Nest Hub (2nd gen) gets smarter sleeping sensing before it's no longer free
Nest Hub (2nd gen) has a miniature radar sensor inside called Soli. Google previously included Soli in the smartphone Pixel 4, where it allowed users to interact with certain apps with mid-air gestures. With Nest Hub (2nd gen), Soli enables Sleep Sensing, delivering motion sensing information without the aid of a camera.
Soli Sleep Sensing
Sleep Sensing has worked with the Nest Hub (2nd gen) since it was released. In our Nest Hub (2nd gen) review, we had great things to say about the Sleep Sensing abilities of this device. At the moment, Sleep Sensing is helpful and simple.
Nest Hub (2nd gen) will get an update to the Sleep Sensing system that'll make the entire process more in-depth and helpful. If you already own a Nest Hub (2nd gen) and find the Sleep Sensing features to be absolutely invaluable, the next update should make that feeling even more intense than it already is now.
New data in Duration and Quality
Two sections with major updates:
• Duration
• Quality
A system of sleep staging will appear on the Nest Hub, showing you how long you were in each stage of sleep in Duration and Quality. Duration will show the approximate time you fell asleep, as well as how long it took you to fall asleep. Duration will also show you four Sleep stages: Awake, REM, Light, and Deep. You'll see a simple-to-read clock with the amount of time you were asleep, in bed, and out of bed.
Quality shows times when you were Restless, Asleep, and Awake. It also shows points at which you were Snoring or Coughing, other unidentified sounds, and the point at which the lighting changed in the room. The information on the Quality screen is organized into a hypnogram, plotting all the points at which a notable event occurred.
The Quality readout includes information on sounds detected by the device. With this update, the Nest Hub gets a bit smarter about filtering out sounds that did not come from the single human it's supposed to be monitoring. If a sound occurs outside of the device's calibrated sleeping area, the sounds will appear in the "Other Sounds" section of the hypnogram.
Free Sleep Sensing cut-off date
Sleep Sensing abilities in the Nest Hub (2nd gen) will continue to be free through 2022. After that, Sleep Sensing will no longer be free. Features included with Sleep Sensing will be included with a subscription to Fitbit Premium.
At the moment, Fitbit Premium has a subscription fee of $9.99 per month, or $79.99 per year. Regardless of when you purchase a Nest Hub (2nd gen), Sleep Sensing will no longer be a free service starting on January 1, 2023. This date may change before we arrive at said date, but for now, that's what Google's suggested.
Calm integration
Nest displays of several sorts will have Calm integration starting in December of 2021. Calm is an audio system with a focus on sleep, meditation, and relaxation, and it has a subscription fee. At launch, Calm via Google Assistant in Nest displays will have "several free tracks" available outside of the full subscription. Like other subscription services such as Spotify, you'll need to create a Calm account and pay a monthly fee to Calm in order to get full access to the Calm audio library.