Google announced the Home Hub smart display in October 2018 globally and it recently got rebranded to Nest Hub following the launch of a bigger sibling – the Next Hub Max. The company has now launched the Google Nest Hub in India for a price of Rs 9,999, offering a smart speaker with a display and IoT connectivity.
The Nest Hub offers a 7-inch touchscreen display, two far-field microphones on the front for voice control, a full-range speaker and a dedicated switch to switch off the mic. The device will allow users to view responses from Google Assistant and display content from Youtube, Search, Maps, Calendar, Netflix, Hotstar, Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, JioSaavn and Google Photos through Voice and touch control.
Google’s smart display runs on Android Things ecosystem – a stripped-down version of Android with special utilities like the Google Assistant Smart Display App on top. There’s a default Home View mode which offers a dashboard that will let you control and manage all the smart appliances in your home.
At idle times, the Google Nest Hub will play Google Photos frame with Live Albums that displays photos of the people that you select to be shown. It comes with Google’s Voice Match feature, which will be able to recognise voices from different users and pull up personal data for them on the home screen.
The Nest Hub features an ambient light sensor to adjust according to the brightness of the surroundings. The sensor upon detecting dim lighting will change the display to a low-brightness digital clock. However, it doesn’t come with a front-facing camera that’s available on the Next Hub Max, meaning you won’t be able to use it to make video calls on Duo. The device offers a step-by-step recipe feature allowing users to choose from a library of recipes for the kitchen as well as information about appointments, restaurant reservations and the weather.
The device weighs in at 480 grams and measures 118 x 178.5 x 67.3mm. The Nest Hub offers Bluetooth 5.0 and WiFi for connectivity.
Google Nest Hub smart display will be available in Chalk and Charcoal colours for a price of Rs 9,999 on Flipkart, Reliance Digital, Tata Cliq and Croma stores across India.