Google Assistant is widely considered one of the best virtual assistants out there. Alexa may be better at smart home functionality thanks to its many integrations; however, Google Assistant is one of the best smart speakers for your home and a more socially adept virtual assistant. Subsequently, finding a smart display compatible with Google Assistant should be easy, right?
Actually, there are only a select few smart displays compatible with the popular virtual assistant and updated enough to warrant your attention. We’ll cover your best options when it comes to smart displays that work with Google Assistant. Depending on what you’re looking for, the choice should be clear.
Launched in mid-2021, the second iteration of the Google Nest Hub is still very much in the discussion for the best smart display for Google Assistant. It’s well-positioned to be the central hub for your Google Assistant-powered smart home, with good enough audio quality to get you by. The speaker is mounted on the back, though, so if you’ve got it in the middle of your room, you might miss out on some balance. The display is big and clear enough for virtually any user, and the motion sensor functionality makes sure you get to look at it when you need to.
It doesn’t provide much information when not in use, but it still makes for a great digital picture frame. Also, one of the best features of the Google Nest Hub is the sleep sensing feature. This feature will remain free on the device until 2023, when it becomes part of the FitBit premium package. The device impressively sleep tracks as effectively as any wearable, which is saying something for a smart display.
Take note if you have a large pet, though, as the device does have trouble differentiating between large dogs and people sleeping. While sleep sense will eventually cost extra, you’ll still get a full year of it for free, and at the $99 price, the Nest Hub remains an excellent option for your smart display needs.
- Display: 7-inch LCD, 1024×600
- Colors: Chalk, Charcoal, Mist, Sand
- List price: $99
- Dimensions: 4.7 x 7 x 2.9 inches
- Weight: 19.7 oz
- Impressive sleep tracking feature
- Comprehensive motion sense functionality
- Reasonably priced
- Sleep tracking ruined by pets in bed
- Rear-facing speaker makes for unbalanced sound
- Substantial bezels
Google Nest Hub 2nd Generation
If we’re talking about what you get without considering the price, the Google Nest Hub Max is the easily best option. The sound quality is much better than the original Google Nest Hub. Additionally, the bright display is very clear. It supports Ambient EQ for an even better visual experience, and the face matching makes the personalization features that much easier to access for your day.
You’ll also get some handy gesture features that react to simple hand motions for actions like playing and pausing music. You may be familiar if you had the Pixel 4, but using it on a smart display feels infinitely more practical than using it on a smartphone. However, when we say premium pick, we mean premium. At $230, the Google Nest Hub Max is more than double the price of the Nest Hub. Is it worth that massive price increase? You’d have to judge that, but it does seem like a lot for an imperfect sound quality due to back-mounted speakers and the limited customization options while not in use. The only comparable device in this price range is the Amazon Echo Show 10 at $250, which offers better audio quality, but you have to use Alexa.
- Display: 10″ LCD HD 1280 x 800
- Colors: Chalk, Charcoal
- Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
- Dimensions: 4 x 9.8 x 7.2 in.
- Weight: 2.9lbs
- Integrations: Google Assistant, Nest, Arlo, Hue, SmartThings, Wink
- Much better audio than Nest Hub
- Excellent face match technology
- Bright display that supports Ambient EQ.
- Not ideal for security or surveillance
- Limited display customization while not in use
- Quite expensive
This isn’t your typical smart display, as it wouldn’t fit in a kitchen or living room as much as the Nest Hub series. However, the Lenovo Smart Clock 2 does a great job of bringing the smart display energy to the bedroom in a way that isn’t too intrusive. The device is much smaller than the other options on this list, making it easy to fit on your nightstand without leaving room for your bedside necessities. The Lenovo Smart Clock 2 is also equipped with a night light feature, so you won’t have to battle the brightness to fall asleep.
It understandably doesn’t have the full functionality of a smart display like the Nest Hub Max. Still, it is compatible with Google Assistant, so your room lighting controls, alarms, music, photos, weather, and routines will all remain intact. The biggest perk for the Lenovo Smart Clock 2 is the $20 wireless charging dock. It provides 10W Magsafe Qi wireless charging exactly where you want it: right next to your bed.
This dock brings some significant improvements to the convenience of the Lenovo Smart Clock 2, with the wireless charging being flexible and reliable enough for a drop-and-forget charging experience. The dock, unfortunately, is not flexible enough to be moved to the other side of the smart display, so hopefully, your nightstand or dresser isn’t too cluttered to accommodate the device on either side.
- Display: 4-inch LCD 800×480
- Colors: Blue, Grey
- List price: $89
- Dimensions: 4.2 x 8.6 inches
- Weight: 1.1 lbs
- Small enough for a nightstand
- Great wireless charging base for only $20 more
- Simple night light feature for easy sleeping
- Small display with low resolution
- Charging base can only be on one side
- No 5GHz Wi-Fi support
Are smart displays worth it?
As you’ve likely found in your research, smart displays are decidedly more expensive than their audio-focused counterparts. This is for good reason, as the smart display features a high-quality touchscreen that understandably impacts the price. As far as whether a smart display is worth that cost, it all depends on your experience with smart devices. For example, are you constantly asking your Google Assistant-powered device to repeat itself? Do you find yourself missing key information? Do you wish you had a visual accompaniment to not miss important commands and explanations? If so, we’d definitely recommend checking out smart displays, as they add an extra layer of information to go along with your smart assistant’s responses.
Who is better, Alexa or Google Assistant?
Our virtual assistant research found that Google Assistant is the better virtual assistant — it provides more comprehensive answers, responds correctly more often, and integrates seamlessly with other Google services like Gmail and Google Calendar. However, we noted that Alexa is better for smart home functionality, as the app store provides many more integrations to enable your smart home to do much more.
Is a smart display better than a tablet?
To be clear, smart displays are not an adequate replacement for a tablet. While they can be used for work and entertainment, smart displays are typically better for improving the virtual assistant experience rather than being a viable screen option for day-to-day life. In addition, their streaming service functionality is often quite limited, and the ability to work on them is nonexistent. Simply put, if you’re in the market for a tablet, stick to the best Android tablets and save the smart display for another time.
The best Google Assistant smart displays
With so few and varied options for Google Assistant-enabled smart displays, your choice should be pretty clear depending on what you want. If you’re looking for a smart display for your kitchen or living room and don’t have unlimited funds, the Google Nest Hub is your go-to option. It offers all the Google Assistant functionality you’d want out of a central hub smart display, including a big display, good enough audio quality, and motion sensing functionality to give you the whole experience.
The Lenovo Smart Clock, on the other hand, is geared toward bedroom usage. It functions mainly as an alarm clock with a bit of flare. Despite not being made by Google, the Lenovo clock is compatible with Google Assistant, although it has a few rudimentary restrictions when it comes to advanced features like streaming. Still, the low price and the wireless charging dock (which costs only $20 extra) make this an ideal pick for someone looking to expand their smart home ecosystem.
If you’re a bit less restricted by budget, Google Nest Hub Max is an easy recommendation with improved audio quality, gesture and face-matching technology, and a better display. However, that price tag will definitely hurt your wallet, so if you’re worried about price, there are two other great options on this list for your budget.
The lack of Google Assistant smart displays also means that if you don’t see one you like now, you might be better off grabbing one of the plentiful and wonderful Google Assistant speakers and enjoying the richer sound while waiting for future displays to arrive. We’re coming up on 18 months since the last Nest Hub was released and three years since the Nest Hub Max launched, so Google’s about due for some upgrades. However, we might have to wait until 2023 if the tablet they briefly teased at Google I/O 2022 is the next evolution of Google Assistant displays.
