October again proved to be a very busy month in the world of Google Home and
the Google Assistant. Google announced a bunch of new things that their event in
early October including a brand new device for the Google Home family called
the Google Home Hub so in this features update video we've got a lot to talk
about especially in regards to smart displays and the Google Assistant, so
let's get started. This is 6 Months Later.
Google announced a ton of stuff at their event in early October from the new
Google home hub to the pixel 3 to the pixel slate tablet there was just a lot
to digest now one of the most interesting features I thought that
Google talked about at the event in regards to the Google assistant wasn't
actually with the home hub we'll get to that in a second it was actually with
the pixel 3 and what this feature allowed pixel 3 users to do was to have
the Google assistant pick up an incoming phone call using Google's duplex
technology now we've seen Google duplex before they did a demo of it back in May
2018 at their IO Developers Conference where the Google assistant would go out
and call up a restaurant or hair salon to make an appointment on a user's
behalf with the pixel 3 the Google assistant will actually pick up the
phone call and have a conversation with the person trying to screen the call and
figure out exactly what they're calling about now as a user you can actually
take out the pixel 3 see on the lock screen and see a transcription of the
conversation happening between the Google assistant and the person on the
other end of the phone call in real time on the phone screen and not only that
users will have options to tell the Google assistant what to tell the person
on the other end of the line next this feature makes it so users don't have to
pick up those annoying political phone calls or telemarketing calls ever again
you can just let the Google assistant endure the misery of talking to those
people now let's talk about the other thing that Google announced at their
event that has a huge impact on the Google home ecosystem and that's the
Google home hub this cute little smart display retails right now in the US for
$150 and right off the bat I have to say that I think this thing is going to be
huge this holiday season Google is going to sell a lot of these devices and it
all has to do with the software of their smart displays so first up let's take a
look at the home controls now while the largest
features Google has rolled out in conjunction with the home hub is the new
smart control interface that accompany the redesign of the Google home app on
your phone google has completely revamped how you
interact with your smart home appliances thanks to this new design while
implementing one huge new feature and that is multiple homes with multiple
homes you can be the member of multiple smart households this is really handy
especially if you bought your parents or friends or grandparents smart devices
and previously you've had those smart devices linked to your Google account
all under the same household now you can split out these devices and
create multiple homes so your parents won't accidentally turn off your lights
when talking to devices at their house that are linked to your Google account
Google didn't just stop there though with their smart control redesign you
now have a button that turns on and off everything in your household which is
very convenient you also have a new button that controls your thermostat at
the top as well and you can adjust it from the screen and even change the mode
of the thermostat further on down in the new smart home interface you get a
breakout of all of your devices in each room Google makes it easy to be able to
adjust lights turn them different colors straight music to your speakers or
speaker groups all right from the convenience of this new home design one
of the more interesting applications of this design is not with the home app but
actually with the Google smart displays Google is basically creating an entirely
new category of devices that now serve as the central device to be able to
control all of the smart appliances and devices within your home it's always on
it's in the same place and it can control everything in your house now
sure there have been niche devices that have done this before that were
touchscreens typically in larger houses for more
affluent people but there has never been anything on the scale of what Google is
trying to do with its smart display strategy
and controlling all of your home devices any interface as simple as they have
laid it out now let's move on though to what you really want to hear more about
which is the Google home hub now the Google home hub is not the first Google
assistant smart display to be released onto the market there are actually two
others before it from Lenovo and JPL but the Google home hub is the first Google
design smart display to be brought into the market and it looks like as of now
it is probably the best one now one of the largest differences between the
Google home hub and its peers is its size it's much smaller with its
seven-inch diagonal screen but don't let that size fool you this screen is
insanely good Google has built ambient light and color temperature sensors into
the device that make the photos that appear on the display look like they
would if they were printed out on mat photo paper no matter the surrounding
lighting color or brightness what you'll see on the Google home hub most of the
time are photos this occurs when the device is in what Google calls ambient
