4 products in Google’s lineup that are an absolute mess right now

I can’t put too much blame on Google. The tech industry is complex, with shifting trends and a huge range of potential demographics. Consider that as recently as four or five years ago, companies were making a huge push for

smart home
adoption, particularly smart speakers and displays. The smart home market has hardly disappeared, but it’s only now that we have things like Matter,

Alexa+
, and

Apple’s rumored smart display
that it seems to be coming out of some prolonged doldrums.

Google’s product lineup has, nevertheless, become a bit too chaotic. Shopping for some categories can be confusing if you follow tech news every day, never mind coming to them from a blind bystander’s perspective. The company could stand to do some house cleaning, whether that means nixing some products, or finally putting some effort into reviving them.

1

Google Nest smart home devices

The most neglected category

Google has some recent winners in its smart home lineup, namely the

Nest Learning Thermostat
, the Nest Wi-Fi Pro, and the Google TV Streamer. But just about everything else is several years old — the second-generation Nest Hub, for example, dates back to 2021, and the Nest x Yale Lock is from 2018. The Nest Protect smoke alarm reaches back to 2013, and will somehow stay on sale until it’s finally replaced by a First Alert collaboration later in 2025. You’ll see a new Yale lock around the same time.

An aging product lineup wouldn’t matter so much except for two things: Matter and Google Gemini. While Google has been good about turning its speakers, displays, and routers into Matter controllers, most of its accessories don’t support Matter, which simplifies pairing with third-party platforms. And all of its speakers and displays continue to use Google Assistant for voice commands, presumably because their processors aren’t powerful enough to handle Gemini.

It’s probably not the best time to build a Google-centric smart home, in other words. I’d wait to see what (if anything) Google is planning to ship in the fall, and how well older accessories will be supported. There’s no sense investing in Nest Cams today if they might be obsolete in six months.

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2

Pixel phones

Choice paralysis and strange pricing

By and large, Google is doing a good job with its latest Pixel devices. You can’t go wrong with any version of the Pixel 9, even if the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is probably overkill for most users.

If you’re not immersed in the tech industry, however, the fact that there are four “Pixel 9” options might be a little daunting. On top of that, Google is still selling three versions of the Pixel 8, including the Pixel 8a (above) and the Pixel 8 Pro. I’m glad that Google is offering a diverse range of phones for different budgets — but it could probably stand to clear up confusion by streamlining its offerings, and undoing some of its baffling pricing decisions.

In Canada, at least, a Pixel 8a costs as much as a 9a on the Google Store, and the 8 Pro costs the same as the 9 Pro. That makes it pointless to keep the older hardware available. There are probably plenty of discounted Pixels at third-party retailers, thankfully. No one should be paying full price for a phone released a year and a half ago.

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3

Pixel and Fitbit watches

There’s only one wearable Google wants you to buy

Google continues to sell two Fitbit watches — the Sense 2 and the Versa 4 — but you really shouldn’t bother with either of them. Both of those devices date back to 2022, and Google has increasingly minimized the Fitbit brand, to the point that I’m not sure it’ll be around in a year or two. Google would really prefer that you buy a

Pixel Watch 3
, which is probably a wise idea anyway, given that you’ll get a good general-purpose WearOS watch rather than something focused almost entirely around fitness. In fact, the Pixel Watch 3 is a better fitness product as well.

While I’m at it, Google either needs to update its most basic Fitbit trackers — the Charge 6 and the Inspire 3 — or discontinue them entirely. I think it’s worth producing updates, given that not everyone wants or needs a full-fledged smartwatch, but the company needs to step up its game if it wants people to buy a Fitbit over the many budget trackers available on Amazon. Above all, that means offering high-quality heart rate and GPS data, paired with the best software. There’s little point to fitness tracking if you’re getting wildly inaccurate metrics.

Google Pixel Watch 3

The Google Pixel Watch 3 builds on the previous model, introducing a new 45mm size along with the original 41mm watch. Both options feature a larger display with double the brightness. It offers plenty of runner-centric features along with more connectivity with Google’s ecosystem. 

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Does smart tech really add that much to your fitness regimen?

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4

The Pixel Tablet

Thrown under a bus?

Pocket-lint / Google

The

Pixel Tablet
is, by all accounts, a pretty solid Android tablet. It might not be the fastest or most innovative, but it’s good at what it does, and its optional speaker dock lets it double as a smart home display — somewhat making up for the absence of new Nest Hubs if you’re deep into the Google Nest/Google Home ecosystem. It even has access to Gemini now, so you can ask complex questions without having to go fetch your phone or your laptop.

The issue is that it’s Google’s only Android tablet, and reports suggest that we might not get a sequel, given disappointing sales numbers. If so, that’s a strangely weak commitment, given that the company has long been fighting to make Android tablets more appealing. It should be demonstrating what’s possible with the form factor, much in the way the Pixel 9 showcases what Android phones can do.

The Pixel Tablet deserves a refresh. It doesn’t even need the Tensor G5 processor expected to ship in the

Pixel 10
— simply giving it a G4 and cutting-edge software would give it a lot of appeal, as long as Google keeps it competitive with Samsung tablets price-wise. Indeed, as good as Samsung Galaxy Tabs can be, I’d be more inclined to get a Pixel Tablet to avoid dealing with the cruft Samsung layers on top of Android.

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