Google launches Nest Hub Max, a 10-inch smart screen from Google Assistant for $ 230

Nest Hub Max is the first member of Google recently expanded family of Nest products. It's also Google's first smart screen with a built-in camera. Launched at Google I / O Tuesday, this new high-end version of the Google Home Hub has many features appeared in list of the device leaked on the Google store in March. It has a 10-inch HD display, the camera also serves as a Nest Cam, and larger speakers are set for stereo sound. This is also a competitive price of $ 230. It's more than the now $ 130 Home Hub but the same as its main competitor, the Amazon Echo Show.

Nest Hub Max combines the best parts of any other smart display over the already solid base of the Google Home Hub (now simply called the Nest Hub). Nest Hub Max is aiming for the best smart display title and checks many of the appropriate boxes on this first reading.

Google has kept some surprising secrets secret. You can play and pause music and videos with new gesture controls. The camera can recognize your face and show you personalized notifications. You can make video calls, which is not a surprise, but the camera will also follow you as you speak and move in the field of view. Facebook Portal The smart display has proven itself when it debuted at the end of 2018.

Just like Google's first smart screen, the Google Home Hub, you can control your Nest Hub Max with your voice via the built-in Google wizard. It will respond to all the same commands as Google's smart speakers, just like the Google Home Mini. For most questions, Google will display additional information on the screen. You will see the forecasts when you ask questions about the weather, and pictures of restaurants will appear if you are looking for a place to eat.

You can also use the touch screen to watch YouTube videos, control your compatible smart gadgets and look at family photos. In fact, Google will prepare a photo album for you if you want and scroll them as a screen saver. Just like the Home Hub, an ambient light sensor adjusts the brightness and warmth of images on the fly, giving them a beautiful appearance – like physical images in a frame instead of a blurred image on a panel d & # 39; display. An updated home screen can also keep your images as the touch screen background.

Google Nest

You've probably noticed that the name of Google's new smart screen looks like scrambled refrigerator word magnets. Indeed, it is the first device of the new branch of the company's smart home, Google Nest. The original Google Home Hub is now called Nest Hub. The Nest Hub, along with a few other devices inherited from older Google and Nest branded hardware brands, are also offered a price reduction. The Nest Hub will now cost $ 130 instead of $ 150 (you can find it for sale for even less).

Google Nest will include smart speakers, smart screens, Chromecast streamers and Wi-Fi routers. It will also cover products that are simply branded, including smart thermostats and smart cameras.

Google Nest Hub Max aims to show what the combined forces of the two previously separate units can do.

Bigger and stronger

By far, you can easily confuse Hub Max with the original Google Nest hub. They have exactly the same design, even until the volume rocker and a mute button on the back. The material difference lies mainly in the size and the camera. The mute button also cuts off the power of the camera to effectively shut off without a physical shutter.

Side by side, there is no confusion between the two devices. The 10-inch screen gives the original 7-inch model a mediocre appearance. The speakers look the same, but the Hub Max speakers have more power with two 10W tweeters facing the front and a 30W subwoofer.

I had the opportunity to listen to the Nest Max Hub during a practical demonstration. As expected, this sounded much better than the poor audio of the Google Nest Hub. I will be curious to see how it will behave in relation to the Amazon Echo Show and JBL Link View in a controlled environment, but I expect it to continue with the best smart speakers. With both classical music and rock, the sound was clear and I did not receive any distortion whatever the volume.

Mocking the ground

Although the Facebook portal does not have as many features as the other smart screens we tested, it was hard to ignore them entirely because video tracking worked well and made video calls much more lively. I did not like this device, especially since Facebook was bogged down in scandals about privacy, but being followed by a camera while you talk is good if you have children. with grandparents in the city who want to follow the action.

Nest Hub Max could steal the thunder of the portal, as its motion tracking camera worked just as well in my demo. You can press to turn it on or off. When it is off, the camera at 127 degrees displays a wide-angle view of the room. Turn it on, and it can pan, tilt and zoom to follow the action. It zooms out to capture everyone that it can see, or it moves for a tighter picture if you are the only one in the frame.

