Google Home Hub

jogdish · 22-10-2018 10:51pm

I'm the same, it will go on sale at some point, either black/cyber whatever it's called.
I picked up a mini last Jan during a Play store sale.

Tinder Surprise · 23-10-2018 8:37am

bk wrote: »

Reviews up on multiple sites, including The Verge and Arstechnica.

So far the reviews seem incredibly positive.

Audio, better then a mini, but not as good as a full size Google Home, doesn't have the base.

Hardware is superb, everyone seems to love the hardware, in particular the way the screen matches the colour of your ambient light, makes it very pleasant and great for showing pictures.

Everyone seems to love the UI, however the supported software is very immature, things like Youtube, Podcasts, calendars, etc. don't work nearly as well as they should. The feeling seems to be it is early days for a lot of the software, but they are hoping it will mature very quickly, just like Google Home did.

Overall this device is not complete, but has fantastic potential, seems to be the overall feeling.

God damn it, I'll probably get one during the sales, but I could well end up with two or three if it is really this good!!

I've already identified two places at home that I could put them.

Its only a matter of time before i succumb to the desire , ain't it!?!?!

The high horse brigade · 23-10-2018 8:47am

I'm twitching here too! I have a plan to demote my mini to the bedroom where there's a Bluetooth speaker.

Kintarō Hattori · 23-10-2018 9:09am

Got notice the other day that it's shipped so can't wait to get my grubby hands on it. It's going in the living room near the sofa so I can keep an eye on my 17 month old when she's sleeping. I currently have a Google Home on the other side of the room near the TV. There's no way the two of these can properly operate in the same room together is there?

droidman123 · 23-10-2018 9:34am

Are you guys buying it from the uk google store and using pm or pw?

bk · 23-10-2018 9:46am

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Got notice the other day that it's shipped so can't wait to get my grubby hands on it. It's going in the living room near the sofa so I can keep an eye on my 17 month old when she's sleeping. I currently have a Google Home on the other side of the room near the TV. There's no way the two of these can properly operate in the same room together is there?

Is it a Nest camera you have? It is the only one that works with the Hub at the moment.

Yes, I was think about that issue of a GH and Hub in the same room. I suspect at the moment it will cause issues, but I can see lots of people having the same complaint and them adding the ability to designate one as the primary device or something like that.

I'm thinking of putting a hub in our bedroom and demoting the mini to the little ones room, she is already saying "hey google" at just turned 3 :eek:

In the bedroom we already use very good bookshelf speakers with chromecast to play music from the mini, so there I'm not worried about the hub not having the best audio.

Kintarō Hattori · 23-10-2018 10:58am

droidman123 wrote: »

Are you guys buying it from the uk google store and using pm or pw?

That's exactly what I'm doing.

bk wrote: »

Is it a Nest camera you have? It is the only one that works with the Hub at the moment.

Yes, I was think about that issue of a GH and Hub in the same room. I suspect at the moment it will cause issues, but I can see lots of people having the same complaint and them adding the ability to designate one as the primary device or something like that.

I'm thinking of putting a hub in our bedroom and demoting the mini to the little ones room, she is already saying "hey google" at just turned 3 :eek:

In the bedroom we already use very good bookshelf speakers with chromecast to play music from the mini, so there I'm not worried about the hub not having the best audio.

Spot on BK, I have two externals and one indoor camera so that'll be fun.

When I was upgrading to the Google units I had two excellent amps and two sets of speakers. I retired the living room setup to the attic (just in case we ever move to a bigger house) and kept a nice Yamaha stereo amp and Wharfedale speakers in the bedroom, so like yourself I don't really use the Google units for listening to music, more so the smart features.

I think it'd be possibly hilarious down the line to move a mini to our 17 months old bedroom. She's not speaking yet but is well in tune with Google and what it does. When we look at an animal in a book she points in the general direction of Google so she can hear the sound. I can imagine putting her to bed in the future and her whispering requests to Google- all while being caught on camera.

bk · 23-10-2018 11:07am

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Spot on BK, I have two externals and one indoor camera so that'll be fun.

Yes, I've two Logitech Circle cameras, that do work with GH and CHromecast (pretty cool) but don't seem to work with Hub yet. I'm hoping they will add support for them soon. They are listed in the Home app, but don't do anything yet so I do have hope on it.

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

When I was upgrading to the Google units I had two excellent amps and two sets of speakers. I retired the living room setup to the attic (just in case we ever move to a bigger house) and kept a nice Yamaha stereo amp and Wharfedale speakers in the bedroom, so like yourself I don't really use the Google units for listening to music, more so the smart features.

