Google Nest Hub Max now official: a smart-home speaker with a subwoofer for US$229

Google's latest addition to its growing smart-home repertoire is called the Nest Hub Max. This product, as the name suggests, is an amalgamation of "helpful" hardware and software from both of these brands. It will be released in the summer of 2019, and cost US$229 in the States. However, the Nest Hub Max will also be sold in the UK and Australia for £219 or AUS$349 respectively.

This product is clearly intended to act as the best vehicle for Google Assistant in the home yet. On that note, its reveal at the I/O conference this year made something apparent: Nest is now an arm of Google rather than a company in its own right. To this end, the Hub Max has a Nest Cam that allows the device to distinguish between and learn to recognize individual household members. Consequently, Assistant becomes more and more tailored to each person every time they walk in front of the Hub Max's 10-inch screen. This new feature is known as Face Match.

This variation on Voice Match may sound a little invasive; however, Google asserts that the privacy controls baked into the Nest Hub Max are granular enough to ensure that no-one who does not wish to be ID'd by the Nest Cam has to be. In addition, there is a hardware switch for this smart camera on the rear panel of the device. When active, however, it can also respond to Quick Gestures, which are new features designed to allow the user to turn the Nest Hub's volume off or down without needing to speak to it.