What Is Google Nest Hub Max and How Does It Work?

The Google Nest Hub Max is Google's largest smart display. It is essentially Google Assistant packaged into a 10-inch touchscreen display that you can use to command smart devices, watch video, listen to music, and get answers to questions from Google. Here are all the most important things you need to know about this member of the Google Nest family.

How the Google Nest Hub Max Gets Its Name

Google's original smart speaker has been replaced by a diverse family of speakers and displays. The 'Hub' in the name refers to the fact that this is a smart display. All Hub products (like the Google Nest Hub and Google Nest Hub Max) have screens, while all Home devices (like the Google Home and Google Home Max) are speakers. And the 'Max' refers to the fact that this is the largest of the Hub products. The smaller Nest Hub has a 7-inch touchscreen, while the Hub Max has a 10-inch screen.

This doesn't preclude Google from introducing a Hub with a still-larger display, but that has not yet happened. In addition, Google appears to be in the process of switching over to Nest branding. The Hub displays are now all consistently referred to as 'Nest' products, while that hasn't yet happened across the product line for the smart speakers.

How the Google Nest Hub Max Works

At its heart, the Google Nest Hub Max is a virtual assistant. It's a stationary device (there's no battery, and so it needs to remain plugged in for power) that runs Google Assistant, which you generally interact with by voice. This means you can address the Hub Max using the standard Google Assistant wake word ("Hey Google") and either ask it questions which it responds to based on data it finds on the internet, or give it commands (such as to start a timer, play music, tell you the news, or any of hundreds of other tasks).

The touchscreen allows you to do a number of things using touch as well. By swiping, you can flip through personal activities like calendar events as well as news stories, local events, music playlists, and photo slideshows. The touchscreen also lets you configure the Hub Max's settings and preferences.

While not mandatory, the Hub Max is really intended for users who use smart home devices, because the device makes it especially easy to control gadgets via voice or touch. It is compatible with Google Nest products like door locks, doorbells, the Nest thermostat, and Nest security system. You can also see the status of your devices. The Hub Max reports on your security system, weather, thermostat settings, and more. 

The Google Nest Hub Max Specifications

As the largest of the Google Nest Hub devices, it has a sizable footprint on your counter or shelf. It measures 9.85 x 7.19 x 3.99 inches and weighs 2.9 pounds.

The 10-inch touchscreen has a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels.

It features a 6.5-megapixel camera that can be used for face recognition and video chats.

It has a 2.1-speaker sound system (2 18mm, 10-watt tweeters and 75mm 30-watt woofer, which is a substantial improvement over the speaker built into the smaller Google Nest Hub.