Gadgetory

so Google's smart display is real this is it it's called the Google home hub and look at this thing it's so small it can fit in the palm of my hand we've seen similar tech as Google assistant is built into smart displays from Lenovo and JBL but Google really tried to streamline the approach here and they have a few new tricks so like the smartest place from the Lenovo and JBL you can use your voice to control your smart home add something to your calendar search something from the web it can show you personal photos you can watch videos you can listen to music my favorite feature of those is here too which is recipe assistance ask for help cooking say chicken tikka masala and you can go through the ingredients one by one you can go through the steps one by one and Google will save your place if you want a multitask Google assistant has built in here the same assistant you get on your Google home and it works really well on smart displays Google uses the screen to show you more info about the weather about local restaurants and so you get an assistant that interacts with you visually as well so the new stuff first of all there's no camera on this thing you can make video calls but they be one way video calls the reason for that is Google wants you to be able to put this on your nightstand and in places in your home where you might not want a camera instead this little guy is an RGB light sensor what that allows it to do is if you're looking at videos around an ambient screen with a clock and the light in your room changes the screen will adapt so it's not blaring at you they said they wanted to do away with the billboard effect Google's also debuting live albums which helps the assistant sort through your pictures by place or by person so if you take new pictures of your kids and you want that album showing on your smart display it'll automatically pop up there as part of your running slideshow but my favorite new feature this thing is really good at controlling your smart phone you could always do it with your voice and on Lenovo and JBL you'd see a little display control this if you slide down there are your smart home controls quick and easy for turning off your lights it knows I'm in the kitchen so it's got the kitchen light right there and then it has an option to broadcast the message it has an option to check on my smart cameras again you can do that all via voice but this one's making it a lot easier to control your smart home with a touch Google's not leaving it smart display partners in the dust here apparently it's rolling out its new features such as these smart home controls to the devices from JBL and Lenovo as well but Google wanted to create a one-stop-shop for controlling anything with your voice or with a touch and the Google Home Hub might fit that bill it's due out later this month for 150 bucks which is a nice price and it looks nice enough and cute enough that you might want to put it in any room in your house and I'm excited to test it out