Customer Ratings & Reviews

I bought two of these at the same time two years ago (2020). I don't know what Google did with the recent software update pushed to these devices but on one, I'm no longer able to use any of my albums from Google Photos as the photo frame, and the other is just completely bricked. I've tried factory resetting it six or seven times at this point and it just won't connect to my Google account - the device stays on the last stage of the setup screen asking me to link the account, even though the Home app claims everything is linked. I didn't think quality could have gotten any worse than it did last year when an update introduced an enormous delay between voice commands & smart device response (not to mention randomly excluding smart lights from the routines they were set up in) but here we are. At least my four Nest Minis and my Nest Thermostat still work (for now) but honestly I can't see myself ever buying another Nest device ever again.

I've been smart home advocate/adopter for a couple of years. The Google Home Hub is trying to hit a price point... I have several smart speakers with and without displays. Some small and others pretty large. The new Google Home hub is trying to find a place as 3 or 4 smart devices. First as a smart hub, that can talk to your other smart home devices. Well it's in it infancy, and it can't do enought yet, I'm sure it will improve, but until it can completely replace what other more established hubs can do, I don't suggest trying to change. You'll find some devices do not offer the same functionality they did else where, specifically I use motion detectors to turn on/off multiple switches/lights at the same time at different times of day. This just can be done (yet). In addition the new Google Home update, to support the home hub, needs more work to allow configuration by room as well as by device. Its user interface does not yet allow you to define your rooms and what in them, versus adding devices and defining what room they are in. In addition devices that have multiple functions (thermostat with temp/motion sensor) can't be configured as devices that work together. I spent quite a bit of time trying to get things to play nice with each other. Finally I realized their software did not yet support the level of integrataion I desired (currently used). Second it's a speaker, but here you have to discuss the sound quality. No real spec's on what in the device, other than a full range speaker. Well it's better than the smallest smart speakers, but not better than anything else, especially compared to other smart speakers with displays. BTW, you can use the Home Hub as BT speaker (I would not), but it's another potentially useful function. Third as a smart, cloud based, picture frame. The 7" screen is quite nice once you get it adjusted properly. The Google Home Hub has a ambient light sensor (like many phones do now) that adjusts the display's brightness based on the amount of light in the room (and time of day). This, they claim, improves the quality of photos displayed. You can "Tell" google home to turn up the brightness, after doing this a few times your've got a good looking display (or you can swipe up from the bottom of the display to manually adjust the brightness or volume). The integration of of Google Photo's with the device is it's hightlight. I had about 20K images already uploaded to Google Photos; when setting the device up as a photo frame, you are presented with a set of friends/family faces to select to determine what photos will be displayed on the frame (plus those taken most recently). This is a great feature, I've rediscovered pictures I scanned from decades ago. If you want a 7" cloud based digital picture frame this is a winning combination. Now that said I wish it offered a larger display (10+"). Another cool feature is you can ask the display to show photos from a specific event or time. It pretty good displaying recipies that it finds on the internet, althought you'll have to be pretty close to the device to read the display. An it's great at offering timers to use with the recipies. This is clever. And fourth as a smart display. A bright spot is it's integration with YouTube, which also includes content filtering. As for news/entertainment choices there is a good seletion, but by no means complete. I really wish it integrated as smart display so that I could display My DirecTv on the device, but it's not an option, and you can't cast to the device (yet). But the device can play to any of chromecast device you have (I have 8 in my home), including "backyard" speakers, I can simple say hey Google play Pink Floyd on the Backyard speakers, and it will find Floyd in my google play library (25k songs) or from another streaming source, and boom there is music in the back yard! I really like casting, it's sounds so much better than BT. The device automatically recognised all the devices I previoiusly had set up on Google Home. The other thing that I must point out is that the Google Home Hub does not have a camera, so you can't use it for video calls (this also helped in hitting the lower price point), or be spied upon. But you can use it to make phone calls if you've linked your phone to your Google account (and enabled calling). It makes a really nice speaker phone (if you don't have a lot of background noise (like a TV on)). So, another smart device, that does some things very well, and others, well, less than perfectly. In Google's favor most of what's wrong has to do with needing to improve their software, it's smart home integration is over a year behind some of it's competitors. But if your just getting started it's fully featured smart hub that provides a lot more than just hub functionalty. It's on screen display of the home devices is really nice when getting started. But if you looking to do something more sophisticated, wait for their software to mature, no telling what will be added/changed in the months to follow.

