The best Google smart home devices

The Google Nest Hub (formerly Home Hub) is a great way to start a Google-centric smart home. Google Assistant is used to answer all the same voice commands as the Google Home smart speaker. The touch screen will show you additional information when you ask about the weather, search for restaurants, etc. Additionally, you can use this smart home hub to watch videos or scroll through family photos.

In fact, its unique adaptive brightness sensors make the Nest Hub a great digital photo frame, adapting to light levels and color temperature so it always looks like an actual photo in the frame. You can set it to play an animated slideshow of family photos as a screensaver. Google Sully Also on board this second generation model is for Sleep sensor And quick gestures like pausing media with an air tap in front of the screen.

The Nest Hub is also a great kitchen helper, as it can guide you through recipes step by step and you can multitask while cooking. Set a timer, play music, add an ingredient to your shopping list — and the Nest Hub will save your place on the recipe for when you need to check it next. You can connect it and set it up on your Wi-Fi network using the Google Home app and ask the Google Nest Hub any question you might ask the original Google Home.

All of these voice control features make the Nest Hub useful in many ways, but the simple control panel makes it the best choice for your centrally connected home device. Swipe down from the top for shortcuts that turn off lights or let you check your smart home security cameras. You can then click to see a room-by-room overview (living room, kitchen, etc.) of all your devices. The control panel is well organized and useful, especially if you have family members who have trouble remembering how to formulate voice commands. Now, they can just click.

The Nest Hub is our favorite smart display overall and has a reasonable price tag of $100. It’s useful even if you don’t have a lot of smart home gadgets, but it’s a must-have if you want a smart home that works with Google Assistant.