==== Summary ==== Google has created a really good smart display hub system that combines a sharp and vibrant 7" screen, a decent music speaker, and a smart artificial intelligence program (the Google Assistant) held together by an interface that expertly blends sight, speech, and touch controls. It is fun to use, simple to control, and offers powerful automation control options for a home equipped with smart devices & appliances. It can also serve as a delightful picture frame. Best of all, the pricing is just right ($150) making the Google Hub accessible to most people. It's a Win from Google. *Pros: -Clean, minimalist design that blends easily into most settings. -Compact footprint. -Sharp, responsive, and colorful touchscreen. -Decent sound quality for its size. -Far-field microphones work well & reliably. -Google Assistant is smart and responsive. -Smart Home controls (e.g., lights, TV's, security cameras, thermostat, doorbell, etc). -Routines (multiple automated tasks) are easy to setup and use inside the Google Home app. -Via “Voice Match” technology, up to 6 different people can create their own custom Routines. -No video camera/webcam (good for privacy). -The Hub makes for a lovely picture frame. -Comes with 6-months of free YouTube Premium. *Neutral: -The Hub needs to be plugged in all the time - no rechargeable battery inside. -I wish there was an onscreen keyboard for YouTube music & video search. -In a pitch-dark room in ambient clock mode, it's difficult to tell the time (unless you're really close-by) because the screen becomes too dark. *Cons: -Can't cast Netflix videos to it. ==== Design ==== I find the design of the Google Home Hub to be clean, simple, and unobtrusive. The Hub, with its 7" LCD touchscreen framed by a white front bezel and a fabric-textured charcoal stand in the back, is able to fit in easily and naturally pretty much anywhere in the house (e.g., desk, nightstand, kitchen counter, dining room table). The white rubber mat on the bottom of the stand is super grippy and prevents the Hub from moving around and easily falling over. The screen is nice with its sharp and vibrant colors and the viewing angle is good as well. The ambient light sensor on the top middle of the frame does an excellent job adjusting screen brightness and reacts quickly. If the default auto-brightness is too bright or too dim for you, you can adjust the Ambient EQ auto-brightness level from the Google Home app (Settings -> Display Settings -> Ambient EQ). From there, you can also control other settings such as Screen Timeout, Screen Color Matching, and there is an option to show the clock during low light. Also on the top frame of the screen are the two far-field microphones that does an excellent job picking up your voice commands easily from across the room. The Hub always picked up on my prompts and commands reliably. Speaking to it in low volume worked just as well. Should you want to disable the voice command functionality, there is a toggle behind the screen you can slide to Off which is a nice touch. The microphones and the speaker performed satisfactorily together during phone calls and the voices came in and went out clearly. Behind the right edge of the screen is the volume control button that goes from 0 (silence) to 10 that is tactile and easy to locate. Although the speaker is small, it gets loud enough to entirely fill out a small- to medium-sized room. Music playback was pretty decent although, as expected, bass is weak and the soundstage is limited. It is no replacement for a quality bluetooth speaker. Audio quality can be slightly adjusted inside the Google Home app where you can set Bass and Treble levels between -6dB to +6dB. Your music won't become super fantastic all of a sudden but the inclusion of these settings is still appreciated. For what it is, however (a smart AI display), the Hub is good enough for me for casual music listening and streaming videos. Some other notable hardware features inside the Hub is the inclusion of Bluetooth 5.0 technology, 2.4 & 5 GHz Wifi capability, and support for multi-room audio sync and playback with other Google Home enabled speakers (such as my JBL Link 10). The Hub is powered via a power cord tethered to the wall and has no rechargeable battery inside, which is a slight disappointment. It would've been nice to temporarily unplug it and carry it around with me around the house. I'm hoping for third-party companies to quickly release battery base mods so I can turn the Hub into a portable smart display. All in all, the Google Home Hub is a very well-designed smart display system with many thoughtful touches and good hardware. ==== Control & Navigation ==== There are two main ways of interacting with the Google Hub - via touch or voice - and both methods worked very well. The screen is very responsive to taps and swipes and all the animations and transitions are smooth and fluid. A single tap wakes up the display from its slumber clock mode into its ambient mode. Another single tap takes you into your "home screen." From there, you can swipe from left to right to go back into ambient mode or swipe from right to left to view your Reminders, Calendar events, News, Music, Videos, and more. Swiping up from the bottom of the screen reveals some convenient shortcut settings - the Ambient EQ brightness setting, Volume level, Do Not Disturb Mode, and a About Device screen. Swiping down from the top of the screen reveals the "Welcome home" or "Home View" screen where you can control all the smart devices around the house such as smart light bulbs, speakers, thermostat, etc. There is also a "Broadcast" option which allows you to say something and have it played back across all the connected speakers around the house like an intercom system. Very neat. The second major way of interacting with the Hub is via your voice and this method, too, worked very well. Just speak "Hey, Google or "Ok, Google" and speak out your query or command and the Google Assistant responds back quickly. Simple and powerful. The only control option I wish the Google Hub had included was an onscreen keyboard. Having a keyboard would’ve made searching for music and videos more precise and easier. Hopefully, Google will add an onscreen keyboard in one of the future firmware updates. To sum it up, Google did a fantastic job with the control options. Everything worked well without any hiccups. ==== Functionality & Usefulness ==== The brain behind the Google Home Hub is the Google Assistant AI software and what a powerful tool it is~! The list of things that Google Assistant can do and perform is too numerous to list in this review. Instead, here are two links that showcase some of the capabilities of the Google Assistant - one from Google and one from a popular news site. https://assistant.google.com/explore https://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/917-best-google-assistant-features.html For me personally, I find Google Assistant to be very helpful for the following things in my life - playing music and music videos, setting up Reminders and viewing my calendar entries, getting weather forecasts, creating shopping lists, having the news read to me, setting up alarm clocks, viewing my family photos in Ambient Mode, making hand-free phone calls, quickly finding recipes in the kitchen, getting restaurant recommendations, and turning on and off my smart home devices (e.g, light bulbs, TV). I do wish, however, for a little bit more. As of right now, the Google Hub cannot send text messages and for some reason, Netflix movies does not work although it is listed inside Settings as a supported “video service” that can play videos. Casting from other video apps such as Tubi and Hulu, however, worked just fine. Despite these somewhat minor gripes, I feel confident that the Google Hub will continue to be improved steadily by Google and new features will be added in the short- and long-term future. Overall, I’m excited and enjoying the convenience of having such a smart AI assistant nearby that can, in addition to speaking back answers to my queries, also show me videos, make phone calls, control my smart devices, and act as a wonderful and dynamic photo frame. ==== Closing Thoughts ==== For ~$150, the Google Home Hub is a fantastic product with great value. It has a clean and pleasing design, the AI component is brilliant, the screen is vibrant and clear, and the powerful automation and smart home control features are well-integrated & highly functional. It also doesn't take up too much space, easily blending into almost any environment inside a home. The Hub is an excellent creation from Google that I highly recommend.