Google Home starts catching up to the Amazon Echo

Good news, Google Home owners: the smart home hub can now talk to more gear.

This morning, Google announced a pair of new partners for the Home platform that will bring even more variety to its stable of connected devices and better streamline our increasingly connected smart households: Honeywell and Belkin Wemo.

Google already had Nest, Philips Hue and Samsung SmartThings devices as part of the system, so adding Honeywell and and Belkin Wemo will give Home owners more options as they sync up their homes to the Internet of Things (IoT), a term commonly used to refer to all the smart, internet-connected devices used to optimize our daily lives (think smart appliances).

Honeywell's smart thermostats will give the platform an alternative to Nest, while Wemo's lighting and home automation systems join the Hue and SmartThings offerings as a way to keep closer control of lighting and energy levels. The new gear will be managed by what Google calls "Home Control," which manages all your connected devices and interacts with Google Assistant.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

To keep you connected even when you're outside the house, Home Control is coming to the Google Pixel phone, too, keeping your Assistant experience consistent across platforms. Those mobile capabilities will come in handy all those times you inevitably leave the house with the lights still on.

With Amazon's Alexa ahead in the smart assistant horse race, hooking up with as many partners as possible will be the key to help Google keep up. Belkin and Honeywell might not offer anything like an smart refrigerator, but expanding the product base is a good place to start.