Google Assistant’s Ambient Mode Turns Android Devices Into Passive ‘Hub’ Displays ⇥ theverge.com

Dieter Bohn, the Verge:

Today at IFA, Google is announcing a new feature for Google Assistant: Ambient Mode. On a few upcoming Android phones and tablets, this new mode will turn those devices into something like a Google Nest Hub (neé Google Home Hub) display when docked. It will show calendar info, weather, notifications, reminders, music controls, and smart home controls. Also like the Nest Hub smart display, it will automatically show a slideshow from your Google Photos account.

For its first couple of years on the market, the iPad could show a photo slideshow when it was docked. I’ve always been confused why this capability was removed in iOS 7 instead of being refined along similar lines to this Android feature.