Hey, Google, how did I sleep? Nest Hub promises a good night's rest

Second-generation Google Nest Hub.

The second generation of the Google Nest Hub was revealed recently and features a beefed-up speaker system based on the successful Nest Audio smart speaker. 

The original is an excellent smart speaker with a decent display but the sound quality isn’t as good as competing products from Amazon and others. Google promises major improvements along with a raft of other feature enhancements.

“We know people already come to Google for information and tools to help them live healthier, happier lives, and we’ve specifically noticed more and more questions about sleep, exercise and health. So we decided to bring these kinds of solutions to our second-generation Nest Hub, while also improving what people already love about it,” said Ashton Udall, product manager at Google Nest.

The Nest Hub you love, but better

The new Nest Hub’s speaker is based on the same audio technology as Nest Audio and has 50% more bass than the original Hub.

The new Nest Hub also shows all your compatible connected devices in one place. And with a built-in Thread radio, Nest Hub will work with the new connectivity standard being created by the Project Connected Home over IP working group, making it even simpler to control your connected home.

New features for better rest

The new Nest Hub will feature Sleep Sensing, an opt-in feature to help you understand and improve your sleep.

Sleep Sensing uses Motion Sense (powered by Soli low-energy radar technology) to analyse how the person closest to the display is sleeping, based on their movement and breathing — all without a camera or wearable. 

Sleep Sensing can also detect sleep disturbances like coughing and snoring or the light and temperature changes in the room with Nest Hub’s built-in microphones and ambient light and temperature sensors, so you can better understand what’s impacting your sleep.

Every morning you’ll receive a personalised sleep summary on your display, or you can view your sleep data anytime on the Nest Hub by asking, “Hey Google, how did I sleep?” 

Sleep Sensing can also connect to your Google Fit app on Android and iOS devices, so you can see your sleep summary alongside your other health and wellness information on your phone.

Sleep Sensing on the second-gen Nest Hub is available as a free preview until next year. Google says it will also be looking for ways to integrate with Fitbit’s sleep tracking features to bring the best of both together in the future.

The second-generation Nest Hub will be available for €99.99 from the Google Store from May 4.