Google gives Nest Hub keyboard in browser

Google has updated the browser of the Nest Hub and Hub Max with, among other things, a virtual keyboard. This browser can be called up via a detour. There is also a speed dial option for contacts that share households.

The keyboard that can be called up on the Nest Hub and Hub Max shows similarities to that of Chrome OS. That writes 9to5Google, which discovered and tested the function. The Nest displays already had a browser, which can be called up in a roundabout way by entering a voice command and clicking Wikipedia at the bottom. This opens the mobile page in the built-in browser.

Also new are the options to refresh a page and send it to a smartphone in a floating menu in the browser. This makes it a very rudimentary browser. The primary way of interacting with the Hub devices is through voice, that’s the intent of Google. The new features appear when updating to firmware version 1.54.

Google also reports the arrival of new features to Nest devices such as cameras, routers and thermostats. Feeds with notifications from those devices in the Home app can now be adjusted, for example by not showing certain categories. In the Home app, a speed dial option has also been added for certain household contacts.

Nest Hub with keyboard. Source: 9to5Google