Gabe: Hi folks, this is Gabe at Security Baron. If you've ever wondered what a physical encapsulation
of Google might look like, well, here we have it today with the Google Nest Hub. Let's go
ahead and put it to the test.
[music]
Gabe: In today's review of the Google Nest Hub, we're going to go over some pros and
cons, its feature set, the installation process, it's design before diving into its user experience
to make sure you have all the information you need to make the right decision.
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Gabe: If you'd like to see a full written review of the Google Nest Hub, check it out
at securitybaron.com. Let's kick off today's review of the Google Nest Hub, going over
some pros and cons beginning with the pros. "Hey, Google, show me your pros."
Well, I guess he's not plugged in so I can't do that now. The point I'm making is that
it is really great when it come to vocal commands. It understands plain language pretty well
and it makes it easy to use when I'm doing things like opening up YouTube.
Beyond just the touch display, I can use my voice to find the exact music video I'm trying
to watch and it integrates that well with Google Play Music, Spotify, and a few other
services. I enjoy the experience and the integration of YouTube.
The final thing I'll note is that you can also look at your smart devices right in the
touch display. All are really useful for those of us who are trying to make an ecosystem
in our lives. Now, on the con side, I will say that I can watch whatever music video
I want, but it may not hit the same if you know what I'm saying.
The bass is just not going to be that strong. The speakers definitely have room for improvement.
On top of that, yes, I can make phone calls and talk to people in other places, but there's
no camera on the Google Nest Hub, so I'm not really able to make that connection that one
wants to have when having a phone call, and what we expect I think these days whenever
we see a display.
Those are the pros and cons on the Google Nest Hub.
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Gabe: Now that we've gone over some pros and cons for the Google Nest Hub, let's talk about
its feature set now. Of course, one of the main draws for the Google Nest Hub is that
Google Assistant. It has microphones built into it. It can hear you and you can control
the things in your home.
Beyond that, you can also control the Google Nest Hub itself for things like music. Music,
I think a lot of us now use voice control for. With Google Nest Hub, you've got Spotify,
Google Play Music, YouTube music, Pandora, and iHeartRadio. A lot of services are available
to you for listening to music.
[background music]
Gabe: Well, hold on. I hope you're enjoying today's review of the Google Nest Hub. If
you want to be kept up to date on all the newest and smart hubs, smart home security,
and cybersecurity among other things, subscribe to our channel Security Baron. We're dropping
new content weekly. All right, let's get back to the video.
With a device like the Google Nest Hub, one expects to be able to watch video. While the
screen's not the biggest, the convenience factor for that integrated YouTube is absolutely
remarkable.
One can use their voice to simply ask to watch any music video they might want to watch,
watch any videos from their favorite YouTube stars, or anything of that nature and had
really easy experience with the Google Nest Hub.
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Gabe: Another feature that I'd like to discuss on the Google Nest Hub is the shopping feature
because honestly, this was a lot easier and impressive than I thought it could be. In
terms of searching, you can just use your voice, look for a product, and then you can
thumb through the search results from the Google Express store right on the display.
From there, you can add it to your cart and even check out. Now when it comes to places
I think people are likely to place their Google Nest Hub, the kitchen is one of them because
it does facilitate the entire cooking process.
It's pretty small, you can place it in the corner of a counter and it's going to facilitate
that entire cooking process with the ability to not only find recipes using your voice,
but even recite the instructions to you, along with giving you a complete ingredient list
in an easily digestible format. That's our look at some of the main features with your
Google Nest Hub.
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Gabe: Now that we've gone over some pros and cons, and the feature set for the Google Nest
Hub, let's talk about the installation experience, which honestly is a breeze -- thank goodness.
You're just going to plug it into an outlet. Make sure you have the Google Home app downloaded
to your mobile smart device, and you'll be ready to go.
You'll sync the two, you'll connect it to your WiFi and boom, you're done. I believe
even including firmware and software updates, it's going to take you less than 10 minutes,
but of course, you're going to spend as much time as you like customizing your Google Nest
Hub for yourself. That's how I look at the installation experience for the Google Nest
Hub.
