/ The 2nd Gen Nest Hub. Corey Gaskin
Since its inception, Google Assistant hardware has basically copied Amazon’s Echo line. The original Google Home speaker released two years following the Amazon Echo. The Home Mini came out a year and a half following the Echo Dot. The Google Home Hub smart display hit the industry a year following the Echo Show. Google Assistant smart clocks launched a year and a half following the Echo Spot. The lack of hardware innovation from Google is not a big deal due to the fact Google is generally considered to have a much better voice command technique, but it really is fairly clear exactly where Google goes purchasing for a solution roadmap.
And, of course, Amazon has a whole line of tablets that turn into smart displays. In 2018, the corporation constructed smart display functionality into Fire OS, Amazon’s fork of Android. Whenever you stick an Amazon tablet into 1 of the official docks, it automatically transitions into smart display mode. Google experimented with an “ambient mode” for Android phones a year and a half following Amazon’s launch (Google’s timing is remarkably constant), but the function was initially only offered on precise third-celebration phones. Ambient mode did not make it to devices like the Pixel six. The function also does not make a lot sense on phones, which usually are not readable from across the area. Smart displays generally are. A tablet ambient mode would have been much better, but Google’s launch in 2019 was in the course of a dead period for Android tablets.
This will run Android, correct?
What OS would a device like this run? It’s anyone’s guess. Currently, the Google smart display line is supported by a large mess of operating systems. In 2018, the original Google Assistant smart display for companion devices ran Android Things, a stripped-down, single-app kiosk OS primarily based on Android. Google decided not to use the Android Things OS for the initially- and second-gen Nest Hub and as an alternative utilised a souped-up Chromecast OS. In 2021, following the launch of the second-gen display, Google pushed its in-improvement third operating technique, Fuchsia, to the first-gen Nest Hub.
Android Things was shut down in 2020, so that is almost certainly out. The Cast platform has constantly been a weird stepchild in the Google OS lineup. While the low-cost $30 Chromecast nevertheless runs on it and desires a super-easy OS, the larger-finish model is now the “Chromecast with Google Television” and runs Android TV. Google has added a lot more capabilities to the Cast OS, even though, with the newest becoming an app drawer UI. Google has some participating third parties like Spotify and Netflix, but the Cast OS does not have a complete-blown app platform, and these “apps” are mostly shortcuts to webpages.
We would be a lot more comfy calling Fuchsia the future of the Nest Hub line if Google pushed the OS to the second-gen smart display, but it never ever did that, so Fuchsia appears like an experiment relegated to the initially-generation line. The Fushia OS on the initially-gen hub never ever got the improvements that the second-gen hub received (like the app drawer), so that OS does not look like it really is the future of the smart display line.
Really, even though, if you want this smart display to be a beneficial handheld device, what you want is a standard Android tablet. Android is not a great tablet OS, but if you have to choose a thing from the Google toolbox, Android is the most suitable. It has a complete OS interface and millions of quickly installable apps that cover most points you want from a tablet. What Android does not have is a smart display interface, but with Android 13, Google might be operating on altering that.
Android 13 has an enhanced screen saver mode with “complications,” widgets that show details like the climate, air good quality, date, and time. Presumably, these complications would display when you stick the tablet in a dock, producing Android 13 perform like a Fire OS tablet. There would nevertheless be numerous points you need to have to add to Android, like large buttons for smart residence controls and media, but Android could deal with these. The complete Google smart display UI was initially an Android app that ran on Android Things, and now you can merely run a thing comparable on complete-blown Android.
Google has pushed for tablets lately, with the release of Android 12L displaying the most considerable sign that the corporation cares about large-screen devices once again. We’ve wondered when the Google hardware will arrive to back up this application push, and smart display/tablet hybrids might be aspect of the answer.
Keyword: Google’s next smart display rumored to be a detachable tablet