By Krishna SinhaChaudhury
New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS) The war between Amazon and Google to take over your home has become more serious, with the latter's Nest Hub which is essentially a video speaker equipped with Google Assistant.
When pitted against Amazon Echo Show 5, both the devices have some similarities and a slight difference in pricing. The Nest Hub (in 'Chalk' and 'Charcoal' coloured variants) costs Rs 9,999 while the Echo Show 5 is available for Rs 8,999 in India.
The Nest Hub has a 7-inch colour touchscreen display to offer and works in a manner that the user gets visual response to their information searches, set alarms, watch videos and control their smart home through touch.
We used the Google Nest Hub for few days and here's how it fared.
The display has an Ambient EQ light sensor that detects the light in the room and, in turn, adjusts the colour and brightness to look natural. Touching the display gave us access to settings, menu, etc, and swipe through content, typically like a smartphone.
The screen, though small, was sharp and clear. Talking about the physical keys, there's a power button and a volume rocker.
Similar to what we saw on Google Home in 2018, this device sports a fabric finish that exuded a premium feel.
The size was fit for both living room as well as bedside table as it didn't take up much real estate.
The microphone was impressive as it was quick to pick our voice even from a distance.
Another thing that makes Nest Hub handy is the addition of intuitive controls to manage your smart home products through the device, including Xiaomi's home security camera lights and Philips Hue lights.
Google has also integrated its suite of apps which makes the Nest Hub very handy. Watching a recipe on YouTube or a query for directions answered via Google Maps were just on point.
One can view callers on the display. However, camera is absent on the Nest Hub which, we assume, could be in favour of users' privacy.
In terms of sound quality, the Nest Hub's bass wasn't very heavy and neither were the lows. The Echo Show 5, in comparison, is a better audio option.
Conclusion: As the smart display market becomes highly-competitive, Google has unveiled the Nest Hub at the right price point. With handy integration of Google apps, it is an example how the company is working to make its smart home line-up actually 'smart'.
(Krishna SinhaChaudhury can be contacted at krishna.s@ians.in)
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