Now that we've gone over the installation of the Google Nest Hub, let's talk about its
design. You'll note right off the bat, there is a seven-inch LCD display. It's not the
largest of screens and not the highest resolutions, but it'll definitely get the job done for
those of us just trying to watch our favorite cooking videos.
At the top where you would expect a camera, you actually see an ambient light sensor,
which basically decides on what the brightness should be on how dark the room is. On each
side is what you would expect, the microphones. These microphones you can use for calling,
for controlling Google Assistant.
If you note on the back, they can both be turned off with this physical switch to your
right side. You know what? I don't want to be heard by anyone. Definitely not Google
Assistant. I can switch it off.
The other physical elements are the up and down volume button found on the back of the
device. If I hold them both at the same time, I can actually reset the device, which is
useful to be able to do.
The only port found in this device is the power port. You've got a 1.5 meter cable,
plug it in here and you're ready to go because there's no need for an Ethernet adapter as
it all connects through WiFi.
One particular touch I liked about Google Nest Hub is the rubber bottom. It's not really
going to move around. You have to worry about clinging hard. It's just going to be a nice
soft piece that you place on a counter or a shelf in your home.
Speaking of home, we have the charcoal version, but there are various colors available to
you. You can make sure you find a Google Nest Hub that fits your particular decor. Overall,
I like the design of the Google Nest Hub and I think it's pretty cute.
The final thing I want to do today in our look at the Google Nest Hub is actually have
a user experience and check out what it's like to go through an interface with these
main features on the device itself.
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Gabe: Here I am checking out the user experience and feature set on the Google Nest Hub. You'll
note right off the bat, you get the time and you get this fine art gallery for display.
You don't have to use the fine art gallery. You can use your own photos from a Google
Photos, from Facebook and even Flickr.
You're really able to personalize your display with the Google Nest Hub. Now you'll see that
here from the bottom, I can go directly into some settings, like my volume, my brightness,
and other settings here, even set an alarm.
If I go out of here and go from the left, I can go directly in to my clock and you'll
note the ambient sensor kicks in and it gets darker. Let's go back.
Oops, make sure that ambient sensor has really nice and bright, and voila. If I go from the
top, I can actually look at my entire smart home, my lights, routines, media. If I slide
over, I can actually get news, Google Play Music, YouTube.
Of course, with a smart hub, one of the big elements is being able to control it using
your voice and not just touch. Let's go ahead and just check that out. If I wanted to use
some of the more common necessary features, let's begin with music, "Hey, Google, play
me a station from Google Play Music."
Google Voice: Sure, music on Google Play Music. Here you go.
[music]
Gabe: "Hey, Google, pause." You get the idea. I can use music. I can set up Spotify, Pandora,
Google Play Music, YouTube music. There are a lot of options for you. Speaking of YouTube,
that's a place where I love to be. Let's go ahead and check that out on your Google Nest
Hub. Just using my voice, I can say, "Hey, Google, play Security Baron on YouTube."
Google Voice: Sure. Here's Security Baron on YouTube.
Man 1: I've always wanted my own moment in the spotlight. I think...
Gabe: Wow. Look at that guy.
[crosstalk]
Man 1: ...all day. I have to say that I didn't expect it...
Gabe: "Hey, Google, pause video." You get a lot of capabilities right there on Google
Nest Hub when it comes to passive activities, like listening to music, or watching a video.
If I wanted to do something a little more active, maybe I'm hungry, I can actually say,
"Hey, Google, show me some good hamburger recipes."
Google Voice: Here are some recipes I found.
Gabe: The best hamburger ever, all-American hamburgers...Let's go ahead and check out
this best hamburger ever.
[pause]
Gabe: That's pretty good. You get the various ingredients, looking at this, start cooking.
If I wanted to start cooking, I can tap here.
Google Voice: There are 14 ingredients. You can ask for the next ingredient or skip to
the instructions. The first ingredient is one and a half...
Gabe: Skip to instructions.
