Nest Hub 2nd Gen Gallery

At first glance, you'd be forgiven for not spotting the difference between the Nest Hub 2nd Gen and its predecessor. After all, both have a 7-inch touchscreen, a fabric-covered base, and promise to bring the best of the Google Assistant to your fingertips – or via voice from across the room. Turns out, though, there are actually some big new features inside, some of which are still waiting to be activated.

The headline change is Sleep Sensing, which taps Google's Soli radar sensor to track your night's rest without requiring a wearable or smartwatch. Privacy-minded, with no cameras and the raw data being processed on-device, Sleep Sensing can take into account room conditions and different sleep phases as it reviews how well you're snoozing. The same Soli sensor can be used for Motion Sense gesture controls.

Otherwise, there are more recycled materials in use, and a new color option, Mist. Bass gets an upgrade as well, with a 50-percent boost over the old model, and there's still a reassuring physical switch to turn off the microphones (with the Nest Hub 2nd Gen adding a third for better Assistant pickup). Best of all, it's still $99.99.