The original Nest Hub is being discontinued in favor of its sleep tracking successor, but is it necessary?

Going on two years old now, the original Nest Hub – yes, the one you all probably have in your home right this very moment – is being discontinued. Why you may ask? Well, Google’s brand new Nest Hub second-generation is taking its place, of course. The Google Store listing for the original device has been completely removed in favor of a new listing for its sleep tracking successor which is now rocking the ‘New’ badge in blue.

What’s interesting about the new release of this Nest Hub in place of the old one is that it doesn’t seem to offer very much in the way of improvements. Aside from having twice the bass – which to be fair could very well be worth it – it’s made of more sustainable plastic at 54%, and has Google’s new Sleep Tracking feature built-in. Depending on who you ask, the reason that Google even needed to release a second-generation device to begin with was to make use of its new Fitbit acquisition, give purpose to the Motion Sense technology driven by their Soli chip, and to tack on yet another subscription to help them get away from that ad revenue model they’ve become dependent on since the company’s inception. This all makes the whole transition to a new product less necessary and more suspect in my eyes, but I’m just speculating.

Anyway, all of that aside, the original device will continue to receive updates for the foreseeable future, but I imagine there will come a time when we will all be required to upgrade due to Google nixing support for the OG Hub. Call me biased, but I’m probably going to keep my existing Hub until that time as the ‘improvements’ don’t really feel necessary to me. Perhaps that’s because sleep tracking doesn’t really interest me or seem important in my life at this time. Maybe it’s a big deal for others, and that’s okay – I’m not here to judge.

However, the one thing I’m sure we can all agree that its $99 price tag is not so bad when you consider the launch price of the first Hub which came in at $149. It will still make for a great housewarming gift, and its added features are sure to make for a great party trick, I suppose. The Soli chip seems as though it could be used for so much more like total device gesture control and instead, it’s being used for much more mundane tasks – it just makes me sad, is all. I want to feel like Tony Stark with my technology, but we’re still keeping things super grounded. I’m sure we’ll get to that point with the Soli chip, but incremental advancements are important for consumer retention. Regardless, you will be missed Original Nest Hub…gone, but never forgotten.