There are hints that Google is working on a new Nest Hub Max to replace the five-year-old model. This is good news for anyone who has been worried that the Pixel tablet is poised to replace Google’s smart displays since the tablet launched with a few features and accessories that make it an “almost” replacement.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and realized that Google needs to mix the Nest Hub and the Pixel tablet and create something new and better.
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One of the web’s longest-running tech columns, Android & Chill is your Saturday discussion about Android, Google, and all things tech.
A new Nest Hub Max that runs an instance of Gemini Nano is something Google could easily create. Imagine a Pixel tablet in a larger body, without the battery, with a speaker (or two) added and you’re almost there. I’m not saying hardware design is easy, but it feels more like a hardware mod than a big engineering project.
Android is easily modified software-wise so that a home interface that looks like the existing Nest Hub software can be added, and all the things that complicate it can be removed or hidden.
You’d end up with a screen with a touch interface when you need it, a camera and/or set of sleep sensors, a good-sounding speaker, and apps like Chrome and YouTube to provide a good multimedia experience. The ability to install things like the Netflix or Spotify app could make this one of the best smart home devices you can buy.
More importantly, you can replace Google Assistant with Google Gemini running on the device. This is where Gemini Nano comes in, and that would be the best part.
Gemini Nano is when the smart AI “stuff” primarily runs on your device without reporting to the Google mothership. It’s built into the Pixel 8 and Galaxy S24, powering various tools and all kinds of fancy camera tricks.
This is an important step forward for Google’s AI team because, previously, almost everything had to go through the cloud. Google still offers larger, more powerful AI models like Gemini Ultra that rely heavily on cloud computing, but with Gemini Nano, a mobile processor, and extra memory, you can do a lot locally.
It is important. Local computing means everything is more private, faster and doesn’t require a good internet connection. I don’t care if Google knows how many times I turn the lights on or off or if I asked what the square root of 15 was (3.87, I saved you a click). However, I might be interested in the upcoming smart display feature. And if AI processing is going to be done on a camera-equipped device in my room, I prefer it to be done locally. I could be able to peel off the tape covering the lens. Could be able.
Best of all, Gemini can do many things better and faster than Google Assistant. Yes, I know there are things Assistant can do that Gemini can’t or struggles to do, but I assure you Google is working on Gemini and wants to completely replace Assistant. Out with the old, in with the new, even if it doesn’t work 100% of the time. This is the Google method.
Gemini means a Home Hub can be more than a light switch or a way to see who’s knocking at the front door. The way it can analyze information and do other things with it is what AI is good at, and as a bonus, it can better interpret the things we tell it to do. At Hildenbrand, we like to yell at Google to add items to the grocery list. Geminis do this better because they understand us better. This is pretty important for a voice-controlled device. I have no doubt that Gemini will eventually power smart displays.
This would also be in Google’s interest. Sell a Nest Hub “Ultra Max Pro” (or some other silly name) powered by Gemini Nano that does everything advertised on the box. Power users could buy more powerful versions of the Gemini AI model if they wanted, as long as Google found a way to create cool features using them.
I used to think that replacing a cheap smart display with another Android device like the Pixel tablet was a bad idea because there was no benefit worth the cost. With the release of Gemini Nano, I’m not so sure anymore.
I still want to see a basic (and cheap) Nest Hub that works the same (infuriating) way it does now, but I also want to see more. And better. Google can do it, and it might just happen if the company thinks it’s something we want to buy. I have a feeling people will want to buy it once they understand why.
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