Nest is now Google Nest.
What does that even mean?
Hey y’all!
It’s Ashley Renne and welcome back to my sustainable travel, lifestyle and smart tech
YouTube channel where I show you how to live an adventurously green life.
I regularly post videos about my smart home, my Tesla, and other topics related to sustainability
and green living so if you’re into that kinda stuff, hit the subscribe button and
turn the notification bell on so you never miss a new video.
Right now you’re watching my Smart Home series where I walk you through our smart
home setup to give you the tools, tips, and inspiration to help you build your own smart
home.
This week’s episode is about my Google Home Hub—well technically Google Nest Hub now.
So what’s up with that?
Remember when I posted my Nest security video?
Well back then Nest was an ecosystem all on its own, and since it’s owned by Google,
it integrated perfectly into our Google ecosystem.
Recently, however, that integration went to a whole new level—Nest became…Google Nest.
Judging by some of the comments I got on previous YouTube videos, there was confusion.
It’s cool though, I got you.
I’m going to break down what this means and I’m also going to show you the interconnectivity
between the Google Nest Hub and the smart tech devices I’ve gone over with you guys
up until this point.
By now you’ve seen me review several smart home products, including my Nest security
system, Philips Hue Lights, and Samsung Smart Fridge.
And that’s just a small fraction of my smart tech setup.
The beautiful thing is all the products I just mentioned integrate with Google!
Google Assistant is the heart of my smart home ecosystem.
There are different Google Assistant devices you can put throughout your home, for example
Google minis that you just plug into you wall and talk to.
But the one that has the most functionality is Google Nest Hub because it has a display.
So not only does it respond to voice commands, but it can also display what you want to see
on its screen.
So let’s talk about this whole Nest thing.
Earlier this month Google announced that it would be integrating the Nest brand into its
wider line of Google Home products.
They are changing their “Works with Nest” program to “Works with Google Assistant.”
Google already owned Nest to begin with, so this announcement didn’t really affect me
since Google Assistant is the heart of my ecosystem.
Google made this move for privacy reasons; that by eliminating the Works with Nest program,
third-party devices will have far less access to the data captured by Nest’s products
like its smart thermostats, smoke detectors, cameras, alarms, so and so forth, and therefor
fewer potential opportunities for abuse.
I use so many Nest products in my home and I can use the Google Nest Hub smart display
in a variety of useful ways.
Here are a few examples of how I use the display functionality to view my Nest products.
With my Google Nest Hub, I can see exactly who’s at my door when someone rings the
Nest Hello Video Doorbell.
I can pull up the live video stream at any time and get visitor announcements.
Whereas if I only had the Google mini, it would alert me that someone’s at the front
door, but since there’s no display, I can’t see who it is.
With a Google Nest Hub, I get that visual benefit.
Just like with the doorbell, I can also view live video streams from the Nest outdoor cameras
and indoor cameras I have throughout my home.
All I have to do is ask it to show me the cameras at each designated location, and it’ll
pull up the video stream.
One product I haven’t made a video about yet is my Nest Learning Thermostat!
This is yet another Nest product that I can control from my Nest app, as well as my Google
Nest Hub.
These smart thermostats (I have two—one upstairs and one downstairs) can help you
save energy and money.
It’s ENERGY STAR certified—it learns what temperature you like and operates according
to your habits.
Studies have shown that it has saved people 10%-12% on heating bills and 15% on cooling
bills.
With Google Nest Hub, you can change the temperature and switch between heating, cooling, and Eco
modes.
Google and Philips Hue also have beautiful interconnectivity.
If you watched my Philips Hue video, you may have noticed the part where I commanded my
Google Assistant to adjust the lights.
I provided two examples—of how I could tell it to turn on/off the lights and also turn
it down/up to a specific percentage, like 10% for example.
There are TONS of Philips Hue commands you can give to any of the Google Assistant devices,
but for some situations, it comes in handy to specifically have a display.
With the Google Nest Hub, you can have visual control over the color and brightness.
I can say tell it to turn on the family room lights—the lights will come on, and different
options will appear on the display for you to configure the lights to how you want it.
I can slide my finger on the brightness to get it to my desired percentage.
I can choose from a number of color options that pop up to create the mood I want.
I can also isolate individual lights in the room if I want.
Although the Samsung Family Hub Smart Fridge operates off of a command system of its own,
SmartThings, it still allows you to integrate with Google in various ways.
You can view your Google calendar on the fridge display for example.
You can also add SmartThings to your Google Home app.
If there are smart devices in your SmartThings app that integrate with Google, the Google
Home app will detect it.
I tested this out, and sure enough, it detected my smart fridge!
My Google hub pulled up my refrigerator cooler, freezer, and I tested out a voice command
too fun—I asked it if I left the refrigerator door opened, and it actually answered me back.
So now it’s you’re turn to talk!
Do you currently have any Google Assistant devices in your home?
Lemme know, drop me a comment below and if you enjoyed this video be sure to give it
a huge thumbs up and subscribe for more Smart Home Adventures headed your way.
See y’all next week, until then keep on living an adventurously green life.