Google Home Hub (Chalk)

Okay. There are Bluetooth speakers. Smart Bluetooth speakers (Alexa and Google). And then there’s that is a cross breed of tablet and Bluetooth speaker that can control functions of your home, search the web and social media platforms and even FaceTime with the command of your voice! It’s as simple as “Hey Google play the news” with no added subscriptions or contracts! Videos can be broadcasted from your phone onto the screen making your phone a remote and saving some $ with You-Tube-Red as you can still use all other functions on your phone while broadcasting YouTube videos to your hub! Connect your pandora, Disney+, Netflix and so much more! I absolutely love my !!! I know I’m lame ha ha ha but my favorite functions are the alarm clock that displays your Google ... MoreOkay. There are Bluetooth speakers. Smart Bluetooth speakers (Alexa and Google). And then there’s that is a cross breed of tablet and Bluetooth speaker that can control functions of your home, search the web and social media platforms and even FaceTime with the command of your voice! It’s as simple as “Hey Google play the news” with no added subscriptions or contracts! Videos can be broadcasted from your phone onto the screen making your phone a remote and saving some $ with You-Tube-Red as you can still use all other functions on your phone while broadcasting YouTube videos to your hub! Connect your pandora, Disney+, Netflix and so much more! I absolutely love my !!! I know I’m lame ha ha ha but my favorite functions are the alarm clock that displays your Google schedule as soon as you disable the alarm and the fact that I can tell my Nest Hub to FaceTime family COMPLETELY hands free!! It’s perfect for broadcasting shows for little ones who get to tapping away on cell phones! The speaker is loud enough to hear throughout my apartment but it’s not a surround system at all! Not as loud or nearly as much bass as my JBL Charge 4 Bluetooth Speaker but definitely has more functionality’s! A plus is I am able to piggyback Bluetooth speakers from my Nest Hub to be able to control and play music in multiple rooms at once.

There are so many different ways you can use the hub you just have to find the right one for you because what one person uses it for, someone else uses it completely differently. Personally, I use it mainly in my kitchen as a recipe tracker and timer. When I don't require a digital recipe I listen to my audio book or music (the speaker sound bounces nice off my kitchen bench and walls) or I watch my latest tv or movie while I'm prepping or cooking. You really just need to think about what room you will have your hub in and that will determine the best functionality for you. Don't be afraid to try different rooms and settings until you find the right way for you and your hub.

The Google Nest Hub is a sleek and versatile smart display that's a valuable addition to any smart home. Its compact design, voice-controlled Google Assistant, and seamless smart home integration make it a standout device. Pros: - Compact and stylish design - Responsive voice control with Google Assistant - Excellent smart home device compatibility - Vibrant display for photos and videos - Optional Sleep Sensing feature for sleep tracking Cons: - No built-in camera (privacy-friendly) - Limited screen size for video watching Verdict: The Google Nest Hub is a smart home essential, offering convenience, entertainment, and privacy in one package. If you're looking for a versatile smart display, this is a top choice.

Affordable, starter smart voice assistant

I have several of these which I have purchased on sale. Everytime they're on sale, they are amazingly affordable. Quality wise, it's fairly decent considering it's a Google product. The device OS/software doesn't feel as smart as one would hope. There are many times it doesn't understand me or that it interprets the incorrect word. The app feels outdated and not organized. I have added and removed smart items and for some reason they still remain on the app. If they happen to (actually) remove from the APP, it still appears to live somewhere since using voice control does not reflect the change, for example, I once controlled my dining lights with two smart plugs, then I switched to smart bulbs and removed the plugs, but when I ask to turn off all lights in that ... MoreI have several of these which I have purchased on sale. Everytime they're on sale, they are amazingly affordable. Quality wise, it's fairly decent considering it's a Google product. The device OS/software doesn't feel as smart as one would hope. There are many times it doesn't understand me or that it interprets the incorrect word. The app feels outdated and not organized. I have added and removed smart items and for some reason they still remain on the app. If they happen to (actually) remove from the APP, it still appears to live somewhere since using voice control does not reflect the change, for example, I once controlled my dining lights with two smart plugs, then I switched to smart bulbs and removed the plugs, but when I ask to turn off all lights in that room, it tells me "turning off 4 lights" even though I only have two smart devices in that room. I also often have to repeat a request. I have begun switching to Alexa products, because my Google products stopped connecting to my Wyze products. I'm not sure if this is a Wyze issue (which I wouldn't doubt) or a Google one. I just assumed that there was a reason the Google products were so affordable. We all know the saying "you get what you pay for." All that to say, I still recommend as an affordable smart home hub/system. When it works, it works well, but when it doesn't work, it can be very frustrating. I'lll leave you with two more points, it is smart to recognize who is speaking to it (if you have a household) which is convenient when asking to play music (it knows what account to select). If using to view cameras, it takes a while to load and has sort of a buffer/lag.

