencing ability of the Echo Show, but it’s a neat little device that won’t break the bank. The short digest of this section is that the Nest Hub Max looks like the Google Home Hub, only a bit bigger, with the original’s 7in screen gaining an extra 3in. But the headline-grabber here is Sleep Sensing, which is free to trial on the Hub this year but will come at a cost from 2022. A volume rocker sits behind the right edge of the screen, and a mic mute switch sits behind the top edge.
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