Google Nest

Nest Labs

Industry	Home Automation
Founder	Tony Fadell Matt Rogers
Headquarters	, United States
Area served	United States Canada
Products	Thermostats
Website	Nest.com

Nest Labs or Nest is a company that designs and manufactures a sensor-driven, Wi‑Fi-enabled, learning, programmable thermostat, now in its second generation.

The company was founded by Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers in 2010 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Learning thermostat

The company's initial product, called Nest, is an electronic, programmable, and self-learning wifi-enabled thermostat that optimizes heating and cooling of homes and businesses to conserve electricity.

Specifications

Device Photo	Model (Codename)	Version	Released	Wi-Fi	ZigBee	24V	120– 240V	Multiple Zones	1 - 2 Stage Cooling	1 - 3 Stage Heating	Forced Air	Radiant	Heat Pump	Oil	Gas	Electric	Hybrid Systems
	Diamond	1.10	Q4 2011	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Single Stage Only	1-2 stage only	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Diamond	1.12	Q1 2012	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Single Stage Only	1-2 stage only	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Unknown	2.0	Q3 2012	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Both	All	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Hardware

Nest's front screen

Nest is compatible with most standard HVAC systems that use central heating and cooling and uses industry standard connections to facilitate the control of these appliances. Systems that use 120–240V current are not compatible with Nest and without new hardware, will not be able to support this voltage.

Nest consists of two primary pieces of hardware. The display contains the main printed circuit board (PCB) and rotating ring, and the base (pictured) houses the connection terminals, bubble level, and holes for wall anchors. Neither can function independently; if separated, the display becomes inactive until reconnected to the base.

Unlike most other thermostats, when installing Nest, the "jumper" wire can be ignored as Nest can compensate for the lack of this cable. This feature, along with the screwless push connectors, simplifies wire management and keeps installation less cluttered.

Software

Nest is built around an operating system that allows interaction with the thermostat via spinning and clicking of its control wheel, which brings up option menus for switching from heating to cooling, access to device settings, energy history, and scheduling. Users can control Nest without a touch screen or other input device. As the thermostat is connected to the Internet, the company can push updates to fix bugs, improve performance and add additional features. For updates to occur automatically, the thermostat must be connected to Wi‑Fi and the battery must have at least a 3.8V charge to give enough power to complete the download and installation of the update.

Thermostat software

Version Release Date	Description
3.0.3 November 16, 2012	Bug fixes
3.0.2 November 9, 2012	Bug fixes
3.0.1 October 2, 2012	Pro Setup support for the 1st generation Nest Learning Thermostat Bug fixes
3.0 October 2, 2012	Support for the 2nd generation Nest Learning Thermostat: Pro Setup view to set up complex systems, including dual fuel systems (heat pump with furnace), whole-home humidifiers or dehumidifers. System Match features tailored for your system type: Forced air systems: Early-On and Filter Reminders Radiant systems: True Radiant Heat pump systems: Heat Pump Balance (if AUX and Wi-Fi) Improved Auto-Away to better adapt to your home Improved Auto-Schedule, now available in Heat • Cool mode Renamed Location setting as Your Place setting. Now includes more home info Renamed Learning setting as Nest Sense setting. Now includes: Early-On True Radiant or Heat Pump Balance settings and status. Renamed Range mode as Heat • Cool mode Multilingual English French Spanish
2.1.3 August 30, 2012	Expanded support for WiFi access points including Apple Airport Express (2nd generation)
2.1 May 17, 2012	Improvements to Energy History Additional bug fixes
2.0 April 5, 2012	Airwave Updated Energy History view Easier access to Away temperatures Improvements to Auto-Schedule and Auto-Away Additional bug fixes
1.2 March 7, 2012	Expanded support for Wi-Fi access points Improved Auto-Away performance (for homes with one or multiple Nest Thermostats) Additional bug fixes
1.1.3 February 2, 2012	Fixed a battery bug affecting a small portion of Nest thermostats after a service outage
1.1.2 January 24, 2012	Improvements and bug fixes for software update installation
1.1.1 January 20, 2012	Wider range of away temperatures: down to 40ºF or off for heating, up to 90ºF or off for cooling Improvements and bug fixes for Schedule Learning, Auto Away, energy history, Wi-Fi connection, time zones, lock and more
1.0.6 January 11, 2012	Bug fixes
1.0.4 December 16, 2011	Improved performance for Schedule Learning Improved performance for Auto-Away Bug fixes
1.0.2 November 22, 2011	Improved performance for heat pumps Improved performance for Energy History Improved performance for Auto-Away Bug fixes
1.0.1 November 11, 2011	Bug fixes
1.0 October 25, 2011	Original Release

Availability

As of 2012 Nest can be purchased directly from Nest Lab's online store and several other retailers for the same initial MSRP of $249. It is also available through a network of local certified installers.

