Google Home Hub Review
The Smart Display product was originated earlier this year at CES. It runs a custom simplified version of Google’s smartphone software dubbed Android Things. There are a handful of companies making one of their own as Lenovo & JBL take on it is out. Now its Google’s turn to do their take on it.
This is the Google Home Hub, their 7inch Smart Display. We got a chance to demo it at the Made By Google event and curious to experience Google’s vision for a Smart Display. Now one is in the house and after spending a few days w/ it, we to see how it will compare against the ones that are already out there.
The hardware looks like a White Nexus 7 in a super small Home Max.
The Home Hub offers a minimalist look to it w/ a display the size of the Nexus 7 tablet sitting on top of a miniature-sized Home Max. It weighs in at 16.9 oz which is about the weight of a bottle of water. The 2 far-field mics are seen on the display w/ the new light sensor in the middle where a camera would usually be. While you can’t video calls on the Home Hub, you can still make audio calls. You got the Mute switch & volume rocker on the rear of the screen. It is a relatively smallish but good quality 7inch LCD display. It handles all of the visuals and does a good job at doing so. Good & bright enough to handle the step-by-step recipes or YouTube visuals and make it look good.
The EQ light sensor is a great feature that could go overlooked.
Taking the place of a video camera on the Home Hub is an Ambient EQ light sensor. They opted to bypass it for privacy reasons but the light sensor on board is actually effective. It matches the amount of light in the room as well as the adjusting to the color temperature. It goes from well-lit to barely-on within a second or 2. This helps out if you plan to put this in your bedroom so, in the middle of the night, you won’t have to deal w/ a glaring screen. A very subtle touch but a much-appreciated one on my end.
How does it sound being so small?
The full-range speaker on board that feels like a 360-degree sound but it mainly derives from the underneath the display. It does get pretty loud for a speaker this size as the sound quality is pretty good as well. You can even adjust the bass & treble to your liking within the new Home app. You do have to compete w/ the speaker a bit from a bit of a distance in regards to the mics hearing you.
Comparing the Home Hub audio against to the Lenovo Smart Display, Lenovo’s will give you a full sound. The larger 10-watt speakers + passive tweeters are like night and day against the Home Hub’s smaller full-range speaker. But that along w/ the design, sound, & casting options, those are the only differences between the 2 displays.
I didn't think I would care for it but I like the new Live Albums.
The Home Hub makes for a great photo frame as well. So instead of just showing off photos, they introduced a new feature called Live Albums as a part of Google Photos. So instead of just showing random pics or from a specific album, you can create a new custom album. This allows you to choose the people & pets and will display photos from those you selected. And as you take more photos of that selected person or pet, the new photo(s) will be added to the slideshow. Good news is this feature is out so you can use w/ your Lenovo one or Chromecast photos.
Home View was the missing piece of the Smart Display software.
The Home Hub is using a version of Google Cast called Assistant OS but looks like Android Things as seen on the Lenovo Smart Display. The one difference is the new Home View, which is a new to view/control all of the smart devices & other Home products set up on the same Wi-Fi network in your home.
The bad news is that can’t play Netflix on the Home Hub just yet but support for is coming.
By doing so, this gives the Home Hub the ability to work w/ the Home, Home Mini, or Home Max to provide multi-room audio throughout your home. This also gives you the ability to view videos from your Nest Cam/Nest Hello, adjust the temperature on your Nest thermostat, adjust or turn smart lights on/off, lock/unlock smart locks, and much more. So simple but necessary.
The Google Home Hub gives you more a cohesive smart home ecosystem for less $.
The Google Home Hub is small yet powerful as it has access to Google-owned services but still w/ its limitations. The lack of Netflix & Hulu support at launch might be a turn off for some but the 6 months of YouTube Premium to make up for it. This gives you ad-free YouTube & access to YouTube Music.
The Home Hub is out for only $150 and arrives in 4 different colors of Chalk, Charcoal, Aqua, and Sand. So this is affordable, powerful, and takes up little room to fit on your nightstand, kitchen, bathroom, or where ever you want to put it.
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