The new Nest Learning Thermostat is a bold reminder that tech doesn’t need to look so darn … techy. Gone is the chunky black bezel that’s offset from a colored interior background, now replaced with a slimmer-looking curved glass design that comes in three colors and bears actual style.
The fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat isn’t just a contender for the title of best smart thermostat; it’s a challenger for the honorific “nicest-looking thing on your smart home’s wall.” Here’s everything Google just revealed about its latest thermostat so you can figure out if you should preorder it today to smarten up your home against the summer heat wave.
The?Nest Learning?Thermostat has been redesigned to the point where it looks nicer than most tech we've reviewed, and it packs?a bunch of new?tricks to keep you comfortable.
A smarter learning thermostat for greater savings and comfort
Prior Nest Learning Thermostats were marketed on the promise of saving energy and money by getting more control and reining in usage when you’re not at home. The 2024 Nest Learning Thermostat is a little smarter and can leverage what’s going on outside your home too. Specifically, it tracks how your home’s temperature reacts to weather outside, and it can pause heating if the circumstances outdoors will get you to the indoor climate you prefer.
Nest also adjusted its classic Eco mode to balance saving money and energy when you’re away while also knowing when to turn up (or cool down) before you get home. That way you’re not spending your moments at home trying to get your house to the right temperature. As someone whose home isn’t built to support a Nest Learning Thermostat, I’m jealous of this capability.
A lot of these tools, unsurprisingly, are the fruit of Google supercharging the Nest Learning Thermostat’s onboard AI so it doesn’t need as much time to learn your habits and build a personalized schedule. There’s also a new Smart Schedule mode that adjusts timing based on when it detects motion in your home. You can either let the Nest take the wheel and automatically adjust for you, or you can have it send you suggestions to approve or reject.
The new Nest Learning Thermostat starts at $280 and includes a Nest Temperature Sensor to manage the conditions in specific (and important) rooms, like the bedroom. The white, stonelike sensors are just as stylish as the new Learning Thermostat and are sold separately for $40 each or $100 for a pack of three.
The new Nest Learning Thermostat is easy on the eyes in multiple ways
Not only does the new Nest Learning Thermostat look more elegant than ever, thanks to its rotating slick stainless steel bangle, but its Polished Silver, Polished Obsidian (black) and Polished Gold color options mean it will fit in with whatever wall you slap it onto. I’m particularly swayed by the gold Nest Learning Thermostat, which looks like jewelry someone’s just hung on their wall.
The thermostat’s display also got a major upgrade and is now 60% larger than prior models, making its weather animations and text even easier to see. That said, there is new sensor tech inside the Nest Learning Thermostat that enables a cool new trick: Dynamic Farsight will identify how far away you are and automatically adjust the size and density of the UI on display.
It even works around unhealthy air and identifies HVAC issues
As someone who lived through New York City’s sepia-air phase in the summer of 2023 when the smoke of the Canadian wildfires flowed down here, I’m thankful that the Nest Learning Thermostat is adjusting to our ever-dangerous times. Those who link it to their ventilation system will benefit from the new Smart Ventilation feature that stops bringing in outside air when the quality is poor or the temperatures are extreme.
The Learning Thermostat relies on your home’s existing equipment to keep you comfortable, so it’s pretty clever that Nest built in ways for it to identify potential problems. If it senses that your HVAC isn’t cooling your space as much or as fast as it should be, it will warn you to check it out. In materials shared with the press, Nest said to expect other intelligent tricks that will help keep your system in good, functional condition over time.
Preorder now, as the Nest Learning Thermostat’s release date isn’t far off
Available to order now, the new Nest Learning Thermostat is set to hit stores on Aug. 20. That’s enough time to decorate a wall properly to match your selected silver, black or gold hue. Oh, and don’t worry about future-proofing; the Nest Learning Thermostat supports the Matter smart home standard in addition to Google Home, so it’s destined to be a part of your home for years to come.
The takeaway
While I’m reluctant to embrace the tidal wave of AI features, the Nest Learning Thermostat looks like one of the rare gadgets that could truly benefit from having a smarter digital intellect inside. And it’s great to see the Nest Learning Thermostat’s looks finally catch up with its brains. Stay tuned for our full review, as we hope to learn if it’s the perfect centerpiece for your smart home.
And the Nest Learning Thermostat isn’t Google’s only new hardware, as the company defined the future of the Chromecast with its new?Google TV Streamer.
