If Google made one point at this year’s CES conference, it was that it’s putting the Google Assistant in all sorts of devices, from TVs to speakers, in an effort to oust Amazon’s Alexa as the most important digital helper in your home. Now, the Google Assistant is coming to yet another home device: the Nest Cam IQ indoor security camera.
Those who own the camera will have the option to add the Google Assistant via a software update starting Wednesday. Using the Google Assistant through the Nest Cam IQ indoor camera will be very similar to how one would use it through the Google Home or any other compatible device. Owners will be able to verbally ask their Nest camera for the weather, questions about their calendar, and to control smart home devices, among other queries. Owners will also be able to ask the Nest Cam IQ indoor to cast its stream to a TV.
There are a few Google Assistant features that won’t work on Nest’s camera, however, such as the ability to make phone calls, get the news, or play music and podcasts.
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It’s the first security camera to have the Google Assistant built-in, coming several months after Amazon announced its own Cloud Cam, which works with Alexa to stream camera footage to Amazon TV Fire TVs, Fire tablets, and Echo devices with screens. The Nest Cam IQ indoor has supported the Google Assistant before Wednesday’s announcement, but users would need to own a separate device that has Google’s virtual helper built into it in order to control the camera via voice.
Nest’s announcement also comes after the company said earlier this month that it would merge its hardware team with Google’s.
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