New Google Home Hub

Lol, crummy handheld shot in mixed incandescent/fluorescent lighting, colors off, background cluttered, tilted, etc. Always hate my own photos, try to do better “next time”, lol.

The screen on the Hub is small, but they’ve done something that makes it gorgeous to look at, not sure what...

Well, Google has done a great job on the software on this thing. It's super intuitive and smooth to operate, much better than the Echo Show (and the non-existent Apple competitor, lol). Any of your devices, including Chromecast speakers, can be selected and controlled with a swipe or two (or via voice).

Assuming Sonos speakers are integrated very alike Chromecast speakers (they are Alexa Cast targets, so there's precedent), the Home Hub will be a FAR more modern version of the old CR-100; just a whole lot faster to operate, especially to search for albums/songs. Fingers crossed...

Amazon has a lot to learn from the Hub, and Apple just keeps falling farther and farther behind in the home market.

This is good info, I must admit that the home hub appeals to me.

Any ideas about combining Sonos speakers with Google home hub? What I mean is that I've got Sonos speakers all around my house and I often play music on all of them, including one on my back patio. If I can use hub as my "kitchen" speaker and sync it with my "patio" speaker (and use my current kitchen Sonos somewhere else), then we're in business. If not, it seems like it's just another thing that I have to manage separately.

If I can use hub as my "kitchen" speaker and sync it with my "patio" speaker (and use my current kitchen Sonos somewhere else), then we're in business.

This seems unlikely to me. Sonos' appeal is consistent, high-quality audio that comes from the high standards they hold their own engineers and design professionals to. It's their secret sauce and it's what keeps people coming back and buying more. Their stuff just sounds really good. They've protected that aspect of their business by not letting anyone else make products that can join and participate in their proprietary SonosNet sandbox. The moment they let cheap, mass-market devices become part of a Sonos group is the moment they stop caring about consistency and sound quality. For those who just want the same song, podcast, etc., to play in all their rooms and don't care much about how it sounds, there are plenty of options now for that. Voice control and home hub devices with screens like Google Home Hub and Echo Show fit nicely in the Sonos ecosystem because they provide voice and screen control (input), but I don't think Sonos will ever let them be native speaker (output) devices too.

Picked up a 2-pack of Home Hubs at Costco yesterday for $189. Keeping one for myself, will likely gift the other to my parents for Christmas (they're split on Alexa and Google; this might steer 'em more towards Google). My Hub's eventual home will likely be on the counter between the kitchen and living/dining room area, and I'll probably turn off the mic in my Beam, since the Home Hub's mic should do well regardless of which side of the counter I'm on.

I have Sonos One's in my bedroom and "office" (second bedroom that I use as an office), so that should all work just fine once the Google Assistant support arrives. Maybe a Chromecast Ultra for the TV to complete the Google integration.

Still need to decide on a smart thermostat... thinking Ecobee since it's not owned by Google or Amazon... but that's not relevant here. 🙂

Had an Ecobee in the home in CA, now in TX I have Nests. I’d say they’re fairly equivalent, more interface difference than anything else.

Thanks chicks for all the updates & photos, it has convinced me to get one 🆒
Last day to get one for £99........i'll have to wait till xmas day to try it though 😞

Have any of you tried this:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20lFWrBi6Qc
Google home hub control of sonos through IFTTT.
Why could sonos not do something quick like this video?

Are they allowing to download and install the Sonos App from App Store? Would love this to be my main interface for selecting music but I stream Apple Music.

Grabbed another one for the home office while they were $99. Looking forward to the day that it will directly connect to the Play:1 stereo pair in this room. For now, routing to a Chromecast Audio / Connect in another room, auto-playing to the Play:1s. Pretty sweet (ignore the dust, lol).