Released only a few months ago, the Google Home Hub has won us over in a way a product hasn’t in a very, very long time. Here’s why we’re designating the Home Hub our Product of the Year.
At the start of 2018 Google announced it was branching out into “Smart Displays”, products that would rival the Amazon Echo Show and similar products. At first, the Google ecosystem was only populated by third-party products produced by companies like JBL and Lenovo—we reviewed the Lenovo Smart Display back in August of this year and thought it was pretty great.
And while the first smart displays were, in fact, pretty great, they couldn’t hold a candle to Google’s own product, the Home Hub, released in October of this year.
Between the lower price point ($150 at full retail, on sale for $99 with and without bonus products like a Google Home Mini pretty frequently) as well as a really polished user interface and hardware platform, the Home Hub has shaped up to be the best smart home value we’ve seen all year. At $150 it’s a great value, at $99 it’s a steal.
Most of us on the Review Geek staff pre-ordered one to play with the moment it was released, but without fail every single one of us has purchased more. I’ll admit I went from playing with just my pre-order unit to putting a Home Hub in every major area of my house—bedroom, kitchen, living room, etc.—within a month of getting the first one. Throw in some Google Home Minis and it’s safe to say that I’m totally (and happily) immersed in the Google smarthome ecosystem now.
Let’s take a look at some of the things we love about the Home Hub and why we’re not calling it just the best smart home product of the year, but the best product of the year, period.
Ambient Mode Is The Best Picture Frame Ever
Ambient Mode on the Google Home Hub truly has to be seen to be believed. One of the first things we fell in love with was how astoundingly good the ambient mode is.
When you’re not actively using the Home Hub you can set it to display photos—just like the Chromecast you can set it to display art, space photos, or other curated photos as well as your own Google Photos albums—or display the time in a dimmed mode that is more like e-ink and less like a bright tablet-like display.
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