Corey Gaskin
Google’s second-generation Nest Hub good show is a year old, so it is time to surprise if a brand new {hardware} launch is across the nook. 9to5Google has a brand new rumor to think about: Google is “engaged on a brand new Nest Hub for 2022 with a dockable pill kind issue the place the display screen detaches from a base/speaker.” The positioning did not present additional particulars, however the thought would slot in Google’s current product plan.
Since its inception, Google Assistant {hardware} has basically copied Amazon’s Echo line. The unique Google Home speaker launched two years after the Amazon Echo. The Home Mini got here out a 12 months and a half after the Echo Dot. The Google Home Hub good show hit the market a 12 months after the Echo Show. Google Assistant smart clocks launched a 12 months and a half after the Echo Spot. The dearth of {hardware} innovation from Google is not an enormous deal since Google is generally considered to have a greater voice command system, however it’s fairly clear the place Google goes purchasing for a product roadmap.
And, after all, Amazon has a whole line of tablets that flip into good shows. In 2018, the corporate constructed good show performance into Fireplace OS, Amazon’s fork of Android. Everytime you stick an Amazon pill into one of many official docks, it routinely transitions into good show mode. Google experimented with an “ambient mode” for Android telephones a 12 months and a half after Amazon’s launch (Google’s timing is remarkably constant), however the characteristic was initially solely accessible on particular third-party telephones. Ambient mode didn’t make it to gadgets just like the Pixel 6. The characteristic additionally does not make a lot sense on telephones, which typically aren’t readable from throughout the room. Good shows sometimes are. A pill ambient mode would have been higher, however Google’s launch in 2019 was throughout a useless interval for Android tablets.
It will run Android, proper?
What OS would a tool like this run? It is anybody’s guess. At the moment, the Google good show line is supported by an enormous mess of working programs. In 2018, the original Google Assistant good show for associate gadgets ran Android Issues, a stripped-down, single-app kiosk OS primarily based on Android. Google determined to not use the Android Issues OS for the first- and second-gen Nest Hub and as an alternative used a souped-up Chromecast OS. In 2021, after the launch of the second-gen show, Google pushed its in-development third working system, Fuchsia, to the first-gen Nest Hub.
Android Issues was shut down in 2020, in order that’s in all probability out. The Forged platform has at all times been a bizarre stepchild within the Google OS lineup. Whereas a budget $30 Chromecast nonetheless runs on it and wishes a super-simple OS, the higher-end mannequin is now the “Chromecast with Google TV” and runs Android TV. Google has added extra options to the Forged OS, although, with the newest being an app drawer UI. Google has some collaborating third events like Spotify and Netflix, however the Forged OS doesn’t have a full-blown app platform, and these “apps” are primarily shortcuts to webpages.
We might be extra snug calling Fuchsia the way forward for the Nest Hub line if Google pushed the OS to the second-gen good show, however it by no means did that, so Fuchsia seems like an experiment relegated to the first-generation line. The Fushia OS on the first-gen hub by no means acquired the enhancements that the second-gen hub acquired (just like the app drawer), in order that OS does not look like it is the way forward for the good show line.
Actually, although, in order for you this good show to be a helpful handheld machine, what you need is an everyday Android pill. Android is not an ideal pill OS, but when it’s important to decide one thing from the Google toolbox, Android is essentially the most acceptable. It has a full OS interface and hundreds of thousands of simply installable apps that cowl most stuff you need from a pill. What Android does not have is a great show interface, however with Android 13, Google could also be engaged on altering that.
Android 13 has an improved display screen saver mode with “problems,” widgets that present info just like the climate, air high quality, date, and time. Presumably, these problems would show once you stick the pill in a dock, making Android 13 work like a Fire OS tablet. There would nonetheless be many issues it is advisable to add to Android, like large buttons for good residence controls and media, however Android might deal with these. The whole Google good show UI was initially an Android app that ran on Android Issues, and now you may merely run one thing comparable on full-blown Android.
Google has pushed for tablets these days, with the discharge of Android 12L displaying essentially the most vital signal that the corporate cares about big-screen gadgets once more. We have puzzled when the Google {hardware} will arrive to again up this software program push, and good show/pill hybrids could also be a part of the reply.
