The Google Nest Hub allows you to play music from YouTube Music, Pandora, or a linked Spotify account. You can set up a system of Google Devices around your home so that the music accompanies you when you move around the home.

You can also stream podcasts.

With Netflix and YouTube, you have access to movies, shows, and videos. You can put the Nest Hub next to your bed, for example, and watch your favorite shows before you sleep.

Using your Google Nest Hub, you can control thousands of compatible smart home devices. You can turn the lights off, decrease the temperature, lock the front door, and check who is at the front door through a compatible video doorbell that displays a live feed.

You can purchase the Nest Hub together with the Nest Doorbell or Nest Cam for an additional price. These devices will display that live video feed so you can see when your friend has arrived or check if a delivery person is at the door.

You can use the Google Nest Hub to set alarms or reminders. Left something in the oven? Set a reminder.

Do you want to wake up on time for a meeting? Set an alarm. It’s really easy, and the Google Nest Hub also provides weather and news updates so you can stay up to date about what’s going on around you and in the world.

Another cool feature is the ability to book restaurant reservations using the Google Nest Hub.

If you have other Google devices around the house, you can set up an intercom system. Call your kids to dinner from wherever they are in the house, as long as they are within earshot of a Google smart speaker.

The smart display adapts to the time of day and surroundings to look good in any lighting. In the morning, it will gradually increase its brightness, while increasing the sound of the alarm at the same time, to help you start the day.

It will do the opposite at night, lowering the brightness and playing soothing sounds.

It also adjusts the ambient light throughout the day.

One of the most useful features of the Google Nest Hub, though, is its ability to track and analyze your sleep patterns. It does this without you needing to wear a device at night, like a Fitbit, which can be uncomfortable for many people.

It is a feature that sets it apart from other smart displays, such as the Amazon Echo Show 8, which doesn’t include sleep tracking.

How does it manage to do it without requiring you to wear a device? Instead of tracking your pulse or heart rate, it tracks your sleep cycle via motion and sensory detection.

It can track when you fall asleep or wake up using your movements and breathing patterns. Using sounds such as snoring, respiratory activity, and coughing, as well as restless movement at night, it can tell you how well you slept.

That is, of course, provided you use it in the bedroom. If you use it in the kitchen instead of as a bedside assistant, sleep tracking won’t be a particularly useful feature.

Not only does it track your sleep, but it gives you suggestions on steps you can take to improve your sleep quality. If you are not feeling refreshed when waking up in the morning, you might have bad sleeping patterns, and the Google Nest Hub is a great, non-invasive way to discover that.

You can connect your Google account to view photos you have uploaded to the cloud in Google Photos.

That allows you to view your most important memories at any time and turn your Nest Hub into a photo display.

Using Google Meet, you can place audio calls using hands-free voice commands. Since the Google Nest Hub doesn’t come with a camera, though, you can’t place video calls unless you get the pricier Google Nest Hub Max.

I love how you can control the Google Nest Hub using motion gestures without actually touching the screen. That is in addition to touchscreen controls and voice commands, of course.

For example, you can swipe your hand to the right to go back to the previous screen.

The Google Nest Hub has a 7-inch width, although the bezels mean that the screen display itself is somewhat smaller. It is 4.7 inches in height.

It comes in four colors: chalk, charcoal, sand, and mist. They all look pretty amazing, and together with the auto adjusting ambient light, the Google Nest Hub certainly adds style to your home.

One thing that it is missing is a camera. You might argue that a camera isn’t necessary for a smart display, but Amazon’s Echo Show products all have a camera with which you can place video calls or view a live cam of your home when you are away.

The Google Nest Hub costs $99.99. The Google Nest Hub Max, on the other hand, costs $229.

While the Google Nest Hub is well priced, I don’t think the Google Nest Hub Max is worth the price for only a slightly larger screen. It can’t even be wall mounted.

The Google Nest Hub is a great smart display for your bedroom. It doesn’t support as many streaming services as the Amazon Echo Show 5 or 8, and it doesn’t have a camera (only the Nest Hub Max does), but it does support sleep tracking. Overall, it offers decent value for money.

Tom Clayton

Tom loves to write on technology, e-commerce & internet marketing. I started my first e-commerce company in college, designing and selling t-shirts for my campus bar crawl using print-on-demand. Having successfully established multiple 6 & 7-figure e-commerce businesses (in women’s fashion and hiking gear), I think I can share a tip or 2 to help you succeed.