Google Nest Hub (Charcoal)

The Google Nest Hub Max Charcoal is the dark version of their 10 inch display, and the only one you would choose on sound.

• The Google Nest Hub Max Charcoal is also an indoor camera
• One switch cuts the camera and the microphones together
• The Thread border router matters more each year
• Charcoal, and a screen that adapts
• The rest of it

It is a Google Home hub: lights, plugs, thermostats and cameras on one screen.

The Google Nest Hub Max Charcoal is also an indoor camera

This is the part that gets forgotten in the display comparisons. The 6.5 megapixel camera across 127 degrees is not only for video calls: it works as an indoor camera you can open from your phone while you are out, so a screen you bought for the kitchen is also watching the kitchen. One device doing two jobs, and no extra camera to mount, power and pay for.

One switch cuts the camera and the microphones together

On the back, a physical switch, and it does both at once. That is a better arrangement than two separate controls, because the thing people actually want is to make the device deaf and blind in one movement on their way out of a conversation. It is the specification to check on any screen with a lens that lives in a room where the family talks.

The Thread border router matters more each year

Thread is the low power mesh the newer generation of smart home devices runs over, and this display has a border router built in. Practically that means newer accessories join your Google Home without a separate bridge, and it is the reason a display bought now is likely to still be the control panel in three years rather than an orphan.

Charcoal, and a screen that adapts

The dark finish suits a room with wood, dark counters or a coloured wall, where the pale version would sit forward and demand attention. The Ambient EQ sensor tunes the display to the light in the room, so photographs on a dark bezel read like framed prints rather than a bright rectangle.

The rest of it

Two 18 mm tweeters and a 75 mm woofer, which make this the Google display worth playing music on. Chromecast built in, so anything on a phone can be thrown to the screen. Voice Match, so it answers each person with their own calendar. It is 250 by 183 by 101 mm, 1.32 kg, and runs from a 30 W adapter.

The same display in chalk suits a pale room. The Nest Mini is the cheap way to add Google to another room. Google set out what Google Home covers themselves.