Nice setup and gear

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I think it'd be possibly hilarious down the line to move a mini to our 17 months old bedroom. She's not speaking yet but is well in tune with Google and what it does. When we look at an animal in a book she points in the general direction of Google so she can hear the sound. I can imagine putting her to bed in the future and her whispering requests to Google- all while being caught on camera.

My little one adores the animal sounds and is what got her into the GH. I'm constantly asking it to do different sounds. BTW It does a dinosaur sound now if you ask it

Kintarō Hattori · 23-10-2018 11:15am

bk wrote: »

Yes, I've two Logitech Circle cameras, that do work with GH and CHromecast (pretty cool) but don't seem to work with Hub yet. I'm hoping they will add support for them soon. They are listed in the Home app, but don't do anything yet so I do have hope on it.

Nice setup and gear

My little one adores the animal sounds and is what got her into the GH. I'm constantly asking it to do different sounds. BTW It does a dinosaur sound now if you ask it

Because the UK voice didn't sing lullabies I kept it to the US which has been doing a dinosaur roar for some time. I discovered much to her amusement a few weeks back that there's also a unicorn sound.

When your daughter is around next time, ask it what a killer whale sounds like

bk · 23-10-2018 11:25am

Thanks for the tips, I didn't realise the unicorn one, brilliant

OldMrBrennan83 · 23-10-2018 11:30am

Anyone know if Google are planning on selling any of the other ones on their store? The Lenovo one is like gold dust here and they cancelled my order (presumably because of redirect address).

kaisersose77 · 23-10-2018 12:22pm

Not Google themselves but due out in UK this month according to this site

https://www.techradar.com/news/lenovo-smart-display-release-date-confirmed-for-the-uk

I got one from this US seller on eBay when they came out

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/263843723887

Kintarō Hattori · 25-10-2018 8:16am

Arrrghhh I want to get home and play with it but it'll be at least 20:30 before I can take it out of the box. I would have had a chance to play with it last night but my 17 month old had other ideas about her going to sleep than I did.

jogdish · 25-10-2018 10:35am

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Arrrghhh I want to get home and play with it but it'll be at least 20:30 before I can take it out of the box. I would have had a chance to play with it last night but my 17 month old had other ideas about her going to sleep than I did.

If you get a chance to play with it:

When playing a radio station what does the screen show?
Can you view a regular webpage on the screen?

Tinder Surprise · 25-10-2018 10:51am

jogdish wrote: »

If you get a chance to play with it:

When playing a radio station what does the screen show?

I'd like to know this too.

as mentioned earlier my wife wants a radio back in the kitchen so was going to get a Goggle Hub instead

:)

kaisersose77 · 25-10-2018 10:53am

I got one yesterday, not beside it at the moment but when streaming a radio station it shows a tunein screen with radio station icon and whats playing.

There is no web browser so doesnt display web pages.

Its snappier than the lenovo smart display (that is due an update to add multiroom/homegroup support so hopefully it speeds it up as its a big laggy starting media).

They need to give an option to stop the google home responding when you ask it to play something as that seems to delay the media starting and although it will be in sync with homegroup speakers it starts slower.

The unit itself is tiny (7 inches), looks great though.

jogdish · 25-10-2018 11:03am

kaisersose77 wrote: »

I got one yesterday, not beside it at the moment but when streaming a radio station it shows a tunein screen with radio station icon and whats playing.

There is no web browser so doesnt display web pages.

Thanks!
Pity I use MotionEyeOS for my front door camera - much cheaper than a nest thing with monthly and does almost the same, but the interface is only via webpage

Other than it being lovely and a gadget dunno if I can justify it just yet.

Mantis Toboggan · 25-10-2018 9:46pm

Can you play YouTube videos?

Not sure I see the point of it tbh, does it do anything your phone can't?

bk · 26-10-2018 10:39am

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

Can you play YouTube videos?

Not sure I see the point of it tbh, does it do anything your phone can't?

Yes, it can play Youtube videos. Though at the moment it is primitive support, no playlists, etc. But I suspect that will improve.

As for the second question, people always ask questions like that about Google Home, Alexa, etc. But people who get them quickly realise the difference.

Strictly speaking you are correct, your phone can do everything GH and the hub can do. But it is so much faster and more convenient to just say "Hey Google, turn off lights" then it is to take your phone out of your pocket, unlock it, find the Hue app, navigate to the light you want and turn it off.

