Smart speakers first appeared on the scene at the end of 2014 and are now part and parcel of our everyday lives.
Initially, the ability to interact with devices without using a screen was revolutionary and liberating and soon we were talking to Alexa and Google, just as Radiohead predicted back in the late 90s, with “OK Computer”. Scary stuff.
Once we were used to using our voice though, it didn’t take long for the screen to be added back in. Yes, it adds cost, but it also gives an extra level of usefulness to the product.
The Google Nest Hub Max is the large screen version of the Google Nest Hub (recently renamed from Home Hub), which is essentially a Google Home with a screen. Get it?
Offering all the features of a Google Home device, it lets you use your voice to ask questions, listen to radio and music, and control smart home devices. As the name suggests, it has a large 10in screen and it looks like a tablet sitting at an upwards angle on a base containing a large speaker. It does look like the screen could be lifted off to make a tablet, but it can’t – it’s a solid unit that must be plugged in, to work.
As well as the large screen the Max differentiates itself from the smaller version with the addition of a camera. If you’re concerned about being watched then there’s a switch on the back that lets you turn off the camera and the device announces that’s it’s off as you do it.
Initial set up requires you install the Google Home app on your phone and installation was straightforward. The camera is smart. Once you’ve set it up it uses Face Match technology to identify you as you walk in the room. This worked well, displaying my name and showing me content specific to my Google Account as I walked in the room – though occasionally it did mistake me for my son.
Thanks to the screen and camera, you might expect the Nest Hub Max to be perfect for video calls – and you’d be right. However, it doesn’t support any video calling service you are probably already using. FaceTime is Apple only, Skype is Microsoft and WhatsApp is Facebook, so Google has to have its own Google Duo app. Frankly, it’s a pain to have to use another piece of software but at least it can be installed on both iPhone and Android devices and it works fine. A cool feature is that when you are on a video call the camera will follow you around the room, so you don’t have to stay rooted to the spot – a feature Google calls auto-framing.
Once set up I naturally wanted to explore what I could do with the Nest Hub Max – and found that it would be challenging to use it as it was intended. It supports Google Play Music and Spotify, but for an Apple Music subscriber that wasn’t of much use. The Max will play the free version of Spotify though. Once I set up a Spotify trial, I was impressed by how Spotify uses the large screen, providing background information on the artists and tracks as they played. It also revealed that the sound quality on the Nest Hub Max is really impressive.
It makes the most of its size to house two 18mm drivers and a 75mm, 30w sub-woofer delivering fulsome, room-filling output that in terms of audio quality knocked my original Amazon Echo device into a cocked hat. You can also use the camera to pause with gestures – hold a hand up to start and stop the music.
Image quality on the 1280 x 800 resolution display is also great. Colours and contrast are strong making it a very enjoyable experience to watch video content. There are no built-in apps as such – and it instead suggests rather random YouTube videos. However, you can’t manually search on the device itself. You can “cast” to the Max, as long as the service supports it. In the UK, as well as YouTube, the BBC iPlayer and BT Sport app supports casting, but ITV and Channel 4 don’t.
Initial impressions then were good, but I then wondered if I could view some of my photos on the screen – after all the large screen would make this an excellent digital photo frame and I asked the Hub Max to display them. However, I was then met with the message, “I can’t show you photos from that account right now”, which was surprising. I then asked it to show me my calendar and it replied, “I can’t access your G-Suite calendar, but I’m learning how to do new things every day?” Huh?
Some research revealed the reason. I don’t have a standard Google Gmail account – I have a G-Suite account – but Google has a habit of separating the services it offers to each, ironically prioritising the free version in terms of features and services.
To be able to access my photos and calendar I had to completely reset the device and add it to my standard Gmail account. Another benefit of this was that I was also able to set up the in-built camera as a Nest security cam – another feature that won’t work with a G-Suite account. Once set up, you can use the Nest app to view a live video feed from the camera and with a trial Nest Aware subscription you can view and hear activity and get automatically notified if a person is detected.
I placed my Home Max in the kitchen, and it proved to be a great companion for recipes, providing ingredients by voice and on the screen step by step.
After living with the Google Home Max, I found that it’s a good device with great sound quality and a good screen. At £199 ($229) it’s not an impulse buy but it’s worth it if you use Google services and devices. The more you do, the more it makes sense. For instance, if you have a Nest Hello doorbell when it rings it will show video feed on the display, though fortunately, it will work with Ring doorbells too. If you subscribe to Apple Music or Tidal for your music, then you’ll be limited to using Bluetooth to stream music to the device. Also, if your main account is a G-Suite one, then you’ll also be frustrated not to be able to get it working with your main account of the box. These caveats aside, the Google Hub Max is a great smart device for the home.
