Today, Google shared a collection of new devices that will make Canadian smart homes even smarter. Some are available immediately, but perhaps the most exciting one won't be here until next spring.
Updates to the Google Home App, new Nest Cams, a new doorbell, and a Gemini-powered smart speaker were all part of today's reveal.
Google Home App
Let's start with the App, since this is going to be a control centre for mostly everything else to come in this article. Plus, it was due for some serious TLC to make it less chaotic.
Google has completely rebuilt its Home app, focusing on the feedback it's been receiving for years. The new app is designed to be faster, more reliable, and finally, a single, unified place to control all your Google and Nest smart home devices.
Here are the highlights of what's new:
A Faster, More Reliable Foundation
Before adding a bunch of new AI smarts, Google focused on fixing the basics. The app is now built to be much more dependable.
It's Way Faster: Google says the app loads significantly faster (over 70% faster on some Android devices) and crashes nearly 80% less often.
Big Camera Improvements: This was a major focus. Live camera views load 30% faster, video playback failures have been cut by 40%, and scrolling through your video history is now super smooth.
One App for Everything
If you have both Google AND Nest devices, you know the pain of having to switch between apps to monitor and control the devices. The best features of the Nest app have finally been merged into the Google Home app.
No More Nest App: You can now fully control your Nest Thermostats, get smoke and CO alerts from Nest Protect, and manage your Nest x Yale Lock right from the Home app.
Works with Older Cams: Previous generations of Nest cameras are also supported and will now work faster and more reliably within the new app.
A Simpler Design Built for Gemini AI
The app has been simplified with a new three-tab layout, making it easier to navigate and putting Google's Gemini AI at your fingertips.
- Easy Navigation: A new layout organizes everything into three simple tabs: Home (your main dashboard), Activity (a single history of everything that's happened), and Automations (for managing your routines).
- "Ask Home" is Your New Command Center: A new search bar is always available at the top of the app. You can use it to type natural language commands like "turn off all the lights and close the blinds" or even find a specific video clip by asking, "What happened to the vase in the living room?"
The new Google Home app starts rolling out globally today, October 1st.
Google Home Smart Speaker (Powered by Gemini)
This is probably the biggest news, but also the one we're going to be waiting longest to try.
The brand new Google Home Speaker is designed from the ground up to be the best way to experience Gemini, Google's powerful AI, in your home.
The new speaker will work as a powerful hub for entertainment, information, and controlling your smart home.
The new Google Home Speaker will leverage the power of Gemini to provide a better user experience.
A Smarter, More Natural Assistant
This speaker is all about making your conversations with Google's AI feel more natural.
- Designed for Gemini: It has custom processing to handle advanced AI, which means your interactions should be faster and more fluid.
- Expressive Light Ring: A new light ring on the device glows and changes to show you when Gemini is listening, thinking, or responding, so you always know what's happening.
Upgraded Sound for Your Home
The audio experience is getting a big boost, with one particularly fan-requested feature.
- 360° Audio: The speaker is designed to play sound in every direction, giving you a balanced and uniform listening experience, no matter where it's placed in a room.
- Home Theater Mode: You can now pair two Google Home Speakers with a Google TV Streamer to create a cinematic, surround-sound set-up for your living room.
- Privacy First: It includes a physical toggle switch to mute the microphone for complete privacy.
The new Google Home speaker will cost $139 Canadian and is slated for a Spring 2026 release.
New Nest Cams & Doorbell for 2025
Google announced three new wired cameras: the Nest Cam Indoor (3rd gen), Nest Cam Outdoor (2nd gen) and Nest Doorbell (3rd gen).
The physical cameras on all three models have practical improvements, including:
- Sharper Video: All three cameras now have 2K HDR video, so you can see details with incredible clarity.
- Wider Views: The cameras capture a wider and taller view, meaning you can see your entire driveway or visitors from head-to-toe, including packages left on the ground.
- Brighter Night Vision: An improved sensor lets in 120% more light, so the cameras stay in full-colour mode for longer at dawn and dusk. You still get high-powered infrared for total darkness.
The major difference over previous generations will be the camera's ability to provide much more detailed explanations of what it "sees," therefore, making notifications much more relevant, particularly when paired with a paid Google Home Standard or Premium subscription (the subscription is free with Google AI Pro memberships, which you may have gotten for free with your new Pixel 10).
Meaningful Alerts: Instead of a generic "motion detected" alert, you'll get detailed notifications like, "dog jumps on piano and belts out Tiny Dancer," along with a zoomed-in video preview.
Search Your History: You can now simply ask Gemini, "What happened to the vase in the living room?" and the camera will find the exact moment for you where the dog knocked it over when jumping up on the piano to play Tiny Dancer. You won't need to scroll to find the moment.
Catch Up in Seconds: A new "Home Brief" feature summarizes hours of footage into a quick, digestible summary, so you can see all the important events at a glance (e.g., "The house was quiet for most of the morning until you left for work. About an hour after that, UPS left a package on your doorstep. When you got home, you brought the package inside.").
Even if you don't pay for Google Home Standard / Premium subscriptions ($10 / $20 per month) Google is extending video history from three hours to six hours on all free tiers.
New Nest Cams Pricing and Availability in Canada
All models of cameras and doorbell are available to order immediately:
- Nest Cam Indoor (wired, 3rd gen) - $129.99
- Nest Cam Outdoor (wired, 2nd gen), 1pk - $199.99 / 2pk - $339.99
- Nest Doorbell (wired, 3rd gen) - $239.99
A gaggle of Google devices!
What do you think of the latest hardware and software updates Google's released for smart homes?
I think having a better Google Home experience through the App will be nice. You could previously customize the view a bit by adding key devices as favourites, but, overall, the app was just quite busy and required many taps to get into granular controls for various smart devices.
The smarter summaries that are coming with the new cameras (when paired with a Google Home subscription) also sound interesting. While the last thing anyone wants is to have to pay for yet another subscription, if you did get a new Pixel 10 this year, you'll get a trial of Google AI Pro, which would include a Google Home subscription, so at least you can try it out for free before deciding to buy.
If you don't renew, then it's nice there is six hours worth of video history on the free tier.
We look forward to going hands-on with some of these cameras in the coming weeks, and we will certainly provide detailed reviews on geekingout.ca for anyone curious about upgrading their smart home.
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