3. PRODUCT REVIEW

 Google Nest Hub

While smart speakers are becoming a normal household items in homes all across the nation and the world, there is another home unit that is sweeping through the market. These smart displays, or "digital photo frames" which The Verge called them, are offering essentially the same controls as their partnered home speakers, but now they include video. Many of the most popular ones being offered are being advertised and marketed with their audio counterparts. For example, the Google Nest Hub is often marketed with the Google Home smart speaker. 

    Google released their original Google Hub in 2016 at the launch price of $129. In March of 2021, the company released the Nest Hub Gen 2 with the same size screen as the first one but with a few upgrades. Also, while most of things being offered on the smart display are the same as what is offered in the speakers, there are obviously a few aspects on the display that cannot be offered on with just the audio side of things. For example, you can still listen to the music, news, and other media that you could on the speakers. However, now you can also watch media like news and radio shows at the same time. Google's smart display also works seamlessly with the company's smart home cameras and video doorbells to display the feeds onto the screen.

    Since releasing the first Nest Hub, Google has added update after update to the features and capability of the device. Now, with the Gen 2 version of the device, the hub has the ability to be a full smart home control center.  Other features include being an alarm clock, weather machine, media center, and a communications hot spot. The latest feature that has been added to the Nest Hub Gen 2 is sleep tracking. According to a review by The Verge, this sleep tracking feature works great for the small percentage of users who keep their hub in their bedroom. However, for the rest of the users who keep the hub elsewhere in their homes, the feature does not work as well and is almost pointless for them. The review also states that the Hub works extremely slow for a device that promises to be such a huge staple in a smart home. 

    Overall, I actually think smart displays are a great example of how far technology has come in such a short time. However, part of me also thinks that they seem to have a bigger bark than bite, so to speak. At first glance at the product, it looks mesmerizing and essential for a home, but at the end of the day it seems like an expensive purchase that might not live up to its reputation and advertising. It will be extremely interesting to see if small smart displays like the Google Nest Hub are part of a growing market or if they are just passing through.