Non of this smart technology is a most have, but a lot of it just makes your life a small bit easier, a small bit more comfortable, and even a bit more fun.

It is up to yourself if that is worth it to you or not.

jogdish · 26-10-2018 10:43am

I kinda hate* myself, but almost certain I'll get one - but gonna wait and see what happens on black/cyber whatever in November.

*knowing full well RTE radio 1 will not work at some point and I'll be complaining yet again

Kintarō Hattori · 27-10-2018 8:29pm

Finally getting a chance to play with this properly and I have to say, I quite like it. As another poster mentioned, it's not exactly a must have item, for me it's just a bit of fun and interesting to see how it integrates with everything else.

You can use it to control media on your other Google devices. So at the moment I have music playing through the larger Google Home and I can control it from the Hub which is situated on a sideboard right beside the sofa. I haven't explored the full functionality of using Spotify on it but you have limited control, pause, skip, previous but no button to shuffle or repeat which is a little annoying. So far as I can tell you can't pick specific playlists from your account, rather it suggests some to you. Again that's kind of annoying but something that might get fixed in an update. If you click away from the music screen to do something else you can't quickly get back to it and have to go through the process again. It doesn't take long but there show be some way to slide back to what's happening.

The Nest camera and thermostat integration is done really well. There's a dedicated camera button and it shows you a list of what cameras you have. Click and a few seconds later it appears on the display. As on the updated app controlling your bulbs and the thermostat is done really well, it's very slick.

The integration with Google photos is quite nice. I was a little concerned as the screen is fairly low res but you'd never really know it looking at it. Your photos are really well presented it with a mixture of some being displayed full screen and others being split 50/50. The adaptive element of the screen is excellent. It's never overpowering and adapts its hue to reflect whatever the lighting conditions in the room are.

I haven't used the recipe function nor the YouTube functionality, I'll get to that in due course. There are a lot of small features which require you to speak to the assistant so I haven't explored those fully (I have the mic off for the moment as I use the larger Home unit for music and queries) but essentially it's a visual unit for the queries you'd run through the audio only units.

As stated there's absolutely no need for it but it's a bit of fun. I haven't had time to check it out properly as between work and family there's no 'me' time at the moment. If you have specific queries you want answers to just ask away and I'll see if I can do them for you.

Moreilly · 28-10-2018 11:00pm

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Finally getting a chance to play with this properly and I have to say, I quite like it. As another poster mentioned, it's not exactly a must have item, for me it's just a bit of fun and interesting to see how it integrates with everything else.

You can use it to control media on your other Google devices. So at the moment I have music playing through the larger Google Home and I can control it from the Hub which is situated on a sideboard right beside the sofa. I haven't explored the full functionality of using Spotify on it but you have limited control, pause, skip, previous but no button to shuffle or repeat which is a little annoying. So far as I can tell you can't pick specific playlists from your account, rather it suggests some to you. Again that's kind of annoying but something that might get fixed in an update. If you click away from the music screen to do something else you can't quickly get back to it and have to go through the process again. It doesn't take long but there show be some way to slide back to what's happening.

The Nest camera and thermostat integration is done really well. There's a dedicated camera button and it shows you a list of what cameras you have. Click and a few seconds later it appears on the display. As on the updated app controlling your bulbs and the thermostat is done really well, it's very slick.

The integration with Google photos is quite nice. I was a little concerned as the screen is fairly low res but you'd never really know it looking at it. Your photos are really well presented it with a mixture of some being displayed full screen and others being split 50/50. The adaptive element of the screen is excellent. It's never overpowering and adapts its hue to reflect whatever the lighting conditions in the room are.

I haven't used the recipe function nor the YouTube functionality, I'll get to that in due course. There are a lot of small features which require you to speak to the assistant so I haven't explored those fully (I have the mic off for the moment as I use the larger Home unit for music and queries) but essentially it's a visual unit for the queries you'd run through the audio only units.

As stated there's absolutely no need for it but it's a bit of fun. I haven't had time to check it out properly as between work and family there's no 'me' time at the moment. If you have specific queries you want answers to just ask away and I'll see if I can do them for you.

Quick question, i have a Nest Hello, will the image come up on the screen of the hub without any input from me when the doorbell is pressed? & how dark does the display go when the lights are completely turned off, ie can the display shut off altogether?.... seriously considering this !!

PreCocious · 29-10-2018 1:19pm

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Finally getting a chance to play with this properly and I have to say, I quite like it. As another poster mentioned, it's not exactly a must have item, for me it's just a bit of fun and interesting to see how it integrates with everything else.

