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In a new Youtube video, Google took time to bring attention to several new improvements to its smart home technology. Things like Guest Mode for the Nest Hub and other smart displays with Google Assistant built-in, tuning recommendations on Chromecast with Google TV with a simple thumbs up or down, hands-free controls for Assistant-enabled smart TVs in combination with the Nest Hub or mobile phone, and more. Among the improvements listed was a new feature that has yet to be available to users – the ability to directly share photos, even in bulk, with friends and family right from a Nest Hub display.
Direct Photo Sharing
You can quickly share your favorite photos with friends and family from your display just by using your voice. While your photo album is being displayed, you can choose to share a photo with a simple, “Hey Google, share my photos with John.” It’s that easy!
Google Nest Help
Google states that this Direct Photo Sharing improvement for Nest Hub will be rolling out “soon”. Once it does, calling up photos of your pre-pandemic travels or of your children in a grid view and then selecting a bunch of them before tapping the ‘share’ button will be as easy as “Hey Google”. Though you can currently already do this with a single photo, the idea of sending many images simultaneously is what’s truly new here. I would love to see the ability to share an entire album by voice instead of having to select all of the images at once. Maybe even the ability to say “Hey Google, share all of my Grand Canyon photos from 2022 with [x]” or something similar. Hey, I can dream, can’t I?
Notably, the Apple TV integration with Chromecast was also shown off in the video below, and a Google-colored clock face for the Nest Hub that did not make its appearance with the three new faces that released recently – even though it was previously hinted at – weird. Perhaps Google is saving that for a special occasion. It’s more common nowadays for the company to compile helpful videos like this in order to remind users of how helpful its interesting-yet-quickly-forgotten or not often used services can be. It’s awesome when they sneak some new tools into the mix as well, and Direct Photo Sharing looks like it will be quite useful when it launches.
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