Google’s new Home speakers now have a doorbell chime feature and more, strengthening Google’s offerings in the smart home market for those who are looking for a digital smart speaker that is capable of handling anything from simple tasks like answering questions, to more complex things like adjusting the temperature of a smart thermostat that’s been set up in the home. Starting with the new doorbell chimes, which is made possible through a partnership with Nest, Google Home speakers will be able to sound the doorbell if the owner also has the new Nest Hello smart doorbell installed, while also announcing who the person is if the doorbell’s camera recognizes them so you’ll know who happens to be at the door before getting up.
While this will be a nice feature to have, not all consumers who have a Google Home or pick up one of the new speakers that were announced will also own or want to own the Nest Hello doorbell. There are other new features that speakers will be able to provide too though. Such as the Broadcast feature which will let you send messages, like an intercom, to any other Google Home speakers that may be in different rooms of the house. If you’re in the middle of something and can’t stop what you’re doing, but may need to ask someone a question or simply need help, the broadcast feature will likely become your best friend provided you own more than one Google Home product. In addition to the broadcast feature, you’ll also be able to ask Google to find your phone if you misplace it somewhere around the house, which, likely happens all too often for some.
Another Nest-related integration feature will cater to those that have both a Chromecast product and a Nest Cam IQ. Users with these products can ask Google to show them the front door and it will promptly stream what the camera sees to the Chromecast-connected device, such as a TV or monitor. Family Accounts are also now going to be possible if there are users under the age of 13 in the house. This might be more of a benefit for parents as they will be able to manage the user accounts for younger children, but it will still benefit those younger users too as any interactions they make with the speaker will be store to this family account separate from the other individual ones.
There will also be another new feature geared towards families. With this new family-friendly functionality Google Home can tell stories, play games, and provide detailed learning information about various topics that the entire family can enjoy. The last feature to mention at this time will be the Smart Home Routines, which allow users to set up an inter-connected grouping of tasks that can all be executed at the same time by issuing a single voice command. Whatever the command may be, users can issue it and have Google Home do things like turn up the temperature, turn on the lights, start listing off weather details or any other number of things that you can already do with Google Home and various smart home products. The benefit here will obviously be that users will save time by setting up a routine.