New Nest Thermostat: Thinner, Sleeker, Better. Sound Familiar?

By

1349185177.jpg

“Father of the iPod” Tony Fadell’s company Nest has released version 2.0 of its Apple-like thermostat. And like any good Apple update, the Nest 2.0 is thinner, better and good-looking-er.

The original Nest was pretty neat — if you didn’t mind spending like $250 on a thermostat. It was easy to install, hooked up to your Wi-Fi network to talk to your iPhone or iPad, and would learn your habits over time and start controlling the heating automatically, switching it off when you left for work, for example.

The new one is the same, but better. The already handsome circle loses the front grille and gains a shiny steel body to reflect the wall behind it and better blend into your decor.

Inside it’s even easier to install: screw it to the wall, poke the wires through its central hole and shove them into the press-in connectors. V2.0 is also compatible with more central heating systems thanks to some extra wiring hookups, and in combination with the new 3.0 app (launched today) it supports several brand-specific hardware functions. Fadell’s blog post is worth reading just for the marketing-speak names of these features: “True Radiant” and “Heat Pump Balance” are my favorites.

The new Nest goes on sale later this month for $250, and the old one can be had for $230 until stocks are gone. I wonder if this is the beginning of us upgrading our thermostats every year, just like our iPads? After all, that old 1.0 Nest sure looks ugly and fat right now.

Source: Nest

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.