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Google's new Home Hub is the best chef, picture frame, and automation control in your house

By Daniel Petrov

Updated: Oct 09, 2018, 2:16 PM

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Google's surprise announcement for today wasn't a Pixel Watch, or a Pixel Ultra phone, or anything of the rumors that were bandied about, but rather a humble kitchen-helper. No, we aren't talking about a robot chopper, but rather the Home Hub, a glorified 7" smart screen attached to a speaker, coming in a few color options, and rather bezelicious. What can it do that Amazon's renowned Echos can't?

Home Automation and kitchen-helper

The Hub can control your smart home appliances with the new Home View interface, help you in the kitchen with recipes and how-tos, and play music from YouTube's vast catalog at will. So, just a smart speaker with a screen then? Not really, as the hub has a tailored UI, and the Home View interface can control hundreds of thousands of devices.

Intelligent picture frame

Home Hub can also serve as "the world's best photo frame" with deep Google Photos integration. Google has given it a new feature called Live Albums which displays photos of people or objects you choose, updates them as you do, and uses machine learning to discard blurry or underexposed photos. Nice.

Google Home Hub price and release date

You can pre-order it for $149 today in the Google Store, and it will be available for release on October 22 in the at Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and other retailers. It comes with 6 months worth of YouTube Premium if you order by year's end, so the pricing is very aggressive, what do you think?

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.