- Google has a new smart home subscription package
- It’s called Google Home Premium, and there are two tiers
- You get extra Gemini access and more video features
Google Home is getting a big revamp today, with new devices and new Gemini AI integrations, and Google is also taking the opportunity to refresh its smart home subscription offering – which is now called Google Home Premium, not Nest Aware.
Yours for $10 a month or $100 a year (the Standard tier), or $20 a month or $200 a year (the Advanced tier), the new plans match the old plans in terms of their pricing, and in a lot of the features and perks you get in return. You also get the benefits as part of a Google AI Pro or Google AI Ultra subscription, but not a standard Google One Basic or Premium plan – which is a shame, as Nest Aware was included in the latter.
We’re still waiting for confirmation on international pricing, but if Google also keeps parity with Nest Aware and Nest Aware Plus outside the US, you’re going to be paying £8 a month / £80 a year or £16 a month / £160 a year in the UK for Google Home Premium Standard and Google Home Premium Advanced respectively.
In Australia, Nest Aware was set at AU$15 a month / $150 a year and Nest Aware Plus cost AU$30 a month or AU$300 a year – so presumably those prices will stay, but we’ll update this article if Google is making changes to pricing as well as the branding.
Video history and Gemini Live
As with the current packages, one of the primary benefits is video history: as well as being able to view the live feeds coming from your home security cameras, you’ll also be able to look back at archived recordings associated with motion events.
You get 30 days of history with the Standard plan and 60 days with the Advanced plan. With the latter, you also have access to 24/7 video archives, which are kept for up to 10 days – so you can look back on any clip from any time you like. Here’s a full breakdown of the differences between the Standard and Advanced plans.
Then there’s Gemini Live, which is the more natural, intelligent, and conversational version of Gemini, which you might have tried out on your phone. While all Google’s new smart home devices get the standard version of Gemini, the advanced Gemini Live functionality requires a subscription.
Another perk that you can take advantage of is the intelligent alerts feature, which means your cameras will tell you what they’re seeing – packages, your neighbors, and so on – so that you don’t have to check quite so many notifications. In addition, you also get sound detection, so your speakers can alert you to the sounds of breaking glass or smoke alarms.
Automations, summaries, and search
A Google Home Premium subscription also gives you access to easy automations: you just tell the app what you want to happen (so something along the lines of “turn off all the hallway lights when everyone has left the house”). Emergency calling from the Google Home app is also included.
The Advanced plan is double the price in the US, and in addition to the extra video archiving you get, there are other additional perks too. You can get Gemini to search through your camera and doorbell history for something specific, which can save you many minutes of manual scrolling.
You also get event descriptions attached to alerts with Google Home Premium Advanced, which are intended to give you a better idea of what’s happening – so you know at a glance whether you need to worry. Finally, Gemini also gives you a daily summary of everything that’s been spotted by each camera.
It’s all rather similar to the old Nest Aware plans, but with some extra Gemini smarts included – so it makes sense that the same features are also included if you’ve signed up for a Google AI subscription.
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