You can use it to control media on your other Google devices. So at the moment I have music playing through the larger Google Home and I can control it from the Hub which is situated on a sideboard right beside the sofa. I haven't explored the full functionality of using Spotify on it but you have limited control, pause, skip, previous but no button to shuffle or repeat which is a little annoying. So far as I can tell you can't pick specific playlists from your account, rather it suggests some to you. Again that's kind of annoying but something that might get fixed in an update. If you click away from the music screen to do something else you can't quickly get back to it and have to go through the process again. It doesn't take long but there show be some way to slide back to what's happening.

The Nest camera and thermostat integration is done really well. There's a dedicated camera button and it shows you a list of what cameras you have. Click and a few seconds later it appears on the display. As on the updated app controlling your bulbs and the thermostat is done really well, it's very slick.

The integration with Google photos is quite nice. I was a little concerned as the screen is fairly low res but you'd never really know it looking at it. Your photos are really well presented it with a mixture of some being displayed full screen and others being split 50/50. The adaptive element of the screen is excellent. It's never overpowering and adapts its hue to reflect whatever the lighting conditions in the room are.

I haven't used the recipe function nor the YouTube functionality, I'll get to that in due course. There are a lot of small features which require you to speak to the assistant so I haven't explored those fully (I have the mic off for the moment as I use the larger Home unit for music and queries) but essentially it's a visual unit for the queries you'd run through the audio only units.

As stated there's absolutely no need for it but it's a bit of fun. I haven't had time to check it out properly as between work and family there's no 'me' time at the moment. If you have specific queries you want answers to just ask away and I'll see if I can do them for you.

You can select Spotift playlists.

Even better it can also play the Daily Mixes which alexa can't do.

Kintarō Hattori · 29-10-2018 1:51pm

PreCocious wrote: »

You can select Spotift playlists.

Even better it can also play the Daily Mixes which alexa can't do.

I don't see an option to select a playlist- where is that?

PreCocious · 29-10-2018 1:55pm

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I don't see an option to select a playlist- where is that?

I meant using voice commands. I realise you were probably referring to touch.

bk · 29-10-2018 10:35pm

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I haven't explored the full functionality of using Spotify on it but you have limited control, pause, skip, previous but no button to shuffle or repeat which is a little annoying. So far as I can tell you can't pick specific playlists from your account, rather it suggests some to you. Again that's kind of annoying but something that might get fixed in an update.

Yes, the reviews mention this for a lot of the apps, youtube, podcasts, etc. That the apps are missing key expected features and feel a little unfinished. Most are hoping that they were just rushed out and they will be updated in time. I'd be very surprised if they weren't.

luckyluke87 · 29-10-2018 11:50pm

For me personally Google home hub is no buy because lack of camera, but I am highly interested with JBL link view. Unfortunately they are selling it only in USA and UK , official JBL site doesn't send it to parcel motel because address must be same as billing address.
Don't want to buy from USA because VAT and custom duty, any tip where I can buy it.

So think JBL link view is similar to home hub can anyone who is using Google play music or YouTube music premium services is it working with Google assistants??

bk · 30-10-2018 12:13am

luckyluke87 wrote: »

For me personally Google home hub is no buy because lack of camera, but I am highly interested with JBL link view. Unfortunately they are selling it only in USA and UK , official JBL site doesn't send it to parcel motel because address must be same as billing address.
Don't want to buy from USA because VAT and custom duty, any tip where I can buy it.

Get yourself a Revolut card, you can set the billing address on it to the same as the Parcel Motel Address. Might allow you to get around the above restriction.

luckyluke87 · 30-10-2018 12:16am

bk wrote: »

Get yourself a Revolut card, you can set the billing address on it to the same as the Parcel Motel Address. Might allow you to get around the above restriction.

Ok that's a good idea, thanks.

adox · 06-11-2018 8:23pm

Have to say I’m very tempted to get one of these to put in the bedroom to replace a Mini.

How’s everyone getting on with them now they’ve had them a couple of weeks?

Cazale · 06-11-2018 8:30pm

Went into Currys in Carlow today to buy one but they wanted 1100 euro for it.

Kintarō Hattori · 08-11-2018 9:52am

adox wrote: »

Have to say I’m very tempted to get one of these to put in the bedroom to replace a Mini.

How’s everyone getting on with them now they’ve had them a couple of weeks?

Really enjoying it. For me I use this now to monitor my 18 month old at night (with a Nest indoor cam) instead of using the phone as I had been doing. It's also handy to control the Hue bulbs and Nest thermostat. I haven't really had time to do much more with it.

