Our favorite 10 new things coming to Smart Displays

Every day, people ask Google for help with things like catching up on their favorite shows, turning on their garage lights, filling their homes with relaxing music, playing games and even keeping their family on track. As we expect more of our smart home devices, Smart Displays are increasingly becoming a hub that entertains and connects the whole home and whole family, all day (and night) long. 

Today, we’re introducing a brand new experience that builds on the smarts of Google and visual capabilities of Smart Displays. Here are 10 ways these updates make the whole day go a little more smoothly:

1. A new visual experience to jumpstart your day.As you begin your day, just tap the new “Your morning” page to get things off to a good start. You’ll see things like a reminder for your first meeting, a run down of the morning news and a glance at the weather ahead. This page evolves throughout the day to reflect “Your afternoon” and “Your evening” so that the recommendations you see changes as your day does. 
2. Entertainment for the whole family.Whether you want to listen to a podcast while you prepare breakfast in the morning or are looking for a TV show to wind down after a long day, the “Media” page will suggest videos or shows to keep everyone in the house entertained, while also offering suggestions from our music and video platforms like Disney+, Netflix, YouTube TV and Spotify.
3. Control the whole home in one place.The new visual layout also has a “Home control” page, where you can control the connected devices throughout the house (so you can turn off the lights in the bedroom or take a look at who’s at the front door). 
4. More tools for staying in touch and staying productive.We recently added more ways to stay in touch with friends, family and coworkers on your Smart Display with Google Meet and Duo—and Zoom is coming to Assistant-enabled Smart Displays later this year. Use the “Communicate” page to start a new meeting, call one of your household contacts or even message your kids in another room using a Broadcast card..
5. Discover other helpful features.While the new visual experience is catered to help you manage your day, we know everyone likes to have a little fun with the device too. Scroll over to the "Discover" page to explore more of what your smart display can do.
6. Now available: All of your accounts in one place. If you have separate personal and work accounts, you can now set up multiple accounts on Google Assistant devices to see and interact with all of your upcoming events and meetings in one place—without having to switch between your personal or work account. For example, on your Google Nest Hub Max, you can now quickly tap or ask to join your next meeting (“Hey Google, join my next meeting”), whether it’s a personal yoga class or a conference call.  This is now supported on Assistant-enabled devices where you can access your Calendar, like phones (Android and iOS), shared devices such as smart speakers and Smart Displays, and for Google Workspace users enrolled in the Google Assistant Beta Program. 
7. Make sure you’re always in the picture.Meet on Nest Hub Max will now auto-frame to keep the camera centered on you if you move around. You can also customize how Meet looks on your Smart Display so it’s easier to see a specific person or details in a presentation with pinning, four-person grids and pinch and zoom—coming later this year. We’ve also added new menu options to give you the ability to cancel and reschedule Meet meetings right from your Smart Displays, and you can even send a message to let others know if you need to find a new time or if you’re running late.
8. Dark theme, now on your Smart Display.Dark Theme changes the color scheme of the interface and reduces light emission, so it's easier on the eyes at night while still providing you with visual and touch access. You can also keep the classic Light Theme or set to “Automatic'' so that the display will adjust naturally based on the ambient light or when the sun rises and sets. 
   
9. Choose relaxing sounds for drifting off to sleep.The new visual experience also features the “Your evening” page, where you can select from different relaxing sounds to make going to sleep just a little more pleasant. Maybe you prefer tranquil rainfall or the sounds of crickets, or you can ask Google to choose one for you. A sleep timer will fade out the sound, or you can let it play all night—go ahead, you deserve it.
10. Finally, start the next day with the new Sunrise Alarm.With Sunrise Alarm—coming to Smart Displays soon—the brightness of the screen will gradually increase starting 30 minutes before your alarm goes off, mimicking the sunrise so you wake up naturally. You can also set different alarms for different days of the week and choose different ringtones for them (because who wants to wake up at 7 a.m. on Saturday!?). The best part? When the alarm goes off, you can just say “stop” without having to say “Hey Google.”

by Jack Krawczyk via The Keyword