We’ve been waiting for years for Google’s tiny radar to realize its potential, and now it looks like the company is at least giving Soli another chance. According to filings with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Google now has a mysterious “wireless device” that contains short-range 60GHz radar technology, plus 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and some sort of “base plate.”
What on earth is this device? Early speculation is that it’s simply a new Nest thermostat, which might make sense. The FCC filing doesn’t indicate that the device has any radios beyond 2.4GHz and 60GHz. The 2020 Nest thermostat had similarly fewer radios, but it used Soli radar to automatically detect when the user was in front of the thermostat, lighting up an invisible display hidden behind a mirror. It also makes sense that the thermostat would have a “base plate,” which could be wall-mounted or stand-alone.
A 2021 update to Google’s Nest Hub that adds Soli radar for sleep tracking doesn’t seem all that likely. The smart home hub will certainly feature low-power wireless technologies like Thread or Zigbee to control other smart home gadgets, but neither is mentioned here. But we honestly expect that all of Google’s smart home gadgets will have Thread in them by 2024. So are those really gadgets like thermostats and smoke detectors?
With no mention of a battery whatsoever, and no mention of the two AAA batteries that were listed in the FCC filing for the 2020 Nest Thermostat, this appears to be something wired. Today’s filing indicates that the mysterious new gadget was tested while plugged into AC power (via a “setup box”), or while connected to a USB cable plugged into a laptop (early Nest thermostats do have a USB port that can technically be used for charging).
Even Google’s cheapest Nest Mini speaker supports the 5GHz band, so it’s hard to imagine this being a smart speaker with only 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi.
Could this be the leaked Pixel Watch 3? One of Google’s earliest tech demos for Soli is a smartwatch, and Google’s watch doesn’t use the 5GHz band. 2.4GHz, Bluetooth, and Soli are enough for a Wi-Fi-only version of the watch, and the “base plate” could be a charger. But Google claims it hasn’t done any radiation testing because the device is typically held at least 20cm away from people.
This is similar to what was said about Nest thermostats in 2020: “The antenna of this product is at least 20cm away from the user’s body under normal use conditions. As such, the device is classified as a mobile device.”
Do any FCC investigators have a better idea? For now, I guess it remains a mystery.