Google Home Hub—Under the hood, it’s nothing like other Google smart displays
On Tuesday, Google announced the Google Home Hub, the first smart display hardware made by Google. While the Home Hub is the first hardware from Google, it's something like the fourth Google smart display to be announced—third-party OEMs actually launched the Google smart display platform earlier this year. On the surface, the Home Hub seems identical to these third-party devices; under the hood, though, they couldn't be more different.
First, let's talk about what the third-party smart displays run. When Google created its smart display software, it also came up with a turnkey solution for OEMs. So far, we've seen Lenovo, LG, and Samsung's JBL all produce devices on the same basic platform. Just like with smartphones, these devices are all an extension of the Android/Qualcomm partnership—they run Android Things on Qualcomm's SD624 Home Hub Platform. Android Things is Google's stripped-down version of Android that is purpose-built for IoT products, and the third-party smart displays are the first commercial devices to run the OS.