Nest is incompatible with some ZIP codes and time zones in the United States such as Guam.

Nest is not currently available for sale outside the United States and Canada. It is, however, compatible with many heating and cooling systems in other countries. Nest Labs have surveyed existing users known to be outside the areas where it is officially available. Use of the thermostat outside the United States and Canada is complicated by the software setting time and other functions based on the ZIP code. For international users this means they must either disable Wi‑Fi to set the time correctly or use the nearest U.S. zipcode which may result in erratic behaviour as the thermostat makes faulty assumptions about inactivity corresponding with either sleep or the home's occupants being away.

Recently a man-in-the-middle hack allows worldwide users setup their timezone and local weather.

Easter egg

An easter egg exists in the "Legal Info" menu of the Nest thermostat. At the bottom of the page, each time the menu is entered, a new saying will populate. They include:

• No Squirrels.
• It's just a switch.
• Brought to you from the garage on Alma.
• My good friends call me Harry.

Nest Mobile

Nest Mobile, the mobile app for Android and iOS, receives fairly concurrent updates. Below are the changelogs for each platform and the description of the changes made.

iOS app

Version Release Date	Description
3.0.1 October 3, 2012	Optimized for the 4-inch Retina display on iPhone 5 and iPod touch
3.0.0 October 2, 2012	Support for the 2nd generation Nest Learning Thermostat (2nd stage cooling, 3rd stage heating, emergency heat, humidifier, dehumidifier, dual fuel. Improved settings to support System Match features (Early-On, Heat Pump Balance, True Radiant) Improved At A Glance page Ability to remotely lock your thermostat with a 4-digit PIN code More info available in Energy History Nest Learning is now called Nest Sense Range mode is now called Heat • Cool Added more info to home settings Overall bug fixes and improvements Multilingual English French Spanish
2.1.3 May 17, 2012	Updated for the new iPad Retina display Ability to change your email address, password, or communication preferences Overall bug fixes and improvements
2.0 April 5, 2012	Expanded support for viewing and adjusting Nest Thermostat Settings Energy History
1.1.1 December 7, 2011	Bug fixes and enhancements to schedule, thermostat views See thermostat status and temperatures when OFF, Away, or Auto-Away
1.1.0 November 14, 2011	Schedule viewing and adjustment iPad support
1.0.1 October 31, 2011	Original release

Android app

Version Release Date	Description
3.0.0.157 October 2, 2012	Now works with all Android devices (Android 2.2 "Froyo" or above), including tablets like Google Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire. Improved speed and stability Support for the 2nd generation Nest Learning Thermostat Support for System Match features: Early-On Heat Pump Balance True Radiant Ability to remotely lock your Nest More info in Energy History Nest Learning is now called Nest Sense Multilingual English French Spanish Overall bug fixes and improvement
2.1.0.65 May 17, 2012	Ability to change your email address, password or communication preferences Overall bug fixes and improvements
2.0 April 5, 2012	Expanded support for viewing and adjusting Nest Thermostat Settings Energy History Schedule viewing and adjustment Expanded support for Android smartphones
1.0.1 December 22, 2011	Expanded support for more Android devices and screen sizes, including: HTC EVO 3D Motorola Atrix Motorola Droid Razr Motorola Droid Bionic Minor enhancements and bug fixes
1.1.3 December 12, 2011	Original Release

Lawsuit

In February 2012 Honeywell filed a lawsuit claiming that some of its patents had been infringed by Nest, Nest has said that it will fight the lawsuit.

On April 12, 2012, Nest publicly announced they will see Honeywell all the way to court as they believe that none of the seven allegedly infringed patents were actually violated. Honeywell is claiming that Nest has infringed on patents pertaining to remotely controlling a thermostat, power-stealing thermostats, and thermostats designed around a circular, interactive design, similar to the popular Honeywell T87. However, Honeywell held patents that were almost identical to those that expired in 2004. Nest has taken the stance that they will see this through to a patent court as they suspect Honeywell is trying to harass them litigiously and financially out of business.

References

http://usingnestthermostatineurope.wordpress.com/

Nest labs website