mode ambient mode allows you to display a variety of things on your screen
including photos art gallery a full-screen clock or experimental now
the most popular one people are going to choose though is of course going to be
photos the photos you can display are being pulled from Google photos and you
have a few options of what photos can be displayed you can choose your favorites
certain albums recent highlights or you can select family and friends you want
to see photos of when new photos are taken of those family and friends that
you selected and upload it to Google photos they'll automatically update and
appear on the smart display and don't worry Google will automatically try to
not put bad or blurry photos onto your smart display in that slideshow so with
these devices you're getting the best photo frame ever made to date a
centralized screen to control all of your home smart appliances you're
probably sold already but you may be asking yourself well what else can the
Google smart display do well in short a lot but let's dive in
the Google smart display software has a pretty simple user interface to get back
to a previous screen you slide your finger from the left edge of the screen
to the right to see volume and brightness settings swipe up from the
bottom of the screen to access those controls swipe down from the top of the
screen to access your smart home controls and if you're in ambient mode
and want to see the main display window just tap the screen now obviously
Google's smart displays come with the Google assistant just like you get Alexa
with an Amazon echo show however Google's attention to detail in their
smart display visual design really stands out and let's just go over a few
examples of that when you ask Google a question on the smart display it'll show
you the text of what the assistant heard so you can see if it missed part of your
query when asking Google what the weather will be you for the week if
there is rain in the forecast you'll actually hear rain or a thunderstorm
sound and when telling Google to repeat after me it'll display a little parrot
icon which is just adorable another incredibly useful feature for
the Google smart displays is recipes now before our Google could guide you
through a recipe through a Google home speaker but actually being able to see
the steps that the Google assistant is guiding you through takes this
experience to another level plus Google has actually expanded their library of
recipes that you have to choose from so the experience is just that much better
when combined with the Google home smart displays Google show me a recipe for
Canelli ok here are some recipes Google will guide you through the ingredients
you need first displaying a nice looking picture for each one then it'll guide
you through the recipes instruction but let's say you need help with a certain
cooking technique for a recipe you're trying to make well the Google smart
displays got you covered there as well because it has
YouTube integrated into it so you can just ask Google for a certain cooking
technique video on YouTube and it'll play right there on the device or you
can watch videos of your favorite tech review websites on your google smart
display as well yeah that's right you can watch videos like this one right on
the Google home hub lastly another key feature that Google has in their smart
displays is an integration with Google News now on our previous features update
video I talked about how you can ask Google for a specific news topic and
it'll then read out certain news stories based around the topic you asked it
about with the Google smart display as Google has gone a step further parsing
out videos from your Google news feed that it can then display this even works
when you ask your Google home hub about a specific news topic it'll show you
videos of that new topic that you can select from overall I think the Google
smart displays add a lot to the original Google home experience there are just
some interactions you have with the Google assistant where it makes much
more sense to have visual feedback accompanied with audio feedback then
just audio feedback by itself I think the Google home hub is also a really
compelling device with its gorgeous display price point and sighs I think
this device is going to prove very versatile as to where people place it
within their home it can go in a lot of different locations within the average
home and on a very simple level I have to say that every interaction I've ever
had with my Google home hub this far has been a positive one every time I walk by
or sit at my desk and look at the screen and watch the photos of friends and
family fade in and out I just can't help but smile and feel good and any product
that can create that amount of positive interactions over the course of just a
single day is definitely one to watch out for and one to buy so be sure to
stay tuned for our six months later review of the Google home
hobb that'll be out early next year and if you liked this video please be sure
to give us a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel to see more google home
features update videos like this one also if you'd like to read our reviews
or our feature updates be sure to check out our website 6 - months - later com
finally if you're planning on getting a Google smart display or already have one
I'd love to know your thoughts on them or are you excited about the Google home
hub let me know in the comments below anyways thanks again so much for
watching I'm Josh Teder for 6 Months Later