Google rebrands Home lineup; introduces Nest Hub Max smart display

Several major announcements were made at Google I/O including the Pixel 3a smartphones, new Android Q, and a lot more. Well, the company also made major announcements for its smart Home products as well.

However, Google has now rebranded its Home products under the Nest brand. The company introduced the Nest Hub Max, the first product in the new lineup. The device comes with a digital photo frame powered by Google Photos and the home view dashboard offering full control over the connected smart device.

Display

The Nest Hub Max packs a bigger 10-inch HD screen and specifically designed for places where family or friends gather quite often. Users will be able to stream live shows and sports on YouTube TV with a subscription.

You can also ask the Google Assistant to perform several tasks, just by using voice commands. In addition, the device also offers full stereo sound, with a powerful rear-facing woofer.

Smart camera

Nest Hub Max is also equipped with a Nest Cam to help users keep track of things at home. Users can turn it on when away and check on things using the Nest App on their phone. The Home/Away Assist feature also notifies the user if the camera detects motion, or doesn't recognize someone in your home.

The camera can also be used for video calling through Google Duo. The camera has a wide-angle lens, and it automatically adjusts to keep users centered in the frame. The video chat can be done on any iOS or Android device, or on a web browser.

Multiple users

With Nest Hub, Google offers the option to enable Voice Match, so the Assistant can recognize different users' voice and respond specifically to them. It also has a feature called Face Match which guides users through the process of creating a face model, which is encrypted and stored on the device. Face Match's facial recognition is processed locally with on-device machine learning, so the camera data never leaves the device.

Nest Hub Max will then recognize them and show just their information, not anyone else's. There's a green light on the front of Hub Max that indicates when the camera is streaming, and nothing is streamed or recorded unless the user explicitly enables it.

Price and availability

The Nest Hub Max will be available in the U.S. for $229 on the Google Store and at Best Buy, Target, Home Depot and more. It'll also be available in the UK for £219 and in Australia for AUS$349. The device will hit the Indian subcontinent shores soon.