Nest Learning Thermostat brings hot water to Europe

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Launched in the USA back in September, the third-gen Nest Learning Thermostat now reaches Europe with several updates that are significant in this market.

First up, there's control for hot water. American readers may be surprised to learn that, in many UK and European homes, water is heated in advance and stored in small tanks within the primitive, wattle-and-daub huts in which many on this continent dwell.

The new thermostat from the Google-owned Nest allows the heating of water to be scheduled in the same way as heating the home, and also turns itself off entirely when the Nest detects you've not been home for two days or more.

Also Euro-specific is support for OpenTherm. This allows more sophisticated control of a compatible boiler than just turning it on and off, using the minimum possible amount of gas to reach a desired temperature, as set on your Nest.

Also updated, as we noted back in September are the screen, which is higher-res at 229ppi and larger, so the current and target temperature can be read from across the room. You can also set it to display a clock face.

The third-gen Nest Learning Thermostat is priced £199 in the UK, or £249 with installation. A stand is also available for £29, if you don't want it wall mounted. Nest claims that energy savings from the device could see it cover that cost "within a year."

• Read our review of the original Nest Learning Thermostat here.