Doesn’t have blue tooth capability, speaker is horrible.

I already have an Alexa ecosystem, but there are a few things I wish it did better so I decided to try a Google mini hub instead of buying another Alexa Show 8. For Black Friday/ Cyber Monday they are both on sale, the Google for $49, and the Show for $64. The things that could be better about the Alexa Show: The control panel for your smart home devices is not customizable You can not chose the control panel as the default display, have to swipe to get to it You can not change the color of smart lights from the control panel, only dim or brighten Video camera viewing is not great, you can only view one camera at a time, won’t show indefinitely, by the time the camera view pops up, whatever was going on is usually done. And you cant play music at the same time. The ... MoreI already have an Alexa ecosystem, but there are a few things I wish it did better so I decided to try a Google mini hub instead of buying another Alexa Show 8. For Black Friday/ Cyber Monday they are both on sale, the Google for $49, and the Show for $64. The things that could be better about the Alexa Show: The control panel for your smart home devices is not customizable You can not chose the control panel as the default display, have to swipe to get to it You can not change the color of smart lights from the control panel, only dim or brighten Video camera viewing is not great, you can only view one camera at a time, won’t show indefinitely, by the time the camera view pops up, whatever was going on is usually done. And you cant play music at the same time. The clock is pretty boring and not very customizable Alexa cannot multi-task Things I like about the Show: Mainly the fact that it has a great speaker. Music sounds awesome on it. It can turn all my smart lights off and on I can turn my bedroom fan and space heater off and on with it via smart plugs. It integrates with Spotify pretty well. I can use it as an auxiliary speaker for better volume when watching movies on my Ipad. It connects to virtually any smart device very easily and you don’t have to put in passwords for your other smart home apps. The only thing I have found that the Google mini does better is that you can change the color of smart lights from the control panel. For this reason I am keeping it, as a bed side control, it would probably work well in the kitchen as such. Other than that I am not impressed and can hardly believe they ever charged more for it. They are now calling it a “smart picture frame” which is basically all it is.. The clock options are worse than Alexas The speaker is not good for anything but listening to the news. Music sounds awful. It does not have Bluetooth so you can’t connect it to a Bluetooth speaker for better sound (I found this pretty shocking actually) or use it as a speaker with other devices either. The controls are much harder to navigate, and don’t really make sense It asks for all your smart home passwords, and feels more invasive than Alexa. You can’t see your doorbell cam footage on the control panel. This is the other main reason I bought this, I wanted to be able to leave it on control panel and be able to see who was at the front door, and control my lights from one easy all in one place. Maybe the larger home hub can do that, but this one can’t. It always defaults back to picture frame, with a little clock in the corner. That is unless you chose “clock” as your main display and then you have 5-6 options for very ugly clocks. Hopefully I will figure out some tricks that will make it a bit more useful, but very disappointed that a device that was originally over $100 does not have bluetooth. Or decent clock options when that is one of the only display options. I’m thinking an old android smart phone or a cheap tablet on a charger, would have done almost everything this does, maybe quite a bit more. If you want a device with more bang for the buck, I would definitely chose something else.

