- I like my Google Nest Hub.
It can do a ton of things like play music,
display photos, and control my smart home.
But the one thing I feel like it's been missing
is sleep-tracking,
said probably no one ever.
Despite this, Google's 2nd Gen Nest Hub just launched
and it can track your sleep using those
same fancy Soli radar sensors
that made the Pixel 4's air gestures such a huge hit.
Again, no.
But before you pass judgment,
let me tell you that I've been testing the new Nest Hub out
and there might be a few reasons to be excited
about what it means for the future of the smart home.
Just like I'm excited about this segue
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The 2nd Gen Nest Hub has basically
the exact same physical design and dimensions
as the first gen model with only one obvious difference.
The glass for the seven inch display now sits on top
of its plastic housing instead of being set into it,
which gives the front a bit more of a cleaner look
and won't allow gunk to get stuck in there as much.
Which is great news for those with gunky hands.
It's a problem.
The rest of the changes are inside.
It's got a better processor, more powerful speaker,
a Thread smart home radio,
and in the top right of the display, apparently,
some Project Soli radar sensors.
These let you use air gestures with the Nest Hub
just like you would with a Pixel 4.
So you can tap the air to play and pause music or videos.
And it actually works from like a foot and a half away.
So I can see how this would be useful
if you're using the Nest Hub in the kitchen
and your fingers are covered in
meat grease and squashed avocados.
Tasty.
However you can't air swipe to change tracks
even though you can swipe to dismiss alarms.
And that's all you can do.
It would be really nice to be able to say,
change volume by rotating a finger
like you can do with some car-based gesture systems.
But, nope.
I wanna talk about this for a second because man,
Project Soli looked so cool
when Google first announced it back in 2016.
I mean, they were showing off a concept smartwatch.
They used a super tiny radar chip to let you swipe
through screens, adjust volume, and zoom in and out on maps,
just by performing these tiny mid-air gestures
with your fingers.
Instead, the first consumer product we got with Soli sensors
was the Pixel 4 in 2019, with the revolutionary ability
to control music with air swipes and taps,
just like you could with the Samsung Galaxy S 5 from 2014.
They didn't bring Soli tech back for the Pixel 5,
which no one was sad about,
but they did say it would return in one form or another.
And I guess the new Nest Hub is where it ended up.
It's disappointing to see this technology return
with no new useful gestures, but there is something new,
Google calls it Sleep Sensing which may be partially because
it doesn't actually track much.
There's a calibration process which involves
placing the Nest Hub next to your bed
and laying down next to it
like you're going to tell it about your personal problems.
It doesn't ask you how you feel about that.
That's the next model probably.
Once it's calibrated, the Nest Hub will tell you how long
you actually slept once you got into bed,
whether you coughed or snored,
and whether the light changed in the room.
Over time, the hub will give you reminders
to get to bed earlier or turn down the temperature.
But as far as actual tracking goes,
that's about it.
The sleep-tracking provided by many smartwatches
and fitness trackers will go more in depth
giving you information about how long you spent in light REM
or deep sleep, your heart rate, even calories burned.
And the Nest Hub doesn't give you any of that.
Although if you link the Google Fit Android app,
it can tell you your respiratory rate.
But what the Nest Hub lacks in depth,
it makes up for in the fact
that you don't have to wear a smartwatch to bed,
which I don't like doing.
But I did for this video because I care about you.
It is pretty inconvenient to have this extra information
about my sleep from a device that I might use
as a bedside alarm clock anyways, for no extra charge.
However, that's probably gonna change.
The Nest Hub tells you that Sleep Sensing
is in preview for free right now,
but once Google launches Google Fit Premium
or whatever brand it's gonna slap on Fitbit premium,
it looks like Sleep Sensing will be part
of a paid subscription.
I'd rather spend my money
on the fantastic products on lttstore.com
That's just me.
But Google Sleep Sensing feature might make sense
for someone who would get that subscription anyways
and who's having trouble sleeping.
I'm not because I have a baby.
When I have time to sleep, I sleep.
So while Sleep Sensing is nice to have now,
it's also one of the things that just confuses me
about Google strategy with Soli
and smart home stuff in general.
Like, I think it's cool that Google is experimenting
with new technology, but it's like they don't even care
whether people actually need or want it.
Like, "Hey, we made a phone that will tell you
whether you need a haircut or not."
You need it.
All right, time to finally talk about
the rest of the stuff that's changed with the new Nest Hub.
It does have larger speakers with 1.7 inch audio drivers.
Google says they give the Hub 50% better base performance.
And while I didn't run the numbers on that,
you can definitely hear the difference.
This model sounds a lot better than the original.
It's also gotten a processor upgrade from
the quad-core 1.5 gigahertz Amlogic S905D in the original
to a 64-bit 1.9 gigahertz
"ARM CPU".
Yeah, Google won't say the actual brand and model
of this processor, which makes me think that maybe
Google used an in-house design?
Is this the first device with Google silicone?
I certainly hope not.
Because while this chip is supposedly faster on paper,
the touch screen on the 2nd Gen Nest Hub
is just as choppy and laggy as the first gen model.
Like I understand you got to save money somewhere,
but it's pretty disappointing
to get a first party Google device
with a super clean look, minimalist aesthetic,
and then have it perform like an uncertified Android device
you got off AliExpress.
Apple wouldn't let this happen.
Also inside is something that to me is more exciting
than the Project Soli sensors,
or at least more exciting than the implementation
of them that we have here.
It's an extra radio that will make the Hub compatible
with a Thread smart home network protocol.
If you don't know what that is, it's basically
going to be the way that smart home devices
talk to each other in the future.
All the cool kids on TikTok
will have Thread-enabled RGB LED lights in the background.
Okay. It's just...
Get ready.
So really quickly, Thread is backed
by Google, Apple, Samsung, and all the other big boys
and it's a mesh protocol.
Meaning, devices don't have to connect to a central Hub.
They just connect to each other
for a low latency, low power setup.
So instead of tapping a button and waiting a second
for your smart light to turn on, it'll turn on right away.
Now there are very few devices
that support Thread right now,
Apple's HomePod mini
and Nanoleaf Essentials Bulbs being among them.
So even if the Nest Hub's touchscreen is laggy
and the Sleep Sensing is, eh,
at least you're future-proofing, if you get it.
All in all though, I can't complain
about the 2nd Gen Nest Hub.
It can do everything the first one can do plus extra.
And it's $30 cheaper at a hundred bucks US.
I've been using it as a baby monitor with a Nest Cam
and photo frame is great.
You can use it to play Netflix and Disney+
and ask Google a million silly things.
- [Google Assistant] I like to take the time
to think about all of the possible solutions
so that I can give you the best, most helpful result.
- I mean, sure.
It's not perfect.
But you know what is perfect in my heart?
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Hey, if you guys enjoyed this video, you might enjoy
the only other smart home related video
I can think of right now
which is the one where Linus installs
a ton of new security cameras in his house.
Yep that's, man, he got up to some crazy high jinks.
See you there.