Last year, I reviewed the second generation of the Nest Hub (formerly the Home Hub) smart display from Google. It doesn't have a camera, but it does have a miniature radar sensor that can monitor and analyze your sleep when you place the Hub at your bedside. Overall, I found it reasonably accurate and insightful and a great option if you want to track your sleep without wearing a watch to bed. 

Today, Google has announced it'll be adding updates to the Nest Hub that aim to improve its sleep-sensing capabilities. Here's the breakdown of the coming additions.

Sleep staging

Among the new features is something called Sleep Staging, which Google describes as an analysis of your stages of sleep (light, REM, deep and awake) in hypnogram chart form. Hypnograms are a popular way for sleep scientists to visualize sleep data. 

Sleep Duration and Sleep Quality screens will let you know how long you were in each stage of sleep, and what percentage of your total night's rest fell under each stage. 

Updated sound detection

Nest hubs will now have a new "cough and snore" timeline, charting those sounds that come only from your calibrated sleeping area. That means the coughs and snores of partners (or pets) will now be categorized in the "other sounds" timeline. And that timeline will also document loud noises around you that may have disturbed your sleep, such as alarms or barking dogs. 

Integration with the Calm app

Popular sleep and meditation app Calm will be available through Google Assistant on the Nest Hub beginning in December. You'll be able to ask, "Hey Google, show me meditations from Calm" or "Hey Google, start a meditation." Calm Premium members will have access to Calm's full library, while non-Premium users will have a smaller selection of tracks. 

Sleep sensing is still free ... for now

Google noted that you can enjoy Sleep Sensing on Nest Hubs through 2022. In 2023, the company plans to integrate Sleep Sensing into Fitbit Premium, currently $10 per month or $80 per year for a health and wellness subscription. 

The new sleep features should appear on Nest Hubs in the US today, and they go live globally over the next few weeks.