Don’t recommend

Pros: It’s cheap (relatively to other similar products). It does what is advertised. The screen is nice and easy to follow recipes on. The sound quality is decent and has good reach.Cons: It’s frustrating that you can’t download most apps on it. Slow at processing commands. Difficult to program special commands even with the app.I guess when you compare the price of this to a tablet I understand why it has so little capabilities built into it. I think your money would be better spent with a Google home compatible tablet that just lives in your living room/kitchen and responds to verbal commands.

Good device

Always love the Google products, and this is no exception. Set up is easy, screen is clear and sound is good.The only complaint is with the software: Sometimes we ask it a question and instead of answering verbally, it instead chooses to display a text answer on the screen. What, I have to ask, is the point in having a voice-activated speech engine that on it's own defaults to displaying something on its screen rather than just reading the text out loud?We also use it as a digital frame which is a very nice bonus. We also tied it to our Google Photos so it will update with photos we place in a special folder we created for that purpose.

Great product when new, but was shipped a used one

Goggle Hub is an amazing item to add to any smart home. They work great on getting information and integrating smart home item into your ecosystem. Unfortunately the one I ordered here from this seller was used garbage. It looks like it had been bought and sold at least 4 or 5 times over again. The outside box had stickers that were removed yet the adhesive stayed and attracted dirt and was quite disgusting. The Google Nest itself was just sitting there in the box with no protective film on it like new and was definitely opened and used before. The cable and plugs were just thrown inside the box. This Google was definitely not "New" and had been returned numerous times. I saw this and sent it back myself. I am sure it will be sold again.

Not For Bedroom Use

I like the display because I can have a scrolling photo frame of my favorite or most recent photos. I hoped the sound from the speaker would be better than the small round Nest speakers but alas such is not the case. My biggest disappointment is that the display lights up around 3:30 am EVERY day and lights up my bedroom which wakes me up. This is a KNOWN problem by Google and there is no fix. Some have speculated that this is when Google sends updates. This is a disappointment to say the least. The other issue that I have with the display is that the photo frame will occasionally stop scrolling through photos and just display one photo. I have to prompt the display to start scrolling again. Other than those issues I like the display enough to not return it.

Steal on Sale

I will start with saying I got this on sale for $50 - at $100 this review probably goes a little different.To start - at 7" this is the perfect nightstand screen for that late-night noise, alarm, or general room/house control. The speaker's aren't the loudest and the screen isn't the best however this isn't the premier product and at $50 nothing else on the market touches what this does all in one.I find this interconnects with my nest cameras and my Phillips hue lights significantly better than my iPhone or Homepod EVER did or have. I also have the Nest hub max - love that as well but let me make a big distinction. If you are buying this as a once-a-day or here and there screen this is amazing and works great - however, if you are like me and work at home the ... MoreI will start with saying I got this on sale for $50 - at $100 this review probably goes a little different.To start - at 7" this is the perfect nightstand screen for that late-night noise, alarm, or general room/house control. The speaker's aren't the loudest and the screen isn't the best however this isn't the premier product and at $50 nothing else on the market touches what this does all in one.I find this interconnects with my nest cameras and my Phillips hue lights significantly better than my iPhone or Homepod EVER did or have. I also have the Nest hub max - love that as well but let me make a big distinction. If you are buying this as a once-a-day or here and there screen this is amazing and works great - however, if you are like me and work at home the screen is far far too small to use all the time. My Hub max takes the cake with that and I would say that is the scenario where you bite the bullet and spend the extra money.Lets strip some features away - lets say you don't have hue lights or nest cameras. This is still a great bed side alarm and media player. It connects to spotify and can read out general news and reports in the morning if you set it up to do that (and it isn't that hard the home app is amazing).If you are here to compare the Google Home vs the Amazon Home eco system this is what I will say. I personally prefer the google home ecosystem better - I switched from the Apple home ecosystem because it didn't work that well for my lifestyle however I find that this interconnects with my home better than what I have seen the Amazon products. You have to buy into the Google ecosystem a bit to take advantage of the full features however that goes with all of them at this point.Final end of the line choice - at $50 you cant beat this product and what it does. It just doesn't get better than this price to performance and the V2 version also goes on sale for $50 as well.