The Google Home is a great product for controlling smart lights and streaming music, but as we've seen with the Lenovo Smart Display, a display makes things much better. Google is now rolling out its own offering in this space, the Home Hub. Like the rest of the Google Home ecosystem, the Home Hub is made out of custom fabrics and premium materials, and the large screen up front is ideal for viewing information at a glance.
The Home Hub has an Ambient EQ mode that automatically adjust the screen's brightness, and interestingly, Google said it consciously decided to not put a camera on the Hub. The move could go some way to assuage buyers, but it limits the functionality of the device — you won't be able to make Duo video calls from the Hub.
And with the Home Hub offering Voice Match, it will be able to offer personalized results for different family members. The device also comes with a dashboard that shows you a list of all the smart home devices in your home in a single place. The dashboard will also be making its way to the Google Home mobile app.
A product like the Hub is ideal as a photo frame, and you'll be able to do just that by integrating your Google Photos albums with the device. Google is leveraging its AI smarts to filter out blurry or duplicate images, with only the best photos showing up on the screen.
The Home Hub also comes with six months' worth of YouTube Premium for free. Google Home Hub will be available in four color options, with pre-orders starting today for just $149. It will be hitting store shelves from October 22 in the U.S., UK, and Australia. What are your thoughts on the Home Hub?