I could not see a way to tell him to focus on one person in a group. You can do it with the portal, but the Nest Hub Max automatically tries to follow everyone. You must also use Google Duo – the application of video chat of the company – to use the feature. Facebook has also forced you to use Facebook Messenger, but the company has just added the option of using the popular WhatsApp messaging service with Portal. I also did not see the possibility of adding hats and augmented reality glasses with the help of Hub Max, a fun feature of the portal.

With the camera on the Hub Max, you can also choose a new Face Match feature. When the camera recognizes you, it can automatically start playing video messages. He can tell you your day or inform you of the traffic. Face Match can essentially trigger custom routines as soon as you enter a room.

Google representatives quickly pointed out that you can disable this feature if you are not comfortable with this feature. among other privacy features, and noted that it was meant for personalization and convenience as opposed to security. For example, you will not be able to make verified purchases in the face. Your face data will also be stored locally on the device, as opposed to Google's cloud servers.

The Face Match feature will allow Hub Max to modify the home screen based on the people in the room. With the original hub, you can choose to view your calendar and other information on the screen. If several people connect to the device, the concentrator does its best to combine everyone's information – you will see the calendar of everyone merged into one. Nest Hub Max automatically switches to individual profiles on the fly.

The built-in 6.5 megapixel camera can also be used as a security camera when you're away. You can switch to the camera feed – another feature that you can turn off if it makes you feel uncomfortable. If you watch the live show, the camera will show a green light, typical of a Nest Cam, and the Max Hub will display a message on the screen. You will not be able to spy in secret.

You can also receive alerts through the Nest app if it detects motion, and you can use the camera with Nest's Nest Aware premium subscription to get custom alerts and set up zones. movement. The camera does not have night vision, unfortunately.

With Amazon Echo Show, you can use the camera for video calling and access the live stream, but that's it. The Nest Hub Max camera does a lot more, and I doubt it's a coincidence that Google has chosen the same $ 230 retail price.

Make gestures

The Nest Hub Max's camera will also allow some movement controls, which is unique among smart screens. At launch, you can play and pause the music or video you play. Look at the camera and raise your hand, as if you asked to stop, and that will be the case. If you simply wave your hand, Hub Max will not respond intelligently because you have to watch it and do it.

This feature can prove very useful if you have a noisy household. All the speakers and smart screens we've tested tend to have a hard time hearing your commands because of the strong background noise. Even if you play music out loud, you may have to scream to stop it with a voice command. You can now record your voice without having to touch the device if you are cooking and your hands are contaminated.

During my demo, the feature worked flawlessly most of the time. He has never failed to recognize the gesture of the presenter. It's sometimes hard for me to try to do it. We had trouble capturing the film because our backlighting allowed it. Even without this light, he missed my signal several times, but there were some perfect streaks in which I moved around the room and lifted me every time.

Fortunately, Google still has some time to refine this feature.

Perspective

The Nest Hub Max is due out this summer for $ 230. You can buy it in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia with chalk or charcoal. It will cost you £ 220 in the UK and £ 350. I'm a little disappointed that the Max Nest Hub does not offer the more colorful aqua and sand options of the original hub, but it does have an integrated wire. Thread is a meshed network signal that could allow Hub Max to serve as a bridge to future smart home sensors.

In the meantime, motion controls, built-in Nest Cam, face matching, and automatic framing during video calls allow the company to stand out from a crowd of people. smart screens more and more competitive. The Nest Hub Max could easily outperform the competition if these features work properly during shipping.

Unfortunately, he could also eclipse his friends. Last year, Google joined forces with Lenovo, JBL and LG on smart screens. The best of Lenovo and JBL cost $ 250 and are excellent devices, but can not compete with the features of Hub Max. When the original hub was launched as a domestic hub, it also launched a new smart home control panel that was eventually routed to these third-party screens so that they were not left behind. dust.

The new Home screen, which keeps your images in the background when you scroll, will move on existing templates. But most of the unique tips of Nest Hub Max will be impossible to match for others without a similar built-in camera. People who bought a third-party Google smart screen at their launch last summer might have a bitter pill to swallow when this new model stands out about a year later.

Nevertheless, it's hard to be too angry with the Nest Max Hub for positioning itself as potentially the best smart display on the market at a competitive price. Now, you just have to live up to that bill.

Read more: Here's everything we've learned so far on Google I / O 2019