The new smart display UI that Google announced earlier in the week is already rolling out to Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max units.
To recap, the new UI introduced a multi-tab approach, where you’ll have a main tab that changes throughout the day to get you info you need in the moment, a smart home controls tab, a media tab, a communication tab to broadcast or call people, and a discover tab. So instead of one big horizontal page that you needed to endlessly scroll through, Google is breaking it up into sections, though it also means the quick swipe down for smart home controls is gone, as they now have their own dedicated page.
Additionally, Google is adding a dark theme (seen here), an easy way to play relaxing sounds at night, a sunrise alarm to wake-up to, access to all Google accounts in one more place, and more.
My Nest Hub Max is in the Google Home Preview Program and running firmware version 229764. If you aren’t yet seeing the update, try and join the Preview Program by heading into the Google Home app, opening your smart display’s settings area, and then enrolling. A reboot may help as well. My Lenovo smart display has not yet received the update.
Since this is such a huge update that we’ve only had for a few minutes, it’s hard to say if it’s an improvement or not. I tend to like the idea of different tabs vs. swipes from various directions I need to remember. This is basically the layout I’ve been hoping Google would make.
You guys seeing it, liking it?