Since the Made by Google event on October 9, the company has rolled out feature after feature to accompany all of the new hardware and software. Google just announced an update for all of its smart displays to improve the functionality of the Google Home Hub. Some of the features have been requested by users for a long time, like multiroom audio and improved control of smart home technology.
The multiroom audio feature lets you place multiple Google Assistant devices like the Google Home or the Google Mini in rooms with smart displays and have them work seamlessly together. This provides better audio quality and coverage for an entire room.
The Home View is another feature that users have longed for. This provides a slide-down dashboard that gives quick and easy access to all of your connected smart home devices. When you don’t want to go to the hassle of telling Google to light up a specific room, just select it from the menu and activate the lights. This Home View feature comes alongside better Nest Hello smart doorbell integration. When someone rings your doorbell, your smart display will show a live feed of your door.
Google also said an update is coming to Google Assistant that gives expanded control over certain devices, including smart televisions, speakers, remotes, and specifically the Logitech Harmony. This update expands the universal controls (power on and off, volume adjustment, playback, etc.) for all supported devices.
On top of these other announcements, more Digital Wellbeing features are coming to Google displays. These settings will help you manage your devices better and provide a Wind Down feature that lets you dim the screen or switch it to grayscale. You can also ask Google how much time you’ve spent on your phone that day, and it will provide a breakdown of your activities. The Digital Wellbeing features also give you the option to lock your smart devices during certain hours.
The Google Home Hub should have all of these features at launch, but other smart displays will see this update roll out over the course of several weeks. At the time of writing, Lenovo displays have already received the update.
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