Will Buying Another Device Help Curb Your Smartphone Addiction? Google Thinks So

The "smart display" wars are taking off, which means it's time for consumers to ask themselves that modern existential question: Do I need another screen? That's what I was wondering while sitting in the bedroom of a Google employee, whose chic San Francisco home was being used as the backdrop for demos of the company's new Home Hub device. Major tech companies, one after the other, have launched voice-controlled touchscreen gadgets that are meant to live on your kitchen counter, nightstand or living room table. And Google Homes product manager Ashton Udall was showcasing what this particular one does when you wake up and say, "Okay, Google. At this prompt, Google's virtual assistant voiced a greeting, announced the time and weather, then provided an assessment of how bad the commute would be that day. Meanwhile, the bedroom shade -- one of the 10,000 or so smart devices that can sync with the Home Hub -- automatically rolled up. When the assistant is done going through reminders or previewing events on the Google Calendar, it might launch a news reel. This one had been programmed to segue into classical music instead. "In the morning, you're stumbling out of bed, you're getting the cobwebs out of your head," Udall said. "I don't have to go into my phone … You can start just listening." Smart displays, though their capabilities vary, are not replacements for handheld devices. They're meant to be shared. The Home Hub is in many ways a smart speaker with a 7-in. Yet supplanting those handheld devices is a value proposition that Google employees emphasized when I asked why people need this, as if the smart display would function as a Plexiglass partition between me and my smartphone -- servicing many of my basic needs and desires without exposing me to distracting, endless notifications. "The way we designed this is it's there.