To preface this review I need to state up front that I’m new to Android and haven’t been hooked into the assistant for long so your mileage may vary. This is a review from someone that’s lived on iOS for the last 10 years but is gaining new perspective on mobile operating systems.
When I picked up the Pixel 3a I took advantage of the offer to get a free Nest Hub. I didn’t really know what to expect with it to be honest being a heavy iPad user I didn’t know where it would fit it.
Setting up is easy and all you need to do is turn it on and manage the setup from the Pixel Home app.
The construction is great for the price but I would have liked a black front option rather than white. On top we have a couple of sensors and the screen although not huge is clear and looks great when displaying photos.
On the back there’s a manual switch to disable the microphone if you want to make sure you’re not always being listened to.
On setting up I was immediately struck with how useless this product might be for me. No Apple Music, only Spotify and Google Music and without my entire photo library in Google Photos it meant my picture frame options were limited.
I put it in my office and thought I’d see what it can do for me in my day.
Well, all it became was a clock for me. I asked it to play my YouTube subscriptions but it couldn’t. The only way is either to ask for specific videos or cast from your Pixel. This was ok but my iPad has a bigger screen and is already hooked into my YouTube account.
After looking at the photos for a bit I realised this is a £119 fancy clock that tells me stuff about the weather.
Remember this is my experience if you’re totally hooked into Google then I’m sure it’ll be good as a photo frame but I couldn’t get the use out of it and now it’s sat in the box and I’m wondering what I do with it.
It’ll go back with the Pixel if I ultimately decide to return the whole package.
