At least with the current state of things, Google seems confused about the complete definition of Home Automation.
True full automation should require little or no interaction beyond its initial setup.
Google seems to think that nearly every automation needs to start with a voice activated trigger, courtesy of Google Assistant.
Then their idea of an automation is a Routine, which is a sequence of actions. You build the sequence of actions, and assign a spoken phrase to trigger them. It’s a locked phrase, and doesn’t use any kind of logic to interpret what you’re asking for. You have to use the exact phrase. You might as well be using a button. Push the button and the sequence of actions happen. You can also use a alarm, (if you’ve installed Google Alarm on your device), but again that’s just a trigger.
That definition is missing most of what makes Home Automation… automated. Actions that can occur without human interaction, based on logic: taking actions based on meeting defined conditions and/or environmental or sensor device values going above/below thresholds, for example. And complex automations allow for a combination of numerous met conditions before an action is taken, and also different sets of actions that may be taken depending on which conditions are met or not, etc.
Google’s current suggestion for automations that don’t require voice input is to use IFTTT, which works for simplistic automations mostly based on a single condition or threshold. It’s also an extra link in the chain between the input and the device(s) that is/are part of the action(s). This is in contrast the Works with Nest API that allows direct bi-directional communication between another device or Home Automation hub and the Nest product.
I do appreciate having voice control over Nest products and the ability to query them. But I don’t use voice control that much in reality. So, what really bothers me is that with Google’s decision to shut down the Works with Nest API they simply direct developers to the Actions on Google Smart Home developer site.
Looking at that site, it appears that Google’s Smart Home Action’s API is only meant as an interface for the developer’s device(s) to be controlled by Google Assistant, and not as a way to request control of other devices linked to Google Assistant. Also, the “Works with Google Assistant” is not an API. It’s just a badge for products which have created Google Smart Home Actions which have been tested by Google and deemed worthy of being officially supported. So it is in no way a one-to-one replacement for the Works with Nest API.
So unless I’m missing something, Google Assistant’s Smart Home functionality is missing a few large pieces of what’s required to complete the Home Automation puzzle. As far as I can see, at the moment, as of August, I will no longer be able to set up automations that tell my Nest product to do certain things based on logic using a variety of sensors / devices in my home and other external conditions, nor will I be able to set up automations based on input from my Nest product.
This is why I agree 100% with The Verge’s assertion that Google’s changes risk making the smart home a little dumber.