The Best Smart Home Devices for Your Google Home
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3/30/2018 The best Google Home devices: Philips Hue, Nest Cam IQ, and more - Business Insider The best smart home devices for your Google Home CHRISTIAN DE LOOPER, INSIDER PICKS JAN. 23, 2018, 3:00 PM The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase. Google/Business Insider The Insider Pick: http://www.businessinsider.com/best-google-home-devices?op=1&r=UK&IR=T/#the-best-light-bulbs-that-work-with-google-home-1 1/15 3/30/2018 The best Google Home devices: Philips Hue, Nest Cam IQ, and more - Business Insider If you’ve chosen the Google Assistant as your smart home helper, you need the best smart home products that work with the Google Home, Mini, and Max. We've tested smart light bulbs, outlets, light switches, security cameras, and thermostats to find the best ones you can buy. The smart home is on the rise, and there are a growing number of awesome smart home devices that will help you live like the Jetsons. Companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple are all working hard with partners to expand their smart home ecosystems and bring digital assistants like Google Assistant, Amazon's Alexa, and Apple's Siri into the home. Most Android fans have chosen Google Home as their go-to smart home system, and for good reason. It integrates well with other Google products, can be easily set up and controlled from your smartphone, and allows for a more uniform experience with the Google Assistant. With the release of the Google Home came the launch of a new ecosystem of products that the Google Assistant can talk to whenever you say "Hey Google." That includes all kinds of smart home products from smart light bulbs to smart locks, and so on. In other words, through Google Home, you can talk to your Google Assistant to turn on and off lights, lock doors, control security cameras, and more. With all the different smart home products out there, it can be a little overwhelming. Thankfully, we’ve done the work to figure out which products are worth buying so you don’t have to. Here’s what we’ve found. Best smart light bulbs: Philips Hue Best smart thermostat: Nest Learning Thermostat Best security camera: Nest Cam IQ Best power switch: Belkin Wemo Mini Best non-dimmable light switch: Belkin Wemo light switch Best dimmable light switch: Belkin Wemo dimmable switch Read on in the slides below to check out all of our top picks and learn why they're the best. http://www.businessinsider.com/best-google-home-devices?op=1&r=UK&IR=T/#the-best-light-bulbs-that-work-with-google-home-1 2/15 3/30/2018 The best Google Home devices: Philips Hue, Nest Cam IQ, and more - Business Insider The best light bulbs that work with Google Home Philips Why you'll love them: There are plenty of great smart light bulbs, but we’ve found that Philips Hue bulbs are generally easier to use and more reliable. There are a few great smart light bulb makers out there – including Philips, LIFX, and so on. In our testing, however, Philips Hue has risen above the rest when it comes to reliability, cost-effectiveness, and overall ease-of-use. Philips has been in the smart bulb game for some time. At first glance, it might seem like one of the other bulb manufacturers is a better choice. Why? Well, because you have to buy a Philips hub with your bulbs and the initial cost can be a little higher than some other smart bulbs. In our testing, however, the result of that hub seems to be much improved reliability, which is incredibly important for smart lights. When you ask Google Assistant to turn off the lights, the reliable Philips Hue bulbs will almost immediately actually turn off. Bulbs without a hub might never get the signal or experience an awkward delay. Once you do have the hub, we’ve found that Philips’ Hue bulbs tend to be relatively inexpensive, which is good news for those of you who are looking to outfit your home with smart bulbs and light strips. The bulbs come in a range of shapes, styles, and colors. There are some downsides to smart light bulbs in general. For example, when you accidentally turn the light switch off, you can't communicate with your bulbs. That’s why some prefer smart switches over bulbs, but if you’re good at remembering to http://www.businessinsider.com/best-google-home-devices?op=1&r=UK&IR=T/#the-best-light-bulbs-that-work-with-google-home-1 