NEW YORK: After buying Nest Labs for $3.2 billion back in January 2014 by Google, now, nearly a year later, Nest owners will be able to monitor and control their thermostats in the Chrome browser, or by using Google’s app on Android and iOS devices.
Most notably, that includes “OK, Google”-powered voice controls. Users will need to authorize Google to access their Nest, but once they do, they will be able to tell it to change the temperature from their smart phone, tablet or computer. Users will also be shown Google Now cards telling them whenever the thermostat is making an adjustment, which seems like a smart, unobtrusive way of keeping tabs on the temperature.
Nest Labs
Nest isn’t the first thermostat to integrate voice controls Honeywell released a model users could adjust with voice commands back in 2013. The commands were a bit basic for our tastes when they tested the Honeywell out, though they could only adjust it up or down, and not to a specific temperature, for instance. Additionally, with the microphone packed into the thermostat itself, they needed to be in the same room as the thing.
Comprehensive voice control seems like the next big step for the smart home, with smaller players like the Ubi and Ivee Sleek already in the mix, along with Insteon controls for Cortana on Windows devices. Users have been waiting for Apple to flip the switch on HomeKit and hand the keys to the smart home over to Siri, something they are expecting to see in January at CES.
At this point, though, Google can claim it got there first. Moving forward, users will have to wait and see if it follows suit for key Nest partners, or for Dropcam, which Nest Labs purchased for $555 million back in June.
