Okay, Google …how much sleep did I get?
Nifty Nest Hub gives seamless smart-home control – and tracks your shut-eye, too
Google Nest Hub
2nd Gen
From €100 ★★★★★
Smart-home devices and hubs come in various sizes, with and without screens, and the two dominant ecosystems are from Amazon or Google. While Amazon has its Alexa assistant, the Google Assistant is built into the Nest and Home range from Google.
Using those assistants is as easy as speaking to them, and your voice can control compatible lights, heating thermostats, plug sockets or even an iKettle or a garage door that’s smart-home compatible.
The second generation of the Google Nest Hub is now available here, and it comes with some new tech from Google, including a powerful new sleep sensing feature.
The Nest Hub isn’t a big device – it’s less than 18cm wide. However, the excellent design allows Google to pack in a substantial 7” screen with a nice 1024 x 600 resolution.
Chalk, Charcoal, Sand and Mist are the four attractive, neutral colours available and all of them good. Inside, there’s a full-range speaker and three far-field microphones that will pick up your voice from a good distance away.
Also, there’s a microphone off switch for added privacy, but of course you’ll need this on to use the Google assistant and for some of the sleep sensing features.
Setting up the Nest Hub is straightforward using the Google Home app.
The various settings include sleep-tracking, connecting streaming services like Spotify and sharing data with the Google Fit app. You can also give the Hub permission to access your Google Photos, which enables the lovely digital photo frame feature. If you have a Nest thermostat, doorbell or smoke detector integrating them immediately is easy. The Hub also integrates with other smart-home devices, including Philips Hue bulbs and Belkin smart plugs, which you can then control by voice.
Using the Google Assistant via the Hub is as simple as speaking. Having the breadth and power of Google search in the background is wonderful.
It really is incredibly useful to be able to ask things out loud, off the cuff. What day someone’s birthday falls on or what’s in my calendar for tomorrow afternoon, are the sort of questions I find myself asking out loud, and getting answers to immediately.
Controlling smart-home devices is also seamless, and instantaneous. Using a smart-home hub with a screen is a nice upgrade if you’ve used one of the smaller Google Home devices in the past. You have access to compatible security camera feeds and the display is useful and clear with info from other devices.
It is the sleep sensing functionality though, that sets this device apart. Inside the Nest Hub is Google’s Soli chip. This is a miniature radar that recognises human motion, on a very small scale, from the tap of a finger to the movement of your body.
IT IS THE SLEEP-SENSING FEATURE THAT SETS IT APART
In the Hub, this powerful feature can be used for gesture control, to play or pause a song, but it also plays a part in the analysis of your sleep. Using sound via the microphone, and the radar sensing the Hub will analyse your sleep. It knows when you go to bed, get up and how long you’ve rested in bed.
That analysis also takes account of coughing and snoring and it analyses the light and temperature changes in your bedroom so you effectively get an analysis of your bedroom conditions. When you get up next day, you simply say: ‘Okay Google, how did I sleep?’ and you’ll get the sleep report.
If audio is important to you, the Hub’s sound quality isn’t as impressive as the Nest Audio speaker, but it is adequate for radio listening or video playback.
However, The Nest Hub is a real all-rounder. Ease of set-up, access to Google services and smart-home integration are seamless.
However, the sleep sensing technology is a serious added bonus, and this is probably the most useful bedside companion you could own.