Google is infusing Gemini AI into all its products of late, from Pixel phones to Pixelbooks and now the latest version of the Nest Learning Thermostat. The device leverages Gemini AI to help you save energy and enjoy a more intelligent heating and cooling experience in the home.
The Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen) comes with a redesigned Nest Temperature Sensor (2nd Gen) in the box, both of which boast a complete overhaul in design. Sleek and slim in design, the thermostat gives the illusion that it’s floating. Equipped with a stainless-steel bangle with a domed crystal LCD that’s 60% bigger than the previous generation model, it’s also housed behind multiple layers of mirror and coloured films. This eliminates the appearance of having a bezel at all. It comes in Polished Silver, Polished Obsidian, and Polished Gold.
The display also provides more helpful information. A new Dynamic Farsight lets you customize the home screen to easily view the time, temperature, weather, or outdoor air quality up close and at a glance.
The AI integration is designed to help you save energy and money. It ensures a comfortable temperature while you’re home and switches to an energy-efficient temperature when you’re away. It uses AI to automatically make micro-adjustments based on your patterns. It can quickly and accurately create personalized, energy-saving temperature schedules.
With Smart Schedule, the thermostat learns which temperatures you choose most often or changes in behaviour based on motion detected in your home. If you have come home earlier than expected from work, for example, it will automatically adjust the temperature schedule to match. These energy-saving suggestions can be implemented automatically, and you can accept or reject them in the Google Home app.
The thermostat also analyzes how the weather outdoors will affect the temperature inside. For example, if it’s a sunny winter day and your home gets warmer on its own, it will pause heating. Conversely, on a humid day, the indoor temperature may feel warmer than intended, so the thermostat will adjust accordingly.
Each thermostat comes with a new Nest Temperature Sensor to help you manage hot and cold spots in your home, like prioritizing the temperature in a baby’s room during their naptime. You can add up to six temperature sensors and select multiple sensors and average the temperatures across them. You can even choose which sensors are active at different times of day by linking them to your schedules.
The Nest Temperature Sensor comes in a pebble-like form that you can place on a bookshelf or hang in any room by the keyhole on the back.
Additionally, Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) has smart ventilation alerts. The System Health Monitor feature tracks your HVAC performance over time, sensing subtle issues and sending you urgent alerts for problems that may require immediate attention. For example, if you turned on the AC, but your home failed to cool, you may not notice immediately. But your thermostat can send you an alert. Over time, it will get smarter about detecting potential problems based on how your system behaves.
If you have a ventilation system, a new feature called Smart Ventilation brings in fresh air when outdoor air quality is healthy and it’s most efficient, like when temperatures are mildest. If pollutants like wildfire smoke make outdoor air quality unhealthy or temperatures are extreme, the thermostat will automatically pause ventilation.
Nest Learning Thermostat also monitors the humidity levels of your home, helping prevent the risk of mold or condensation building up on your windows.
For those who are especially considered about energy usage, there’s the Energy Shift alert and Nest Renew. If you enroll in the latter, your thermostat can automatically make small adjustments that shift energy use to cleaner and less expensive times. These adjustments are small but add up, with the advantage of both contributing to a more reliable and efficient energy grid and lowering household energy bills.
Nest Learning Thermostat is easy to install and, with its new 12-terminal backplate, expands compatibility to work with most HVAC systems. You can set it up yourself and control it through the Google Home app. It’s easy to set up automations as well so that when heat is on and you have window sensors that detect windows that are open, you’ll receive a notification reminding you to close them and conserve energy.
The most popular thermostat controls in the app, like adjusting the temperature or your schedule, have also been redesigned to be easier and more intuitive. Because the Nest Learning Thermostat is Matter-certified, you can also control it with other Matter-compatible smart home apps.
You can pre-order the Nest Learning Thermostat for $380 in Canada, with availability on August 20. Every thermostat comes with the Nest Temperature Sensor, and additional sensors can be purchased for US$40 or US$100 for a three-pack.