Nest Hub Max browser adds 'read aloud' TTS as Assistant can now ‘open’ sites directly

Back in June, the integrated browser observed on Assistant Smart Display have become extra feature-rich. Another replace to the Nest Hub browser will examine articles aloud to you (TTS), similar to on Android, whilst it’s now simpler to open websites. 

 

The browser’s pinnacle bar capabilities a brand new button in among the web page name/URL and the icon for adjusting textual content length. If you’re viewing a piece of writing — homepages do now no longer work — the button may be selected. This slides up a participant entire with play/pause, 10-2d rewind, 30-2d jump, scrubber, and pace controls (.75x to 2x).

It works well, aleven though over the direction of navigating thru a dozen pages I encountered a Smart Display crash. In one instance, Google became bizarrely studying a piece of writing that wasn’t at the display. Meanwhile, after a couple of minutes of inactivity, the browser will close. 

This functionality is precisely just like the one observed on phones. The participant bar can cut back down, whilst the cutting-edge passage being examine is highlighted in real-time. In March of 2020, Google rolled out a command on Android with the capacity to pick out among 4 voices and translate textual content.

Meanwhile, on Android, you’ve lengthy been capin a position to inform Assistant to open webpages in Chrome, e.g. “Hey Google, open 9to5google.com.” As a few have noticed, this voice command is now to be had on Smart Displays to update the antique circuitous path of getting to first do a voice seek on a subject to open Wikipedia after which use hyperlinks on there to navigate to different sites, such as google.com.

These  additions replicate how the hidden browser observed at the first-gen Home Hub is now being actively developed. It could now no longer be sudden if Google in the end introduced and made this functionality official. 

As of today, we’re most effective seeing this up to date browser with the examine/TTS functionality at the Nest Hub Max walking firmware model 1.fifty four or 1.56. It’s now no longer performing at the smaller Fuchsia or 2nd-gen Nest Hub, which can be a display length consideration.