For CES 2025I had the opportunity to watch a demo of how Google is integrating Gemini capabilities into its smart home platform through devices like Nest Audio, Nest Hub, and Nest Cameras. The main takeaway is that your conversations with Google Assistant will feel more natural. Personally, I'd appreciate the ability to ask questions as they come to mind, without having to formulate some Assistant-friendly sentence before speaking – what I've seen makes me feel like my desire can come true.
To start with, you'll still say “Hey Google,” but for follow-up questions, you can skip the prompt and Assistant can continue your conversation thread. During the demo, which took place in a mock (and very posh) kitchen, a Google representative asked, for example, what to cook with the ingredients he had on hand (chicken and spinach). On Nest Audio, Assistant shared a few recipe ideas (creamed chicken and spinach, chicken and spinach stir fry).
On Nest Hub, a rep was able to play a song they didn't know the name of by asking, “Hey Google, what's the song from Wicked where do they dance in the library?” The assistant named the song and played it after the prompt.
Perhaps the most impressive trick I saw was the missing cookie incident. A representative asked Nest Hub a question: “Hey Google, what happened to the cookies on the counter?” Pulling footage from a connected Nest Cam, Hub showed the dog walking into the kitchen, stealing a cookie and running away. Meanwhile, the Assistant provided the context of the video: “On December 12 at 1:29 p.m., the dog jumped on the counter and looked at the cookies.” Of course, this was a pre-recorded clip because, unfortunately, there was no dog in the demonstration kitchen.
Video analytics complements technologies already available in the Nest Cam, such as familiar face recognition, and builds on features that launched in beta last year, when you could enter questions into the Google Home app, such as “Is my car delivered yet?” FedEx package?” ? ” The update is that you'll be able to ask these questions in your own voice and view related clips in the Hub.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to ask any questions of my own because both the speaker and display were set to the Google representative's voice. Each question was followed by a pause of one or two seconds as I assume the Assistant was gathering/synthesizing/analyzing information (or whatever the AI does) before answering. Of course, the Assistant can still perform all the basic tasks it always has – setting timers and reminders, playing music and videos, and managing smart home routines. Google representatives probably noted that this is not a replacement for Google Assistant, but an improvement to Gemini.
Having used all three major smart home assistants quite extensively, I've found that Google Assistant is the best at accessing and providing general information, but Alexa is better at controlling the smart home and understanding me in general (FYI, Siri is the best at this ). upsets me). With this new integration with Gemini, Google Assistant may be in a good position to overtake Alexa in this department.
Enhanced by Gemini, these enhancements will be available in public preview to Nest Aware subscribers later this year.