Smart home technology is a lot more mainstream than it used to be a few short years ago, meaning there are more gadgets than ever to keep up with. Need help understanding all of these new devices? AC is for you.
Our pick
Google Nest Hub
Pros
- Larger, higher-resolution display
- Video streaming
- Google Photos screensaver
- Proper smart display UI
- Regularly goes on sale
Cons
- Weak speaker
- Retail price is considerably more expensive
The Google Nest Hub is easily one of the best smart displays on the market right now. The friendly fabric design is great, the LCD display is a joy to look at, and you can really make use of it with video streaming, step-by-step recipes, and much more. Plus, with regular sales that bring the Nest Hub below $100, it's a much easier buy over the Smart Clock.
Limited functionality
Lenovo Smart Clock
Pros
- It's so adorable
- Tap to snooze feature
- USB port for charging your phone
- Cheaper
Cons
- Lacks a lot of traditional smart display features
- Expensive for what it is
By design, the Lenovo Smart Clock is supposed to do less compared to something like the Nest Hub. It's considerably smaller with a 4-inch screen and has the main intent of being used as a smart alarm clock. The Google Assistant can do things like stream music, find directions, etc., but a complete smart display this is not.
For just about everyone, the Google Nest Hub is the better purchase of these two gadgets. It offers a much bigger and better-looking display, supports video streaming through multiple apps, and in general allows you to do more with its screen. The Lenovo Smart Clock is an adorable device and probably the best modern alarm clock you can get, but with regular sales bringing the Nest Hub at or below $100, the Smart Clock isn't worth the retail price Lenovo's asking for it.
The Google Nest Hub is the ultimate smart display
Smart speakers, such as the Google Home and Amazon Echo, have become wildly popular in the last couple of years. A product like the Google Nest Hub is essentially that but with a screen slapped onto it. As you might expect, that screen adds a lot of functionality you won't find on screen-less options.
With the Google Nest Hub, you can watch YouTube videos, see live video feeds of smart security cameras, have pictures in Google Photos be displayed as a screensaver throughout the day, follow recipes, and so much more. You also do the usual smart speaker things like asking for the weather, setting timers, and checking our calendar, and all of these commands are met with accompanying visuals to make your experience that much better.
On the hardware side of things, Google hit the nail on the head with the Nest Hub. Its 7-inch LCD display looks fantastic, and thanks to its Ambient EQ sensor, automatically changes its brightness and color temperature according to the light of the room it's it. The fabric design on the back also looks great and sort of gives the impression that display is just floating on the desk/table it's on.
The built-in speaker is fine, but it's not much better/worse than what you'll get on the Lenovo Smart Clock.
| Google Nest Hub | Lenovo Smart Clock | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 7-inch 1024 x 600 LCD Ambient EQ |
4-inch 480 x 480 LCD |
| Chromecast target | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Video streaming | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Step-by-step recipes | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Google Photos screensaver | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Tap to snooze | ❌ | ✔️ |
Lenovo's Smart Clock is very cute and very niche
Where the Google Nest Hub is a full-featured smart display that has just about everything you could imagine, the Lenovo Smart Clock's functionality is far more limited. As you can see from the chart above, it's lacking quite a few features that make the Nest Hub so darn good.
The Lenovo Smart Clock is incredibly adorable. We just wish its feature set wasn't so limited.
That's because the Smart Clock is supposed to do less. As the name suggests, it's primarily designed to be a smart alarm clock rather than a complete smart display. For setting alarms, snoozing said alarms by tapping the Clock, and asking simple questions to the Assistant, it works great. Not only that, but it's incredibly small design means it can fit on even the most cramped of nightstands.
As adorable as it is, however, it's hard to justify buying the Lenovo Smart Clock considering its retail price of $80. That is a fair amount less than the $129 Nest Hub, but seeing as how sales often bring it down to $100 or less, the conversation becomes a lot trickier.
The Lenovo Smart Clock will be a lot more appealing when inevitable discounts bring the price down, but as it currently stands, you get a lot more capability for not much more money with the Google Nest Hub. Unless you absolutely need a smart speaker as small as the Smart Clock, the Nest Hub is the way to go.
Our pick
Google Nest Hub
The smart display that does it all.
If you want to make sure you're getting your money's worth, do yourself a favor and get the Nest Hub. From video streaming to controlling smart home devices, the Nest Hub does it all with a gorgeous display and fun design. Plus, regular sales help to keep its cost down.
Limited functionality
Lenovo Smart Clock
Supercharged alarm clock.
The Lenovo Smart Clock has the Google Assistant built-in just like the Nest Hub, but its screen is far less useful. It can't stream video, show recipes, and lacks the drop-down menu for quickly controlling smart home devices. However, it is very cute and as a lower MSRP.
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