According to a report from Statista, there are over 40 million Smart homes in the United States in 2019 and this has grown by 21% since last year. If your home is not yet Smart, perhaps you are thinking this could be something for you to consider. If so, you may be interested in a major change that Google has announced recently. Google is now bringing together its Smart Home products under the Nest brand name. By the end of August, there will be significant changes in what Google is offering.
The Nest Brand from Google Promises You a Helpful Home
The promise that Google is offering is that with Google Nest, they will help you to create a helpful home. This is more than a Smart Home as they explain:
Since Nest joined Google’s hardware team last year, we’ve been working to make the smart home a little less complicated, and well, more helpful. It’s a home where products work together to help you feel comfortable and safe, keep an eye on things when you’re away and connect you to friends and family. Today, we’re committing to that goal by bringing the Home products under the Nest brand. Our first step as Google Nest is to go beyond the idea of a “smart home”, and to focus instead on creating a “helpful home.”
Google Offers Phone Call Help to Purchasers
Clearly creating such a helpful home requires some expertise. In the USA, Google will supply this by telephone or even by in-home visits if you live in Southern California.
The company has banked up a call center full of specialists — available toll-free on (855) 244-6378 from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific time — to help customers set up their Google accounts, download apps, determine if their home Wi-Fi is able to deliver adequate speeds for some Google products, and fill up Google Store shopping carts for callers to check out. These products include Google Home speakers, Nest Hub smart displays, Nest alarms, cameras, doorbells, locks, and thermostats, Chromecast sticks, and Pixel phones.
These specialists do not earn commission on referrals and they will not install the products that customers buy. They also do not provide technical support for customers who already own Google products.
One-Stop Shopping At The Google Store
This one-stop shopping approach that Google is supporting sounds admirable provided you are happy with this supplier. However the devices provided by Google are fewer in number than the Amazon range and there are many other fine products also available in the marketplace.
The Challenge of Different Ecosystems
As we discussed in the previous post, there are three major Smart Home Ecosystems. If you wish to use non-Google Smart products, they may well operate with a different Ecosystem. At this point, those Google consultants are no longer there to help you. As mentioned above, this service is not yet available in Canada. So you may be faced with the challenge of using a different Ecosystem like Amazon or HomeKit, or one of those neutral hubs, such as SmartThings or the Lutron Caseta hub.
Is it Really Helpful for You and Your Family
The other complication is that different members of your family most all be at ease with the Helpful Home you create. In addition, you may already have Smart Devices that must be included in your Smart Home set up. To complicate matters even more, some of your folks may have iPhones and others Android smartphones. To make your home really Helpful, all of these factors must be taken into account. This is where TechieLiving can help you.
Create Your Own Smarter Home Master Plan
To ensure your Home will be extremely helpful both now and in the future, it is important to create a Smarter Home Master Plan. This takes into account all the factors we have discussed above. TechieLiving will be most happy to discuss with you how we can help, and you can even possibly get a free Smarter Home Master Plan if you subscribe to our Newsletter.
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