Google Voice: There are five steps. I'll read them one by one. When you're ready to hear
more, you can say, "Next step." First step...
Gabe: "Hey, Google, pause." I started working on this hamburger recipe and, I realized I
really need a better grill. Fortunately, I can order it right here from my Google Nest
Hub. I can just say, "Hey, Google, add a grill to my shopping cart."
Google Voice: OK, here are the most popular results for grill on Google Express.
Gabe: Back home, my family in the South, we have something more like this, but I'll be
honest with you. I think in New York, I honestly have something more like this, which is pretty
embarrassing. I probably need something a little bit more like this Char-Broil or something
like that. I can look around this Weber here, Blackstone, there's some different options
of things I can look at.
If I just want to add this one, can add it here by tapping on it. I already have one
in the cart, while I'm looking at this for a minute, and let me just go ahead and add
it now. From here, I can actually check out, I can show my card, I can save this to a list,
change delivery address. There are host of things one can do directly into Google Nest
Hub. It's pretty impressive when it comes to shopping.
Let's get back to that recipe, "Hey, Google, go back to my recipe."
Google Voice: Resuming the recipe from where you left off.
Gabe: That's actually a pretty impressive element of natural language understanding
that I didn't have to actually say the exact thing again. I was able to just ask it to
go back to what I was looking at and Google understood me.
Those are just some of the more high level things you can do. There's also a lot of just
basic, really useful productivity elements one can use the Google Nest Hub for. For example,
I got invited to go play soccer in a couple weeks, but I need to know what's happening
on that date so I can just say, "Hey, Google, what am I doing on September 14th?"
Google Voice: There are two entries for September 14th. The first one is an all day event called,
"Fly to MN for Sean Gabriel wedding." At 6:05 AM you have flight to Minneapolis DL 2956.
Gabe: Apparently, I cannot play a soccer on that date because I have to go to my friend's
wedding. That should be pretty exciting. Let's go ahead and see what the weather is going
to be this weekend. Maybe I can play soccer this weekend. "Hey, Google, what's the weather
this week?"
Google Voice: Today through Saturday in New York City, highs will fall from 93 to 81 while
lows will be around 67. Today and tomorrow, it'll be partly cloudy. Saturday, it will
be sunny.
Gabe: Wow. It's pretty hot, but I can definitely play on Saturday 81. 76 on Sunday. That's
definitely reasonable. You know what I'm realizing I have to go somewhere today with my family.
My parents are in town, so let me just see what the drive will be like if we wanted to
knock out a few things in one day in New York.
I'll say, "Hey, Google, give me directions from the Highline to Times Square."
Google Voice: All right. The best way to get from the Highline to Times Square by car is
via 10th Avenue in West 44th Street, and will take about 20 minutes in heavy traffic. You
can see the full directions on your phone.
Gabe: I've just gotten those directions sent to my phone and you'll note that driving in
New York is a nightmare and you shouldn't do it. You should always take trains, because
this is 20 minutes to go 1.2 miles, which is basically what you can do, walking.
Here we are back on the home page, and you can see the temperature and the time in the
left bottom corner. That's just our look at the user experience and feature set on the
Google Nest Hub.
[background music]
Gabe: We've shown you what the Google Nest Hub is capable of. We've shown you what it's
like to actually use some of those capabilities, which you want to know, "Gabe, is this the
right smart hub from me?" I'll say this, I have my Google Nest Hub in my kitchen. I can
control my Google ecosystem using my voice, watch some music videos, play it on music,
get some help while I'm cooking.
I love that. It's small, convenient out of the way. It's not going to be the most immersive
experience because it's not going to blow you away with its visuals, nor its speakers.
In that sense, it's going to fall a little flat and you're going to want to look to some
other smart devices.
[background music]
When it comes to this, jumping in to the smart hub game for less than a $100, I do think
that the Google Nest Hub, it's a good deal.
That concludes our review of the Google Nest Hub. If you appreciate today's video, give
us a like and hit that subscribe button. As always, this is Gabe at Security Baron. Be
secure.