I was quite surprised by this. It works fantastically well. I love the screen on it and it's plenty bright. It's got a sensor on it to adjust the brightness accordingly so at night you can easily see it. I like how you can control everything "Smart" connected in your home. We have a Smart Thermostat by Honeywell and it's cool to be able to see the temperature on it. The other day, just to check it out, I linked my Roku Ultra up to it and was able to use the Smart Hub to control the playback. Easier than hunting for the remote really. The speaker on it though, wow, that's actually quite impressive, it's not room shaking by any means but it's loud and it's very clear. Earlier today a family member wanted to listen to something as it was too quiet so I put on some music for them. We live in a fairly smaller home and our Kitchen, Dining and Living area are all open to each other. Even from about 30 feet away at half volume the Music was plenty loud. I think it's a really nice evolution for the Assistant based technologies. I appreciate that it doesn't have a camera, but hey, we all know big brother is listening anyways haha! The screen is a bit on the small side, only a 7" LCD, but I think that's fine an decent size. For larger homes there are much larger Smart Hub's. I can certainly say if you're looking for an alternative to your Google Home device, this is a phenomenal choice.

The new Google Home Hub is a welcome addition to the Google family of products and, in typical Google fashion, they have created a great entry level option for a stationary smart device with a screen. The screen itself looks great but may seem a little small, about the size of a 5” X 7” picture frame, if you’re placing it in a large open space however that means it also doesn't take up too much space. That may also be one of its downfalls because the speaker is not exactly loud but it’s functional. It seems to pick up voices fairly easy and works great to control your home devices, play music services and even play any movies linked to your Google account. It syncs easily with their phones, or anything running on Android OS, along with a long list of third party devices including light switches, bluetooth devices, etc. that you can set up in their Google Home app. Even with the small screen and speaker, placing this in an area, such as kitchen or bedroom, serves a great purpose to ask questions, read the news and watch YouTube DIY videos for just about anything. I think the best part about this is the fact that it is made by Google using their software and AI which, in my opinion, is superior to others in this market. That being said, I really think this is a must have device if you are planning on automating your home and integrating your devices with Google products.

I already had a few Google devices (Google Home and Mini). So, I was really excited to see what more they could do with a screen. The truth is you can't really do that much more. The screen adds as much frustration, as value to the experience. Pros - Simple design. Quality feel. - Basic screens savers options contain an endless stream of beautiful art. Be careful, it is not all PG rated and there is no filter for this. - Scrolling photo display from your Google Photos is a cool feature - it is like a cloud linked photo frame. Be careful here too, because it will display anything in the album you select (i.e. old girl friends). - You can search your Google Photos for a person or thing and it will display. You can pull up a picture of your car, your dog, your kid, or Jim (if you tagged him in Google Photos). - Lighting control menu lets you dim your smart lights at night without having to speak (great for sleeping babies). - Potential for growth. Google will continue to improve this device. Cons - Sound quality is slightly lower than the original Google Home; bass is lacking. It is still acceptable. - It is not an Android tablet on a stand. You are saying I know that – no big deal, but it is something that will be an issue for many. Some examples that drive me crazy: no on-screen keyboard, no web browser, no google maps, no selectable apps. - The included apps are pretty, but don’t add much info over any other Google speaker. weather selected from the touchscreen is still read aloud and there is no radar, no pop-up list or searching by keyword, and detailed directions are sent to your phone. - No camera = No video chats. This is clear, but why - even cheap Android tablets have hangouts and a camera. - Limited streaming sources. Unless your device can cast – you can’t view it. - Finding videos and music is difficult if you aren't exact - only 5-10 options are shown if Google doesn't understand. No option is given period if Google thinks it is right - it just starts playing. - Only has a menu for smart lights – other smart devices are not displayed, even though Google works with them and a control can be brought up on screen by requesting a change by voice. - I had a few weird errors in testing that required a reboot (i.e. menus getting stuck). There were also a few times when I selected an option from the on-screen menu and Google answered “I can’t help with that”. This device works as good as the other Google devices by voice. It adds some pretty graphics, smart lighting control, and is probably the best photo frame you can buy. Some might argue that as a super smart photo frame and lighting control it has value, but it just wasn’t enough for me.

More restricted than anticipated. My husband killed it a few times on day one asking too many questions! Do not like the music play options.

