Google Home Hub Takes Aim At Amazon's Echo Show Priced At Low $149

by Brandon Hill — Tuesday, October 09, 2018, 11:52 AM EDT

Google today announced the latest addition to its Google Assistant family, and it's a device that you might have seen before. The Google Home Hub takes the best of the devices like the Google Home and Google Home Max and adds a 10-inch touch display that you can interact with.

Given that this is a Google-branded device, it is deeply intertwined with services like YouTube, Google Maps, Photos and Google Search. All of these apps have been optimized for navigation by voice and support glanceable information. Through the use of Google Voice Match, the Google Home Hub will be able to identify who is speaking to it and display content (i.e. calendar, reminders) based on the current user.

Given that this is a “hub” for your smart home, the Google Home Hub gives you full control over all of your smart devices, and of course offers deep hooks with Nest hardware. For example, you can get an instant live feed from your Nest Cam or Nest Hello Video Doorbell with the sound of your voice.

Perhaps in a nod towards giving users more privacy, the Google Home Hub doesn't feature a camera. That's a stark departure from the Amazon Echo Show, Lenovo Smart Display, and even the Facebook Portal/Portal+ that were announced yesterday.

Google Home Hub is available for pre-order today for $149, which greatly undercuts the $229 price tag of the second-generation Amazon Echo Show. The devices will begin shipping on October 22^nd, with initial availably in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. The Google Home Hub can be had in white, dark grey, pink or green.

Tags: Google, (nasdaq:goog), google home hub

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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