The Google Hub Max feels a little unnecessary unless you really want a larger screen and a camera.

Excellent digital photo frame ; Responsive hand gesture for play/pause ; Useful auto framing during video calls ; Loud sound

Video calling only supports Google Duo ; Text looks fuzzy on low-res display ; No physical camera cover

The Google Nest Hub Max blends a smart display with a smart cam to great results....

Nest Cam features help set it apart Auto-framing in video calls is a nice touch Great display; despite the fairly low resolution Excellent price for what you get Above-average sound quality

Still no Netflix Only works with Duo for video calling

First came the Google Home speakers, then we got Home speakers with screens, and now we've got the Google Nest Hub Max – the ultimate Google-powered smart speaker for 2019. We've been testing one of the devices out for the past few weeks to see if it deserves a place in your home.

There were two standout features I really appreciated off the bat about the original Nest (nee Google Home) Hub : its compact size and its lack of camera. The new Nest Max has decidedly neither of those things.

Zigbee smart home hub onboard; Large, vibrant, higher-resolution display; Vastly improved user interface; Impressive audio quality; Excels as a digital photo frame; Built-in Nest camera; Google Assistant is one of the smartest assistants we’ve tried;

No Z-Wave support; Not the best smart speaker for music; No physical camera shutter; No analog audio output; Google Assistant's smart home compatibility still lags Alexa (though it's catching up fast);

The smart display is one of the newer areas in tech, and they are going through a bit of an awkward stage. Google and Amazon are wrestling for power over your living room, and that leads to a few annoying gaps. You can’t play Amazon Prime Video or Netflix on the Google Nest Hub Max. The second may come in time, the first probably won’t. Google’s haste to add Nest support has also led to a security cam feature that’s a bit wobbly too. However, buy-in knowing this is a bit of a work-in-progress and you’ll be happy. It also does plenty to keep you entertained already, from letting you know just how wet your shoes will get on the way to work, to playing tunes with the same panache as some wireless speakers around the same price.

Sound quality is good enough for day-long music listening; Smart small-footprint design; Screen adjusts to ambient light brilliantly; Responsive voice recognition;

Nest cam support needs some work; Screen could be sharper; No Netflix support (yet);

Not just bigger than the original Google Nest Hub, the new Google Nest Hub Max is a better product all round. The larger display makes it easier to see what’s going on, although it would be nice if there were more options for playing video. Sound has been improved and the Nest Hub Max is now a decent music player in its own right. With the camera, you can now make video calls and you get Face Match for personalised results. You can also turn the Hub Max into a full security camera. The requirement for a Google Account (not G Suite) is a little annoying but if you’re looking for the best Google Assistant-powered smart display, this is the one.

Face Match works brilliantly; Can act as a security camera; Excellent sound quality;

Few video playback options; Nest integration doesn't work with G Suite accounts;

Google let third-party manufacturers develop the first Google Assistant smart displays, like the JBL Link View and the Lenovo Smart Display. The company didn't put out its own Home Hub (now called the Nest Hub) until months later, and while it's certainly much less expensive than those third-party options, we aren't exactly impressed by its sound quality and lack of a camera. Google has largely remedied these issues with the Nest Hub Max, a $229.99 smart display with a bigger screen, more powerful stereo speaker drivers, and a camera for video calls and gesture controls. It still doesn't sound particularly impressive, but it's a useful and attractive smart display that offers much more utility than its smaller sibling. Design The Nest Hub Max is about the same size as the Amazon Echo Show, at 7.2 by 9.9 by 4.0 inches (HWD) and 2.9 pounds, but with same screen-mounted-on-a-pillar design as the smaller Nest Hub. The design is all white plastic and light gray fabric, dominated by a ...

The Google Nest Hub Max is a big, bright smart display with Google Assistant, and you can even use it as a home security camera.

Integrates with Nest and functions as a security camera; Supports Google Cast; Fairly loud

Sound quality isn't particularly impressive

If you're a fan of Google's Nest Hub , but wanted a larger smart display and a camera for video calls, then the Nest Hub Max can't arrive soon enough. Now we think we know when it's going to launch because somebody messed up at Google. As Droid Life reports, the Google Nest Hub Max has been listed on the Google Store for a while now, but always with a "Coming soon" tag rather than a launch date. However, yesterday it changed to read Sept. 9, confirming we have less than seven weeks to wait to buy one. But just as quickly, the listed date changed back to coming soon. Clearly someone at Google pushed an update too soon and the company isn't ready to share the date just yet. I'd be very surprised if it didn't re-appear unchanged in the near future, though. When PCMag reviewed the Nest Hub we found it to be a relatively inexpensive, small, and useful touch screen smart home device, but it had weak audio and no camera meaning video calls couldn't be made. It was good enough, but ul...