Camera System & Nest/Google Home Interface

[ForestFarmer]

After nearly 7-8 years of being a Nest Customer I cant wait to swtich services. When we started building our new house I began to stock up on new Google Nest Cameras and a Doorbell. Within the last month I was finally able to set up most of our cameras to discover they are no longer compatible with the Nest Interface I loved so much. I've spent weeks trying to find solutions as to why this is and see if google has any support around this. The alerts to my phone and watch and all the features Nest had to offer really made me fall in love with the interface and everyone I spoke with I raved about it getting friends and family to join the google nest family. Now we are left with the google home app which doesn't do nearly close to what the Nest App did and the notifications don't work on the watch and I don't get the video clip notifications. Its all around a terrible product and interface. I've now spent over $1k on cameras to discover the camera service is essentially being dissolved. After nearly an our on the phone with customer service they could not give me answers as to why the dashboard is going away. As I RECENTLY (within the last few months) had purchased all these cameras I asked if I could get a refund for these cameras so I could switch to a competitor.  Customer service strung me along and told me because I purchased the cameras thru amazon and best buy I would have to go through them to return the products. But I cant return them. They are passed their return windows and I don't have all the packaging. So essentially google has done the old bait and switch. I am out of pocket with a camera system that doesn't work. I even bought a google chromecast to see if I could get the camera features to work via that without success. 

The google home app is terrible. It only works on the app. I cant stream from my Google TV or my Chromecast or the internet. I cant flag my videos, I cant make video clips, I cant save and download my history. The alerts don't happen in a timely manner. I cant see a dashboard view of all my cameras. The streaming or viewing of the camera history is always freezing and I have to constantly reset the app. 

This is supposed to be a worldly technology company and its like I'm using dial up service using your interface when I have fiberoptic networks. 

Google! Hello? Are you listening? Your product interface is terrible and you've essentially stolen money from me. This is false advertising. 

[EmptyNester]

Hello ForestFarmer,   I'm an end user like you and have also been using NEST cams for about 8 years.  I think what you wrote is very well stated.  And if you look back thru this forum for the last 3 years you will see many many people calling out the exacting same thoughts.

Since this is only a user forum there is a good chance that Google will not even see  your post since they don't spend any time here reading this.   However  here is a link where you can send your thought to them directly: 

https://davidking.xyz/google-feedback/#nest

However I might be able to help with a few things that might make you like the cameras a bit more. 

Google has been slowly working to transition the NEST APP features to the GOOGLE HOME app.  And while there is still a ways to go I want to point this out.   Make sure you are running  Google Home app version 3.13.105 (in the app go to the GEAR Settings icon then SUPPORT and it will show the version number.  

Next make sure you request the PREVIEW mode which gives you access to a few of the things you are asking for.  Again go to the GEAR settings and scroll down to Public Preview and turn it on.

Now you will be easily able to see the video clips and also see the 24/7 time line if you have the Nest Aware PLUS activated.  You can also SAVE video clips however in the Google Home app they are saved to your iPhone PHOTOS.   To do this go to the live view of a camera and select a clip and then hit the 3-horizontal lines in the lower right corner and you should see SAVE CLIP.   And if you hit the little "i" with he circle around it you can report a clip as being correct or not when it comes to a person alert.  

You can also view the live streaming images of your cameras from your web browser as well.  However you now need to go to home.google.com and log in and then it will work.  Right now you only see the live images but I believe Google has soon they are working to provide a way to see the recorded clips.   But I don't have a time frame on this.   The other thing that is there (if you are kind of techy) is there is a cool automation section where you can write your own automation scripts that work with the cameras.

One more thing: The Google Home PREVIEW version gives you a way to bring the older Gen 1 cams into the Google Home app. I have done it and it work. But once you move them you can no longer view them in the NEST app.  So I don't recommend doing it (for now).

I hope this helps ease the pain a bit.    

Let me know what you think and if you were able to get these to work.