is a senior reviewer focused on smart home and connected tech, with over twenty years of experience. She has written previously for Wirecutter, Wired, Dwell, BBC, and US News.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
This week, Google announced that it has finally completed moving “the best” of its Nest-branded smart home devices from the Nest app to the Google Home app. This means users of Google Nest hardware shouldn’t have to bounce between two apps anymore and can finally delete the Nest app. (The “best” qualifier is doing some heavy lifting, and some features are still in Google’s Public Preview beta program.)
The fact that one of the world’s largest tech companies took over three years to move a handful of devices into a new app is, frankly, astonishing. Combined with the slow, painful death of Nest hardware, you’d be forgiven for thinking Google had given up on the smart home. But, with a major Gemini-infused Google Home hardware announcement teased for October 1st, something is coming. The question is: will it be too little, too late?
Behind the scenes, the Google Home team has been refocusing its efforts on software, with an ongoing revamp of the Google Home app, which is much improved and now accessible on more surfaces (TVs, widgets on tablets and phones). But Google’s hardware efforts seem to be stuck in reverse.
Previous Next
1 / 5 The Nest Protect smart smoke and CO alarm. Image: The Verge
... continue reading