D3V!L · 08-11-2018 9:53am

Cazale wrote: »

Went into Currys in Carlow today to buy one but they wanted 1100 euro for it.

For the Home Hub ??

Cazale · 08-11-2018 10:08am

D3V!L wrote:

For the Home Hub ??

Yeah it was 1,099 on their system. I showed them the real price on the UK Currys website but they weren't interested in helping me. Think someone else on this thread had a similar experience.

D3V!L · 08-11-2018 10:10am

Cazale wrote: »

Yeah it was 1,099 on their system. I showed them the real price on the UK Currys website but they weren't interested in helping me. Think someone else on this thread had a similar experience.

:eek:

luckyluke87 · 11-11-2018 8:31pm

I found JBL link view on Littlewoods Ireland for 350 euro. I understand that Ireland is small market but that's over 50 euro more than 250 British pounds.
On bhphotovideo it was for 200 dollars plus 31 dollars for shipping and plus 23% vat still cheaper. When will buy it will share my experience.

irishchris · 12-11-2018 12:56pm

luckyluke87 wrote: »

I found JBL link view on Littlewoods Ireland for 350 euro. I understand that Ireland is small market but that's over 50 euro more than 250 British pounds.
On bhphotovideo it was for 200 dollars plus 31 dollars for shipping and plus 23% vat still cheaper. When will buy it will share my experience.

If you can hold off for another two weeks I assume it will be in black friday sale. It has been announced that in the states it is $50 off for black friday sale

mx5ire · 16-11-2018 12:27pm

So a couple of questions to those in the know:

Where can i buy the Home Hub ? Not on Google Irish store. Its not on PCworld or Harvey N either

Does it work - actually show video feed - from Ring Doorbell - which apparently works with 'normal' google home ? I dont believe that it does, and as Amazon apparently own Ring, maybe i need a Nest doorbell, which is a lot more expensive.

adox · 16-11-2018 1:09pm

This is supposed to be reduced to £100 next Friday.

Dayo93 · 16-11-2018 1:12pm

Powercity and currys have them reduced online 39 I think for the mini and 100 for the main one

donspeekinglesh · 16-11-2018 5:11pm

mx5ire wrote: »

Does it work - actually show video feed - from Ring Doorbell - which apparently works with 'normal' google home ?

No, for exactly the reason you said.

PaulKK · 16-11-2018 8:15pm

Dayo93 wrote: »

Powercity and currys have them reduced online 39 I think for the mini and 100 for the main one

Mini is 35 in Curry's, picked up a second one this evening.

Anyone know if I could link some generic IP cameras to the home hub? I'm running 3 wansview cameras.

Alternatively the Lenovo 8 inch looks good too.

BailMeOut · 16-11-2018 8:19pm

so is sound quality on Google Home Hub as good as the original home? Will be in USA next week and may pick up to replace my original home.

PaulKK · 16-11-2018 8:25pm

BailMeOut wrote: »

so is sound quality on Google Home Hub as good as the original home? Will be in USA next week and may pick up to replace my original home.

I read it's better than the mini but the bass isn't as good as the original home.

BailMeOut · 16-11-2018 10:04pm

PaulKK wrote: »

I read it's better than the mini but the bass isn't as good as the original home.

mmh - that's not good. Quality of the original home is fab.

Sheep Shagger · 16-11-2018 11:20pm

adox wrote: »

This is supposed to be reduced to £100 next Friday.

Doubt that's the home hub given its barely a few months old?

PaulKK · 16-11-2018 11:55pm

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/google-home-hub-99-deal-starts-22nd-99-google-store-3105656

irishchris · 16-11-2018 11:57pm

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Doubt that's the home hub given its barely a few months old?

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/google-home-hub-99-deal-starts-22nd-99-google-store-3105656

jogdish · 17-11-2018 10:40am

The UK play store says it has black Friday sales all weekend, the home hub has no reduction, anyone think it will get a reduction?

Sheep Shagger · 17-11-2018 10:54am

jogdish wrote: »

The UK play store says it has black Friday sales all weekend, the home hub has no reduction, anyone think it will get a reduction?

See above link, its supposed to be dropped to £99

Theres the Lenovo marked down already - cant make up my mind, size of Google hub is nice and small so won't dominate a table but the Lenovo has a camera...

https://www.very.co.uk/lenovo-smart-display-8-inch-tablet-with-the-google-assistant/1600314757.prd?_requestid=649582&Ntt=lenovo smart

Google Home Hub

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