I have a lot of Amazon Echo devices and I've been really happy with them, but I liked the idea of having a screen to use when controlling smart home devices such as lights, Nest thermostat, Harmony/Logitech universal remote, etc. Amazon recently launched its Echo Show 5, so I went to Best Buy to take a look. They had it in the box to sell, but no demo unit. I didn't want to buy it without having a chance to see it in action. Based on reviews I had watched on YouTube, reviewers were comparing the Echo Show 5 to the Google Nest Hub, and the Google Nest Hub had just been reduced in price so that it was less expensive than the Echo Show 5. I spent some time looking at it and decided to give it a try. I've had it for a little over a week now and I have to say it has exceeded my expectations. I will say right up front that the speaker, while adequate, is not as good as the Amazon Echo (speaker only, latest generation). Also, Echo devices support a lot more music services (including SiriusXM and Apple Music), as well as Audible books, so if you are interested in a device primarily for streaming music and/or listening to audiobooks, I would not recommend the Google Nest Hub. I still use my Echos for that. (The Nest Hub works great for Spotify using Spotify Connect, and you get the album cover art, so that's a plus). But the Google Nest Hub has a beautiful 7" display that is capable of producing extremely sharp images. It works great as a digital photo frame and it's easy to configure. You can use your own photos (through Google Photos, a free service), or curated collections with professional photos. The time is displayed at the bottom of the screen, along with the temperature. The Google Nest Hub does an excellent job as a control center for smart home devices. I find that it is easier to give it voice commands, compared to the Echo. The Echo supports my Harmony hub for my remote control, but often fails to respond correctly, or says it can't do what I asked it to do. The Nest Hub has no problem controlling my home entertainment devices, and has the added advantage of showing a screen that you can use to control them, without getting out your phone or remote control. The Google Nest Hub does a better job controlling my Nest than the Echo does (which is to be expected, since Google bought up Nest), and it's about equal as far as my Hue light bulbs. But overall, the Google Nest Hub does such a better job controlling smart home devices that it has become what I use now when that's what I want to do. It's also better for things like weather forecasts, offering a display similar to what you'd see on your phone, but larger and with the option to get more information. The Google Nest Hub is also better at answering questions and finding information than my Echo devices. For news updates, it can also provide video instead of just a spoken report. It also supports YouTube directly from the device, or you can use ChromeCast to cast it from your phone. I find that if I'm browsing on my phone, see a YouTube link, and start watching, I often use ChromeCast to send it to the Nest Hub. I have used the timer a lot (mainly for cooking and grilling), and it's so much better having a visible timer than just waiting for an audible alert. Speaking of cooking, the device can find recipes and if you want to use it in your kitchen, you can view the directions on the display as you cook. The Google Nest Hub does not have a camera, which I consider a plus. If I want to make a video call, I'll use my phone. Setting up the Google Nest Hub was much easier than setting up any of my Echo devices. It pretty much does everything itself, whereas the Alexa app that you have to use to set up an Echo can be unintuitive and clunky and require more time to set up a new device. I still haven't seen the Echo Show 5, which is supposed to have a better speaker, but also has a smaller display. But for what I wanted, which was a display-based control center for my smart home devices, the Google Nest Hub is perfect, and adds some extra features that make it even more appealing. It's one of my favorite tech purchases in the past year or so. I have mine on an end table in the living room, but I'm thinking of getting a second one as a bedside alarm clock with music built in. One question I had before buying the Google Nest Hub was if there would be any conflicts having both a Google device and Echo devices, but there are none. In fact, instead of having to come up with a different name for a wake word, the way you do if you have multiple Echo devices, I just use the default "Hey Google" or "OK Google". So you are not locked into one ecosystem just because you already have one or the other.

I was blown away by the accuracy and informativity of the Google AI from the Home Hub! It understands almost everything you say even if you have an accent. Most of the time, it provides accurate information from many different sites rather than one or 2 like other AI's. Some participating e-commerce sites have their own AI that links with the home hub to answer product searches and other more specific queries. The screen is just the right size at 7" and has this matte feature that makes pictures look like they're in a frame instead of on a screen. The speaker is clear and deep and works well to pump out music or dictate a recipe. My only problem was with setup; it required special permissions (enabling web & app activity), voice training, to sync with your account and play personal pictures and videos when you ask it to. If you don't already use Android or have a Gmail account and are setting up from apple, then you will have a slightly harder time, but I assure you, it's worth it! Google did a great job putting this together, from jewel-like packing to ergonomics to aesthetics, it just works.

Looked at all of the different smart devices with screens and this was by far the easiest to use and had the best combination of screen size, sound, and ease of use. I purposefully did not want a camera to ensure privacy and the Google Hub does not have a camera. If you want a camera, look elsewhere. Otherwise, this device is great.