3/15 3/30/2018 The best Google Home devices: Philips Hue, Nest Cam IQ, and more - Business Insider use your smart home devices rather than the light switches, it may not matter to you. Pros: Relatively inexpensive, easy to use, easy to install Cons: Requires a hub, useless if you use switches Buy the Philips Hue starter kit with four white bulbs on Amazon for $89.95 (originally $99.99) Read our full guide to the best smart light bulbs you can buy. http://www.businessinsider.com/best-google-home-devices?op=1&r=UK&IR=T/#the-best-light-bulbs-that-work-with-google-home-1 4/15 3/30/2018 The best Google Home devices: Philips Hue, Nest Cam IQ, and more - Business Insider The best smart thermostat that works with Google Home Nest Why you'll love it: The Nest Learning Thermostat offers an easy-to-use app, great smart features, and you can control the temperature of your home with a simple voice command. The Nest Learning Thermostat was arguably the first real smart thermostat, but since its launch years ago, it has retained its status as the best. That has only continued over the years since Google acquired Nest. All Nest products are closely integrated with Google’s smart home product lineup, including the Google Home. By talking to the Google Assistant, you’ll be able to change the target temperature on the thermostat, turn the heater and air conditioner on and off, and more. You can also ask Assistant what the temperature is, and it will check your Nest Thermostat to find out. The Nest Learning Thermostat is on its fourth generation, and it does a whole lot more than just interact with Google Assistant. The thermostat is built to learn your routine, so it can heat or cool the house before you even ask it to. Using Nest is a total breeze. The app is well-designed, and the interface on the thermostat itself takes little time to learn. So what are the downsides here? Well, the main one is that Nest still doesn’t really work with external sensors. That’s about it as far as downsides go, though. Pros: Easy to use, stylish design, well-designed app Cons: No external sensor support http://www.businessinsider.com/best-google-home-devices?op=1&r=UK&IR=T/#the-best-light-bulbs-that-work-with-google-home-1 5/15 3/30/2018 The best Google Home devices: Philips Hue, Nest Cam IQ, and more - Business Insider Buy the Nest Learning Thermostat on Amazon for $228.99 (originally $249.99) Read our full guide to the best smart thermostats you can buy. http://www.businessinsider.com/best-google-home-devices?op=1&r=UK&IR=T/#the-best-light-bulbs-that-work-with-google-home-1 6/15 3/30/2018 The best Google Home devices: Philips Hue, Nest Cam IQ, and more - Business Insider The best security camera that works with Google Home Nest Why you'll love it: The Nest Cam IQ can turn on and off automatically, detect faces when someone’s home, and even has Google Assistant built right into it. Nest doesn’t just make thermostats, it also builds some excellent home security devices. Like, for example, the Nest Cam IQ. The Nest Cam IQ works perfectly with the Nest app, is easy to control, offers good quality video, and works well with Google Assistant. Using the Google Assistant, you’ll be able to play a camera’s feed on a Chromecast-enabled device, making it easy to see what’s going on. In the near future, the Nest Cam IQ will get an update with Assistant itself. That means that you’ll be able to speak directly to the Cam IQ to get information and control other smart devices in the home. Apart from those cool smart features, the Nest Cam IQ allows you to intelligently monitor your home. It can turn on and off when you get home or leave, so you won’t have to worry about it watching you when you don’t want it to. It even boasts facial recognition, so if it does detect someone unexpectedly, it can tell you who it is — assuming it’s seen them before. The downsides to the device? Mainly that it’s a little expensive at $300. However, it is smarter than your average security camera. Pros: Super smart, good video quality, great app http://www.businessinsider.com/best-google-home-devices?op=1&r=UK&IR=T/#the-best-light-bulbs-that-work-with-google-home-1 7/15 3/30/2018 The best Google Home devices: Philips Hue, Nest Cam IQ, and more - Business Insider Cons: Expensive Buy the Nest Cam IQ from Home Depot for $299 Read our full buying guide to the best security cameras.