The Nest Cam IQ Indoor is now also a Google Assistant speaker
A free software update turns your Nest Cam IQ Indoor into a Google Assistant speaker.
Nest on Wednesday officially added Google Assistant to its $299/£299/AU$479 Nest Cam IQ Indoor. The necessary hardware is already inside the 1080p HD security camera, according to the smart-home brand, so you simply have to launch the free software update to start using voice control.
Google Assistant is Google's voice AI that responds to the wake phrases "Hey, Google" or "OK, Google" on the Google Home, Home Mini or Home Max speakers. It's also built into most Android devices and available for iOS folks via the Google Assistant app. Third-party devices like the First Alert Onelink Safe & Sound will offer Google-Assistant-equipped versions later this year.
Your Nest Cam IQ Indoor security camera now has a built-in Google Assistant speaker.
But the Nest Cam IQ Indoor is the first Nest product to offer Google Assistant natively. This is all part of a push to stick Google Assistant in every Nest product to compete with popular counterpart Alexa, Amazon 's voice assistant -- and to some extent, Apple's Siri.
"All of Google's investments in machine learning and AI, they can very clearly benefit Nest products. It just makes sense to be developing them together," Google's Senior Vice President of Hardware Rick Osterloh, told CNET in a Feb. 6 interview. "It's the natural thing to evolve to."
Nest claims your IQ Indoor will be able to perform many of the same functions as a standalone Home speaker, with some key exceptions. It can't make calls, tell you the latest news or play music or podcasts.
Have questions about how it works? Check out this Nest support page.
Nest Aware, Nest's cloud storage subscription service, is now available starting at $5 per month for five days of continuous storage, rather than its pricey $10 per month starter plan.
It's also introducing person alerts in activity zones, which suggests it can differentiate between a person and something else within specific zones. Nest IQ customers will also be able to "merge duplicate familiar faces" to streamline its facial recognition feature.
