Google accidentally leaks new smart display that includes a major feature it left out on the Home Hub
Google accidentally leaked its new smart display on the company's online store earlier today. Spotted by Android Police before the image was taken down, the Google Nest Hub Max features a 10-inch HD (720p) display. Unlike the current Home Hub smart display, the Nest Hub Max will include a camera. This was a surprising omission from the Home Hub. Information about the Nest Hub Max was posted in the Google Store's Connected Home page, which shows the cross section of a home with various Google smart speakers and displays in the different rooms. Tapping on the Google Home Hub link revealed a pop-up that said "Make video calls to friends and family on Nest Hub Max."
The 10-inch HD display on the Nest Hub Max is larger than the 7-inch screen found on the Home Hub. The new model will also feature stereo speakers and a Nest security camera, upgrades from the current model. For those unaware, Nest is Google's line of smart home devices. With the camera on the device, users will be able to use Duo to make video calls (as already pointed out by Google), something that obviously can't be done on the Home Hub. Most likely we will get the rest of the story about the Nest Hub Max device during the Google I/O developers conference, which will run from May 7th through May 9th.
The Google Home Hub was launched in the U.S. on October 22nd, 2018 and was priced at $149. The Google Store has it currently priced at $129 and we would expect the price to come down a bit more once we get closer to the launch date of the Nest Hub Max, whenever that will be. There is competition in the smart display market and the Amazon Echo Show already is available with a 10-inch HD display and a camera for video calls. Priced at $229.99, the Echo Show could give us an idea what Google expects to price the Nest Hub Max at. Another competitor, Lenovo, offers a smart display with a 10-inch full HD display (1080p) and Google Assistant for $249. Speaking of Google Assistant, it is considered the top virtual personal assistant available with Amazon's Alexa a close second. The Google Assistant has been at the center of the Google ecosystem. According to the company, there are more than 400 million devices globally that have Google Assistant. That includes 1,500 smart devices from over 200 brands.
Google accidentally leaks the Nest Hub Max in the Connected Home page found in the Google Store
Smart Displays are basically composed of a display, a speaker and a virtual assistant. Those with Google's current Home Hub can watch YouTube videos, sing along to streaming tunes as the lyrics appear on screen, watch recipes, view YouTube videos, control their smart appliances, monitor a security camera in another room, and more. While Apple has launched the HomePod smart speaker (which trails smart speakers from Amazon and Google in U.S. market share), there has been no word on whether we will see a smart display from Apple anytime soon.
We could see a Google Pixel smartwatch unveiled later this year
Now that we know about the Google Nest Hub Max, it is added to the other hardware we expect Google to unveil sometime this year including the "lite" Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL. During the fall, we should see the wraps taken off of the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. There is also a chance that a Google Pixel smartwatch will see the light of day this year after being conspicuous with its absence last year. In January, Google announced that it paid $40 million to purchase what was called innovative smartwatch intellectual property from Fossil.
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