Google renames Assistant home devices, debuts $229 Nest Hub Max

Enlarge (credit: Google)

At its annual developers conference, Google expanded its line of Assistant home devices and renamed the entire family. The new Nest Hub Max is the 10-inch version of the existing Google Home Hub with some added features, and now the entire Assistant device family will fall under the Nest branding. So the Home Hub will now be called the Nest Hub, and so on.

The new Nest Hub Max has a 10-inch touchscreen, making it larger than the original 7-inch Nest Hub. This also puts it more in line with partner devices like Lenovo’s Smart Display for the Google Assistant. Aside from Google’s virtual assistant, inside the Nest Hub Max is a smart home control system that lets you ask the Assistant to turn on smart lights, adjust thermostats, and play music all from one device. It also supports thread similarly to Nest Connect, so it can control thread-compatible, low-power devices like smart door locks.

A glaring omission from the Nest Hub was a camera, but Google fixed that with the Nest Hub Max. The tiny camera that sits atop the display can work just like a Nest home security camera, allowing you to see what’s going on in your home even when you’re out. Many of the standard Nest features apply, including motion alerts and notifications when the camera detects an unknown person in your home.