Nest Thermostat E Is Company's First Under Alphabet

Yes, that sounds strange ain't it? But consider that the first and last thermostat to come from what was known back then as Nest Labs was the original Nest Learning Thermostat in 2011. Since then, the company has come a long way, released a smoke detector and security cameras, and as was acquired by Google and then under Alphabet in the great reshuffling. Now the company is going back to its roots with the Nest Thermostat E, bringing the lessons of the past 6 years to even more people and more houses.

"E is for everyone" is Nest's tagline for the Thermostat E, and by that it means it wants the Thermostat to be more approachable and more accessible to everyone, not just the tech-savvy early adopters who built a community around Nest's products. Nest plans to accomplish that in two parts. The first is in making the Thermostat E look less daunting and less out of place on your wall.

It retains the same circular shape, which many will consider to be smoother and gentler on the eyes. But instead of the conspicuous and thick black ring around the display, Nest shrunk the thermostat to almost only the display itself. It also changed the color to white, to make it match more common wall colors and blend in better with its surroundings.

Nest didn't stop there. Instead of a crisp and sharp display, it put a layer of diffusing film on top of the screen. The result is that the text and information looks softer, almost blurred, and easier on the eyes, not like looking at a cold, impersonal LCD screen.

But perhaps the biggest way Nest is making its new thermostat more accessible is by making it more affordable. The Nest Thermostat E is nearly half the cost of a $250 Nest Learning thermostat but with exactly the same smart features. And with one time payment of $169, Nest estimates that users will be able to easily recoup that cost by saving up to $145 a year in energy costs.

SOURCE: Nest