Google Assistant smart displays

Back in October, Smart Displays saw a big UI and navigation redesign. Google is now tweaking the order of tabs for some Nest Hub users to put an unfortunately large emphasis on Assistant games, though this results in a bug on a second-gen model that sees “Wellness” disappear.

Back in October, Google rolled out a big revamp for Assistant Smart Displays that organized key functions in dedicated tabs and added a dark theme. While an improvement over the previous design in most ways, the old Nest Hub UI had one advantage in regards to quickly accessing Home control.

Following yesterday’s premature appearance, Google has released three new clock faces for the Nest Hub and Hub Max. These additions join the existing eight Fullscreen clock background for those who don’t want to set a photo album.

When not actively in use, many have their Smart Displays cycle through a carousel of pictures. These Assistant devices are closely integrated with Google Photos, but an “Experimental” option to use third-party services has long existed. Nest Hub owners this evening report that the Facebook and Flickr Photo Frame sources are no longer appearing.

The Google Nest Hub and Hub Max are picking up a handful of new features with Cast firmware version 1.52. This release has been in the Preview Program for the last few weeks, and is now widely rolling out to all other users.

In announcing the big UI revamp for Assistant Smart Displays last October, Google also teased the addition of Sunrise Alarms. That Android feature is now beginning to roll out as part of a new alarms experience for the Nest Hub.

To boost privacy on Smart Displays and speakers, Google is introducing a Guest Mode. It’s rolling out today for Nest Hubs and other first-party Google devices. 

Over the past week, a small subset of users have not been able to access Google Assistant on any of their devices. This Assistant glitch appears to be occurring at the Google Account level, with Smart Displays and speakers being the most severely impacted devices.

As Smart Displays have matured, they’ve increasingly taken on shared and family use cases. Google is now adding a handful of new features for the Nest Hub Max and other devices, starting with sticky Family Notes.

The Google Home app in recent months has seen a flurry of new features from a dark theme to full Wifi controls and Home/Away Routines just last week. Google is now testing a very welcome redesign of Nest Hub, Home, and other device settings.

The battle for control of your smart-home tech has been fierce for years, but it’s about to heat up even further as Google rolls out a redesign of the classic Smart Display UI — which could change the way you interact with your Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max, or other Smart Display hardware.

On Monday, Google announced and started rolling out a major visual overhaul of the Smart Display UI. That redesign leaked out early, and the same source is back with a new capability. The Nest Hub Max is testing a ‘Blue Steel’ feature that obviates the need for saying the “Hey Google” hotword.

As previewed last month, Google is redesigning the interface of Smart Displays. This includes a dark theme, support for personal and work accounts, productivity actions, and much more.

At I/O 2019, Google announced the Interactive Canvas framework to bring full-screen visuals and animations to what were previously voice-only Actions. After making a big push for games on Smart Displays, Google is now letting developers build interactive education and storytelling apps.

The convenience and utility of Smart Displays can extend beyond the home. Google is now working to put a Nest Hub in every hotel room and extolling the contactless benefits of voice commands aided by onscreen visuals.

In addition to the Home app seeing a rather big update today, Google announced today that photo galleries on Nest Hubs and other Smart Displays, as well as Chromecasts, will soon include date and location information.

Back in June, Google brought Duo and Meet group calls to the Nest Hub Max. Now Zoom will soon be available on Google Assistant Smart Displays later this year.

Given the affordability of smart speakers, having a device in every room is now a common occurrence. Google is now making it easy to dynamically create speaker groups directly on Nest Hubs and Smart Displays.

With distance learning in effect for the upcoming school season, at least in the US, Google Assistant is adding a handful of features to ease the transition. This includes Family Bell, precise Broadcasting, and other whimsical features aimed at kids.