- A new Google Nest Hub smart display powered by Gemini could be on the way
- Head of Google Home Anish Kattukaran says the company is ‘definitely still committed to smart displays’
- Amazon has already got a leg-up with its new line of Echo Show smart displays
Google is making a comeback to the smart home field after announcing a wave of new devices on October 1, however, there was one device that didn’t get a mention – a new Nest hub – but it turns out that Google isn’t planning on retiring its line of smart displays just yet.
If you were disappointed by the absence of smart displays from Google’s announcement (which included new AI-infused video doorbells and security cameras as well as the new Google Home Speaker), fear not, as head of Google Home Anish Kattukaran, has hinted at company plans to revive its line of Nest hubs.
Speaking with The Verge, Kattukaran shared that the company is still very much ‘committed to smart displays’, but despite the lack of in-depth information, his comments on The Vergecast podcast reveal that a new Gemini-integrated smart display is in the works, adding the following:
“[The smart display] does present itself as an incredible form factor to interact with something like Gemini for Home. If you think about the properties of a smart display – a microphone, which means audio in, a speaker, audio out. It’s got a screen, which complements a voice modality, you can interact with it and visualize information”.
Google entered the smart display game in 2018 with its first Nest Hub device, and after a year, the company released the Google Nest Hub Max, a larger smart display with a 10-inch screen, a built-in camera, and an upgraded audio system. The last time Google refreshed its line of smart displays was with the second-generation Google Nest Hub in 2021, so it’s been a long time coming.
Adding to the comments shared with The Verge, Kattukaran also revealed that Google will ‘have news to share soon’, so we’d expect a more detailed update on its next generation of smart displays then, but there’s another tech giant that’s already beaten Google to the punch – and it’s Amazon.
The competition is on
Just days before Google unveiled its new Gemini-powered lineup of smart home devices, Amazon hosted a huge hardware event where the company revealed its line of Alexa+ flagship devices, which included new Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 smart displays. With that in mind, what does Google need to do in order to pull it out of the bag?
First, it’s a no-brainer that the next Google smart display will need some kind of design revamp, which is what we loved the most about Amazon’s new smart displays following our early hands-on experience. Then there’s the matter of audio.
The second-gen Google Nest Hub will suffice if you’re using it for background music and audio playback, but we didn’t rate it as a solid source for offering room-filling sound. In Amazon’s case, the new Echo Show’s speaker takes after the new 360-degree Echo Dot Max to omit spatial audio, so we’d hope the next Nest Hub will pack elements of the upcoming Google Home Speaker.
As mentioned, Google has yet to provide further information on the future of its new smart displays, but we’ll certainly be on the lookout for an official launch date.
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rowan.davies@futurenet.com (Rowan Davies)
