On Tuesday, Google took the wraps off its second-generation Nest Hub. In addition to playing music, streaming TV shows and movies, and using Google Assistant, the new speaker can also now track your sleep metrics with its new Sleep Sensing feature.
On the outside, the Nest Hub has the same signature design as its predecessor. It packs a 7-inch touchscreen display attached to fabric-covered speakers — which Google says packs "50 percent more bass for bigger and richer sound." As far as color options go, the new smart display will be available in chalk, charcoal, mist, and sand.
Credit: GoogleUnder the hood, the Nest Hub now packs the same machine learning chip as both the Nest Audio and Nest Mini. So, Google Assistant's responses should become faster as you spend time using it.
Google also included its Soli radar chip into its new smart display. The technology was originally used for Motion Sense technology on the Pixel 4, allowing you to do things like snooze your alarm, control your music, and silence calls by waving your hand over the phone's screen. And, while the company nixed that technology in the Pixel 5, it didimplement it into the Nest Hub.
Since there's no camera on the display, it utilizes the Soli Chip and Motion Sense to analyze how you're sleeping based on breathing and movement. It also leverages the built-in microphone to detect any disturbances throughout the night, like coughing or snoring, as well as temperature sensors and ambient light to pinpoint any changes in temperature in your room.
In the morning, you'll be able to see your sleep summary on the Nest Hub's display and also sync it to your Google Fit app. After tracking your sleep for several nights, it'll eventually offer you suggestions on how to improve your sleep quality — like altering your bedtime or the lighting in your room — and also recommend a sleep routine.
As for privacy concerns, Google makes it clear that the feature is optional on the Nest Hub. You can choose whether you want to enable it and, whenever Motion Sense is on, an icon appears on the display. There's also a physical switch that allows you to disable the microphones.
Seeing as how Google officially completed its Fitbit acquisition back in January, the addition of sleep tracking to its devices makes sense. Fitbit's fitness trackers and smartwatches already offer a feature called Sleep Score, which tracks the duration of your sleep, sleep stages (REM, deep, and light), and heart rate (for the wearables that include a heart-rate monitor) throughout the night. In the morning, it scores your sleep quality from 1 to 100.
Credit: googleGoogle also says it will "be looking for ways to integrate with Fitbit's sleep tracking features to bring the best of both worlds together in the future." But precise details on how it plans on doing so are scarce as of now.
Regardless, the Nest Hub might be an ideal solution for those who find wearables uncomfortable to wear throughout the night. But it's worth nothing that if you sleep alongside someone, you'll want to buy two of these. The Nest Hub only tracks sleep metrics for whoever is closest to the display.
As for price, the Nest Hub will cost $99.99 and is currently available for pre-order. It also comes with a free one year trial of Sleep Sensing, but Google has yet to confirm how much a subscription will cost after the trial is up.
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