The fourth generation of this smart home device is as much a design meditation as it is a utility interface

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Six Months with the Nest Thermostat

The fourth generation of this smart home device is as much a design meditation as it is a utility interface

Josh Rubin

11 February 2025

Six months into daily life with the fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat, its quiet elegance and seamless functionality have proven as intentional as its design philosophy suggests. More than a simple upgrade, it refines an already iconic form, balancing technological intelligence with an organic presence that integrates effortlessly into the home. Designed during a period of reflection and adaptation, the latest iteration embraces the fluidity of water as a guiding principle, balancing flexibility and resilience. “During the pandemic, we had some time to think about our design philosophy and we felt that water was an important source of inspiration for our team… because it was all about being flexible but being strong when needed,” explains Sung Bai, Director of Industrial Design for Home Devices at Google. This vision is evident in the thermostat’s softened contours, seamless interface and delicate floating presence—an object meant to enhance its surroundings rather than dominate them.

A key evolution is the domed glass display, now 60% larger than its predecessor, designed to enhance readability from a distance while preserving the organic curvature reminiscent of a water droplet—the same inspiration that guided the Google Pixel Watch design and their 2023 Shaped by Water installation during Milan Design Week. Recognizing the challenge of scaling up the display without making the device feel cumbersome, the team introduced a floating design, an illusion of weightlessness that maintains a sense of refinement. “If you take this and just grow it, it will look massive and thick off the wall. So that’s why we have this floating look, because it gives a perception of thinness,” Bai notes, emphasizing the importance of making the thermostat feel like “a piece of art.” The effect minimizes the visual weight of wires and mounting hardware, allowing the device to appear effortlessly suspended.

The commitment to seamlessness extends to the invisible bezels, ensuring the thermostat reads as a singular form rather than a device encased in a separate frame. The refined curvature and slimmer profile contribute to a sense of quiet sophistication, reinforcing its presence as a design object rather than just a functional necessity.

Interactivity remains central to the Nest experience, with the rotating ring returning as the primary mode of control. The team fine-tuned every detail, from the torque of the rotation to the acoustic quality of each click. “We kept the control ring,” Bai explains, “and to that end, we engineered the torque, the amount of grease inside the device to make the tactile experience intentional.” Even the sound was reconsidered, shifting to a “more premium, dampened sound” that reinforces the thermostat’s sensory refinement.

With a larger screen comes Dynamic Farsight, a feature that displays essential information like time, temperature or weather when viewed from across the room. As you approach, the display subtly shifts, creating what the team describes as an emotional connection—a subtle interaction that brings the device to life. While future gesture controls remain a possibility, the current implementation is focused on intuitive engagement.

Sustainability remains a priority, with the device constructed from recycled materials and housed in compact, eco-conscious packaging. Installation has been streamlined for simplicity, though a new backplate design was necessary to accommodate the updated form. To ensure real-world usability, the team conducted extensive testing, even dedicating a garage space to simulate home environments. “We tried to simulate how people would use their devices in real settings,” Bai shares, underscoring the meticulous attention to user experience.

The fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat is more than an incremental update—it is a meditation on the intersection of technology, design and human interaction. It refines the elements that made its predecessors iconic while embracing new possibilities with restraint and precision. As Bai reflects, the development process was “a quiet moment for us to just be able to focus and be isolated” to create something that is “connected to the previous generation” yet “so different as well, in many different ways.”