70 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 68
pack a punch, and I thoroughly enjoyed it while I was
cooking in the kitchen.
Setup
Getting the Google Nest Hub Max up and running
takes a variety of steps, but none of them are terribly
tricky, and the display does a good job of guiding you
through the process. The first step is to download the
Google Home mobile app (assuming it’s not already
on your phone) and directing it to discover the Nest
Hub Max. Once connected, you can use the app to
connect the Hub Max to your Wi-Fi network, as well as
activate features ranging from Face Match (which uses
the camera to identify you and boost the relevance of
Google Assistant’s responses) to linking music services
(including YouTube Music, Pandora, and Spotify). and
picking what you want the screen to do when it’s in
Ambient (or essentially idle) mode.
A significant portion of the Nest Hub Max setup
process is devoted to privacy, with the device letting
you know exactly what information it’s collecting,
what data it might be providing to third parties, and
why its camera and microphones might be recording
you, all the while offering you the chance to opt out of
this service or that one. Yes, it’s a tedious process, but
also necessary given the privacy scandal that rocked
the digital assistant industry this past summer.
On a more positive note, it’s worth calling out
one of the options you get for the display’s Ambient
mode: displaying a slideshow of your family photos.
No, there’s nothing revolutionary about a smart
display doubling as a digital photo frame (the Amazon
