The Nest Hub interface has been essentially the same since 2020. But maybe not for long. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge
Google I/O is a couple of days away and, with it, the likely launch of the Pixel Tablet. By itself, the device is just another Android tablet, but when it’s connected to its charging dock, which has built-in speakers, it looks an awful lot like the Nest Hub Max. Like the Nest Hub Max, it can act as a smart home controller — and I sure hope it paves the way for a better smart home interface. It had better.
The Nest Hub exemplifies everything that’s gone wrong with smart home controls: its interface is unintuitive and inflexible, its responses are laggy, and its responses are unpredictable and often just plain wrong.
Google seems to be using the Pixel Tablet as a chance for a do-over. The Pixel Tablet will run Android, and from what…
