Google hardware year in review: What worked, what didn't, and what we want in 2019

Google’s hardware division is a rare success story inside a remarkably successful company - and one that has taken the better part of a decade to meet that definition. Its ambitions in the physical product space have grown from a geeky internet sideshow into a full-scale retail assault, and 2018 saw that ascendance continue. For all the naysayers it’s had - and there have been many - Google continues to position its hardware portfolio exactly where it needs to be: in stores. Chromecasts and Home Minis litter hundreds of Walmarts, Targets, and Best Buys, and Pixel smartphones are in Verizon locations across the country. Based on analyst estimates, that hardware is also becoming a moneymaker - Google reportedly took in $3 billion in profit from the division this year. If Rick Osterloh was getting a report card for his leadership from a business standpoint, he’d undoubtedly be an ‘A’ student.

But more material to us as consumers are the products themselves, and while 2018 certainly won’t go down as a “bad” year for Google hardware, it definitely exposed a few areas where the company does need to improve.

The Google Home Hub is a hit, full stop. It’s the digital picture frame we always wanted, but never actually liked because of their cost, impracticality, and limited usefulness. The Home Hub is the world’s best digital picture frame, and you can use it for things like playing music, setting an alarm, or if you’re more ambitious, controlling smart devices in your home. It’s the home control center of the future that has been so long imagined, realized. And since Google Photos is so insanely popular, it’s simple to get all your pictures on it right out of the box. Google is going to sell a boatload of them, and I fully expect Home Hub to displace the standard Home in terms of sales in 2019.

Speaking of, the standard Home feels increasingly shortchanged in Google’s lineup. The Home Hub and Mini are available in four colors. The regular Home is available in… one. I strongly suspect this is an issue with it being the only Home product which has a plastic housing over its LED ring, making colors other than white potentially difficult to pull off without compromising the look of the lights. My guess is that we’ll see a refreshed version of the Home in 2019 with a new fabric-forward aesthetic that will allow Google to produce it in the same four colors it does the Home Mini and Hub.

Google also could do with an audio-focused speaker that doesn’t cost $400. Amazon has this formula right with the new Echo 2nd Gen and Echo Plus, with the latter offering a better sonic experience without the need for expansive counter space (or the budget to match). The standard Home is perpetually “discounted” to $80 at this point, making for a $320 upgrade chasm in the lineup - it really needs to be bridged. A slightly bigger, beefier Home with more audio oomph would be a welcome addition to the family. The ability to pair them in stereo like you can with the Max would be icing on the cake.
Source: https://www.androidpolice.com

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