The Google Nest Smart Hub is middle child with the Nest Mini being the youngest, and the Nest Max being the oldest within the Nest family. Google Home, Nest Mini and Home Max are all Wi-Fi speakers that double up as smart home control hubs and personal assistants for the entire family. You can use them to playback entertainment throughout your home, manage everyday tasks, and ask Google things you want to know. The three devices vary in terms of speaker and technical specifications, design and cost but they all offer the same functionality when it comes to Google Assistant, smart home control and music playback. The main differences between the Nest Hub is the addition of a 7" display. With it naturally comes video capability and features like digital photo album. The Nest Max comes with an even larger 10" display and a built in camera for video chat. A little caution though, there is some controversy with the camera and what it may be recording while you're unawares. All Smart Home Devices set up through the Google Home App will be connected and the Nest Hub can be a control center for your entire home. You will be able to set alarms & timers, and manage to-do lists & shopping lists, but they will also connect your smart home and support popular network systems. In terms of other Smart Home OEM's, Amazon's Alexa is still superior and supports more, but Google's list is growing and the gap is closing. The Nest Hub device is easy to set up and integrate with other Google products you may already have. RRP for this item has already come down about 15% since I purchased it, and with a sale, it can be a really good buy.

Always love the Google products, and this is no exception. Set up is easy, screen is clear and sound is good. The only complaint is with the software: Sometimes we ask it a question and instead of answering verbally, it instead chooses to display a text answer on the screen. What, I have to ask, is the point in having a voice-activated speech engine that on it's own defaults to displaying something on its screen rather than just reading the text out loud? We also use it as a digital frame which is a very nice bonus. We also tied it to our Google Photos so it will update with photos we place in a special folder we created for that purpose.

I'm very happy with the Google Hub. The screen size is great for anywhere in your house, its a good speaker for its size, and its easy to control your smart home or cast video to its screen. The fact that it has no camera and a physical off switch for the mic makes it great for the bedroom.

I was excited to get this. I love both google and amazon so it was a hard choice. I finally elected the Google over Alexa mainly because I had heard how easy it is to set up the products. Planned to use it for my kids school schedule and it did its job and then some. This is great for parents that work from home that need to remind their kids when their next class starts. The screen was a great size, the speaker sounds great, and the set-up was easy to maneuver through. Sometimes the app is a little confusing and was not happy that I cannot just talk t it to open on my phone, but I can usually ask google assistant to open the instructions. However, it was easy to set-up.

I would highly recommend this device for anybody with smart devices in their home including bulbs or other lighting and smart TVs or other smart devices. I love using this device in the kitchen for recipes I also have it in the bedroom for mornings so when I wake up I can get on the weather and news alerts right away. The ability to control the lights right from it Ain modify each individual light that I have in the house is amazing. for the speaker size and device style I am extremely satisfied with the vocal sound quality that comes out of this device. it is a wonderful addition to the Google home and Google nest line of devices.

I like the idea that this Google Hub doesn't have a camera for privacy reasons. Although I know that the Google Max does. I chose this one specifically because it didn't have a camera. With that being said, the picture and sound for such a small display hits the 'sweet spot' when compared to the Echo 5. Not too big, not too loud. And if you're a YouTube TV subscriber you've hit the smart display jackpot! Its responses when asking it to play YouTube TV or Youtube content is on point! Hence, the 'sweet spot' analogy. You can't go wrong with Google Nest Hub.

I have really come to like the smart display- it's display is sharp, it adapts to lighting conditions, and automatically goes into dark mode when it senses that it is completely dark in the room. There is not a camera on it, but honestly I haven't found that to be a hindrance to using it at all. It does excel, especially with Hue bulbs, at integration of smart appliances. As far as sound quality goes- I'd say this is above the Google Nest Home Mini, but there are still better options, such as the Max, out there.

I use this all the time. I have it in my room. And with online school I ask it math problems and spelling questions. I also use it to wake me up in the mornings and for timers. There is also a feature where you can set up bells. So I have a bell two minutes before each class starts. I also have the nest door bell, cameras, security system, and Wi-Fi. It works great with all of these products. I think that you should wait for it to go on sale because it is a little more pricey than other ones out there.

Not disappointed at all with my Nest Hub. I have yet to fully integrate it with all my smart home devices, but, so far so good. The sound is pretty good and it successfully mates with my Sonos Bar to play music. It puts me to sleep at night ("Goodnight Google") and wakes me up to music I want to hear. She loses her mind on occasion especially with 2.4g devices but I think I will just have to completely reset my Google Assistant.

This is my first Google Nest product and I am extremely happy! Check out the third party reviews between this model and the max. You will not be disappointed with this version. The sound is good, setting up the picture album was simple and I also integrated my hue lights, which I already had. I used the savings to buy a Nest smoke/CO2 (Which is also a great product) detector and still have $30 leftover.

My sister was talking up her Google Home to me and then I saw the hub with a screen. I bought 2 of them and are pleased with them. They were easy to setup and I really like having the screen. I like seeing the information I asked about on the screen. The speakers are good for me. I listen a lot of talk radio with it. I still need to learn how to ask some of the questions correctly to get an answer.