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This week, Google unveiled the second-generation Nest Hub, a smart display and speaker that has the ability to track users’ sleep and breathing using a built-in sensor.
Google follows in the footsteps of Amazon and Facebook with its new smart hub, though it is the first to offer sleep tracking.
Without requiring a device to wear in bed, the Nest Hub monitors the breathing and movement of whoever is next to the screen. It also detects disturbances such as coughing and snoring, along with light and temperature changes by utilizing the Nest Hub’s built-in microphones, ambient light, and temperature sensors.
The Sleep Sensing feature will focus on the three main components of healthy sleep: duration, consistency of sleeping habits, and quality of that night’s rest, offering suggestions to users if one of those metrics isn't met.
The feature, which Google intends to offer for free through at least the end of the year, utilizes a new chip called “Soli," which uses radar to detect motion, including the depth of a person’s breathing.
When the year is up, Google is expected to offer it as a subscription service.
Once activated, the Nest Hub will generate weekly sleep reports with breakdowns on the length and quality of sleep, how frequently the user gets up at night, along with tips developed in consultation with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Google said all of the radar and audio data is analyzed on the device and isn’t sent to Google. But, the information on how well you slept has to be uploaded to the cloud to sync with Google Fit, the company’s centralized health app that pulls data from other devices such as phones and smartwatches.
According to reports, the technology was developed by studying 15,000 sleeping people over a total of 110,000 nights.
The Nest Hub, which first launched in 2018, has a seven-inch screen that can stream video services, can provide the weather, has alerts, and can turn lights on and off, among other features.
Preorders for the new Nest Hub began on Tuesday, March 16, and the speaker will officially be launched on Tuesday, March 30. The Nest Hub will cost consumers $99 when it hits the shelves.
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