The New Nest Learning Thermostat Is Pretty… and Expensive [CNET]

I got my hands on the fourth generation model of Google Home’s smartest thermostat. Its new features are appealing, but you’ll pay for them.

Can a thermostat be art? 

The new model of the Nest Learning Thermostat is, if you ask Anish Kattukaran, the director of product management for Google Home. It’s certainly smart, and it’s most definitely expensive at $280, but art?

Some may find the sentiment a tad pretentious. In many ways, it is: When this product launches at the end of the month, it will be another piece of tech to help you manage your home, and it can do that whether it looks pretty or completely utilitarian.

But maybe this is a completely natural end goal for a smart device. And it’s a promise that the Nest Learning Thermostat fourth-gen largely delivers on.

Sleek, modern and informative: The design feels good

Old thermostats are analog, barebones and industrial, whereas the design of the smart thermostat has often been about sleek LCD screens and embracing neo-futurism in your own home. In a sense, then, the new Nest Learning Thermostat is kind of the platonic ideal of a smart thermostat.

The device’s display is 60% larger than the 3rd gen, covering the entire front face of the thermostat. The device is rounded and beveled where the screen meets the dial, so it ends up looking button-like rather than a rectangular hunk of plastic and metal stuck to your wall. The dial is satisfying to use, with audio and haptic-clicking feedback confirming your inputs as you adjust the temperature in your home.

The device comes in three colors: polished gold, polished obsidian and polished silver. I saw each of these colors, and the polished gold is my favorite by far. Rather than the gaudy gold some tech comes clad in, the Nest Learning Thermostat was a pleasing warm amber tone when the display was turned on.

Physical design choices for Nest’s new smart thermostat aren’t impractical, either. One of the most fascinating things about this iteration of the Learning Thermostat is that the battery is made of 100% recycled cobalt. It’s encouraging to see that energy-savings design philosophy carried through to a more environmentally conscious final product.

Customers are going to be able to get a lot more information from the device itself this time around, too. Soli sensors within the fourth generation model are able to sense how far you are from the thermostat, and the closer you get, the more information the LCD screen will show you. I was able to test this feature — from around 10 feet away, I read only the temperature on the Learning Thermostat’s screen, but as I closed some distance, the thermostat would show additional information, such as the date and time.

You can customize what information you see on the screen, even more so if you have external Nest temperature sensors set up around your home. 

Of course, there’s more to the new Nest Learning Thermostat than upgrades to the display — the new iteration comes with new features and capabilities that aren’t available in the 3rd-gen device. 

The new Nest Learning Thermostat has a host of new features

There’s a big push for Google smart devices to integrate the company’s Gemini AI models, and the Nest Learning Thermostat fourth gen does so with the aim of creating a more dynamic energy- and cost-saving experience. 

The thermostat can be controlled on other Google devices, including the Pixel Tablet, the Pixel Watch and the Google TV.

With temperature sensors in several rooms, you’ll be able to find a comfortable average temperature across multiple rooms in your house. Slap a sensor in each bedroom, and this feature could come in handy.

In addition to tracking the weather and humidity outside of your home, it tracks the air quality; you’ll be pushed an alert if and when the quality is low enough to be a concern to you.

Another new feature uses any external temperature sensors to detect when one of the parts of your HVAC system is defective. It can identify which part of the system it is and alert you to the issue. 

The temperature sensors can sense the temperature outside of the house and dynamically adjust the heating and cooling inside to maximize comfort levels while slashing HVAC energy consumption.

The new Nest thermostat does “remove” a single feature. Where previous iterations of the thermostat had the Routines feature, allowing you to set the temperature for different parts of your day, the new Nest Learning Thermostat has a feature called Smart Schedules that can dynamically control the temperature of your home as your day-to-day schedule changes, whether that be the times you leave the house or the times you go to sleep at night. You’ll get push notifications asking to confirm any proposed changes to the schedule, so you won’t be caught off guard by the thermostat randomly dropping a couple degrees each night.

Many of the most important features from older Nest Learning Thermostats remain. The battery inside of the thermostat means you don’t need to wire the thermostat up to a C-wire. While the new Nest thermostat is heavily integrated with Google Home, it’s also compatible with other Matter-enabled apps and voice assistants, such as Siri and Alexa.

Breaking the bank

All of these changes might make the fourth-gen Nest Learning Thermostat a marked upgrade to its predecessor. Then you see the price.

The previous iteration of the Nest Learning Thermostat retails for $249 on the Google store; the new Nest Learning Thermostat is heading to retail at $279.99.

For this price, you’re getting the smart thermostat and one new temperature sensor. If you need more temperature sensors for your desired smart home setup, you’re going to have to shell out even more money: $39.99 for a single sensor or $99.99 for a pack of three.

If you plan on taking advantage of all of the features of the new Learning Thermostat, it’s going to be really pricey; pricier than any other smart thermostat on the market, including the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium, which retails for $250 while still sharing many of the new features available with the new Nest Learning Thermostat.

The next generation of the Nest Learning Thermostat will be one of the most feature-rich smart home devices on the market when it launches Aug. 20, but it’s also going to be one of the most expensive. Even if the thermostat doubles as a piece of art on your wall.