When you say the word “Google,” the first thing that comes to mind is likely the search engine, not the vast amount of Google products out there. But if you stop and think about it for a second, Google is a major player in the hardware space — competing with the likes of Amazon and Apple. From new smartphones, smart home gear, laptops, fitness trackers, and even gaming gear at one time, Google always seems to be coming out with something new.
The sleek and versatile Pixel Watch is the latest to join the Google product family, following Google’s completion of its acquisition of Fitbit. The smartwatch will help track your activity, keep connected with loved ones, and make contactless payments on the go. Google’s Nest smart home platform should also be on your radar. The product family is designed to help you keep an eye on your home — inside and out — and control and interact with other smart home devices.
These are just a couple of the many user-favorite offerings that the tech giant has launched. Whether you’re shopping for yourself or looking to gift a helpful device to a friend or relative, there’s a Google product for practically everything!
Google Nest Hub Max Smart Display
The Nest Hub Max Smart Display is a legit multitool for your connected home. It packs a vibrant 10-inch touchscreen, high-quality stereo speakers, and a built-in Nest smart camera.
The Google product’s built-in camera is handy for both making Google Meet video calls and monitoring your home while you’re away. The device is also a powerful connected home hub — it’s compatible with a host of today’s most popular smart home products. It’s also earned high review scores from Engadget and The Verge.
The Google Assistant-powered gadget offers countless possibilities to interact with the virtual helper, from streaming YouTube videos to enjoying content from a mobile device via a built-in Chromecast.
More: A Review of the Google Nest Hub Max Smart Display
Google Nest Doorbell
The Google Nest Doorbell will allow you to see and talk to visitors, even while away from home. The device can stream high-resolution video with a wide field of view, including in the dark. Thanks to onboard machine learning, it can alert you if it notices a person, a package delivery, an animal, or a vehicle.
Best of all, the weather-resistant gadget is battery-powered and easy to install. There are several cool colors to pick from. If you want to keep an eye on your package deliveries, the Nest Doorbell is hard to beat.
Google Nest Mini (2nd Generation) Smart Speaker
The tiny and affordable Google Nest Mini smart speaker delivers impressive sound and surprisingly powerful bass despite its small shape. The gadget’s voice-recognition capabilities have also been improved over its predecessor. Unlike the Home Mini, the Nest Mini also has a wall mount, so it can integrate even more effortlessly into any home.
The attractive fabric cover of each Google Nest Mini is entirely crafted from recycled bottles and comes in a variety of color options, including charcoal, chalk, coral, and blue.
More: These Are the Connected-Home Products We Like
Google Nest Hub 2nd Generation Smart Display
The Google Nest Hub has a 7-inch touchscreen, which brings you a whole new world of interactions with the Google Assistant. You can ask it to play YouTube videos, show recipes and cooking videos, give you the weather forecast, set timers, reminders, and play music.
One of our favorite Google Nest Hub features is its ability to sync with your albums on Google Photos and display the photos when not in use. We also like that it has a motion sensor so you can pause or play a song or stop a timer just with a wave of your hand. If you’re looking for a smaller and more affordable smart display, this is the one to buy!
Google Chromecast with Google TV
The Google Chromecast is a compact and powerful streaming player, capable of delivering HD or 4K and HDR content from the likes of Netflix and YouTube. It hangs from one of the HDMI ports on your TV and gives you access to all your favorite streaming apps, including Prime Video, Disney Plus, HBO Max, and more.
The Chromecast comes with a remote for navigating its all-new user interface. There’s even a Google Assistant button that you can press for voice searches.
Google Pixel Watch
What I love most about the Pixel Watch is that it doesn’t look like a smartwatch. It has a curved shape, a round face, and actually will look good on smaller-sized wrists. It has all the bells and whistles you could want. There’s GPS on board, a microphone for asking the Google Assistant question or quickly replying to texts, a speaker, and NFC compatibility for tap-to-pay functionality.
Since it is equipped with a heart rate sensor, the Pixel Watch also doubles as a fitness tracker. A reviewer at the Verge said it’s suited for casual activity and is a good buy for beginners looking to build better fitness habits.
“Unlike Apple and Samsung, Fitbit also has a much more useful metric for gauging whether you’re getting enough exercise in Active Zone Minutes (AZM),” they wrote.
Google Nest Cam 2nd Generation Outdoor or Indoor Battery-Powered Camera
The battery-powered Nest Cam by Google is an elegant, versatile, and smart Wi-Fi security camera. Unlike its rivals, the water-resistant gadget can recognize faces — meaning, it can alert you if there’s a stranger in your home. In addition to people, the camera can detect animals and vehicles, too.
The Nest Cam’s daytime and nighttime video quality are excellent, although the resolution could be higher. You need to sign up for a Nest Aware plan (starting at $6 per month) to make the most of the product’s capabilities and access facial recognition. Nest also offers an indoor-friendly, wired version of the camera for less, along with one that packs a nifty floodlight.
Google Fitbit Versa 4 Fitness Smartwatch
The Fitbit Versa 4 is packed with plenty of features to keep you on track to achieve all your fitness and wellness-related goals. For starters, it has a built-in GPS chip for tracking stats during a workout. It offers heart rate monitoring, will help you track your sleep, and assigns you a “Daily Readiness Score” which gauges recovery by comparing your activity sleep and heart rate variability, letting you know if you’re ready for a higher-intensity workout.
We like that the Versa 4 has smartwatch features on board, too. You can easily set timers, check the weather report, and even interact with Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa.
The device’s battery lasts up to 6 days on a single charge making this an excellent fitness smartwatch to help hold you accountable to your fitness goals.
Google Nest Wi-Fi Pro 6E Mesh Router
The Google Nest Pro Wi-Fi Router is an elegant and reasonably priced router that’s capable of covering up to 2,200 square feet with a speedy and reliable wireless internet connection. Setting up and managing the device is as easy as it gets, courtesy of the Google Home app.
Depending on the size of your home, you can connect multiple Nest Wi-Fi units in a mesh network. Google also offers bundles with multiple beacons in case you have a large floorplan that you need to blanket with Wi-Fi. Each add-on point can cover an additional 1,600 square feet of space.
Google Nest Audio
Priced at only $100, Google’s Nest Smart Speaker delivers impressive audio performance despite its compact size. During my tests with the Nest Audio speaker, I found the device easy to set up and extremely useful. I loved that I could turn my living room lights off despite being in the bedroom, and I frequently relied on the smart speaker for listening to music on Spotify, getting the weather, and setting timers.
When it comes to acoustic capabilities, the Nest Audio is incredibly impressive for its $100 price tag. Powered by a 75-millimeter woofer and a 19-millimeter tweeter, it offers a crisp and detail-rich sound with just the right amount of bass. You can even pair it with a second Nest Audio speaker for an even fuller stereo sound.
Available in a variety of fabric finishes, the Nest Audio will match any decor. Its enclosure is even made from 70% recycled plastic, making it an option you can feel good about using.
