Joe Maring / Android Authority
As a longtime Gmail and Google Photos user, I’ve always had my eye on Google One subscription plans. For the better part of a decade, I tried just about anything to avoid paying up for Google One storage, pushing the free 15GB of cloud storage to its limit. Eventually, mass-deleting emails and photos to free up cloud storage space took its toll, and soon I found myself paying $2 a month for Google One Basic. That only solved my data cap problems for one Google account; not long after, I shelled out for Google One Premium to share 2TB of cloud storage across all my accounts.
Subscriptions can get out of hand quickly, so Google One Premium at $10 per month was all I could muster. Despite owning multiple Nest displays and a Nest Video Doorbell, I stuck with only three hours of event recording to avoid paying another $10 for Nest Aware each month. Plus, my smart home is split between the Apple and Google ecosystems. Paying for Apple One gave me an unlimited number of HomeKit Secure Video (HSV) cameras with a 10-day recording history, making Nest Aware hard to justify.
The problem? I’m a renter and need a battery-powered video doorbell. There aren’t many that support HSV, and they’re not great. I could either pay for a HomeKit doorbell and take my chances, or pay for Nest Aware on top of all my other subscriptions. After refusing to go with either option for two years, Google finally bundled its AI Pro tier with the right perks last month to convince me to upgrade.
Do you pay for a Google One plan? 79 votes Yes, I have a basic plan just for storage (Basic/Standard). 38 % Yes, I pay for more storage and some AI perks (Plus/Premium). 18 % Yes, I pay $20 monthly for Google AI Pro. 22 % Yes, I'm splurging $250 a month for Google AI Ultra. 1 % No, I don't pay for Google One, I just use the Free plan. 22 %
Google Home Premium is Nest Aware’s Gemini-infused successor
Jimmy Westenberg / Android Authority
Gemini arrived for Google Home and Nest products in late October, but most users haven’t received Gemini for Home access yet. Along with that, Google replaced the old Nest Aware subscriptions with new ones called Google Home Premium Standard and Advanced earlier in the month. It’s more than just a rebrand, though — Google Home Premium includes every Nest Aware feature plus new ones powered by Gemini. Best of all, Google Home Premium is free with certain Google One subscription plans.
The plans are a bit confusing, but essentially, Google Home Premium Standard replaces Nest Aware, while Home Premium Advanced replaces Nest Aware Plus. Pricing for each plan remains the same, at $10 and $20 per month, respectively. Google recently hiked Nest Aware fees in August, so the consistency here makes sense. The subscription plans’ core benefits are the same, too: Home Premium Standard includes 30 days of event-based video history, and the Advanced plan extends that to 60 days, while adding 10 days of 24/7 video history for supported products.
Other classic Nest Aware features, like familiar faces, are still included in the form of intelligent alerts. Nest Aware perks haven’t changed at all; their plans just sport new names with extra features. In fact, the old three-hour limit for free event video history was upped to six hours as part of the Gemini for Home transition.
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