Google’s new Nest cameras and doorbells have lower prices and more intelligence

Google has announced a new line of home security cameras and a video doorbell under its Nest brand. The new models, which include an indoor-only camera, indoor / outdoor camera, projector, and video doorbell, replace the older Nest IQ cameras and the Nest Hello doorbell. The main themes of the new devices are a unified design language and more accessible pricing – each model costs less than the camera it replaces, while adding more capabilities.

The design of the new cameras will be familiar to anyone who has seen other Nest products released in the past two years, such as the latest Nest Thermostat, Nest WiFi, or the Nest Audio smart speaker. The company has turned to softer edges and muted color palettes, and the new cameras stick to them with color options that are meant to blend in, not stand out.

Google is also adding a bit more intelligence to cameras, thanks to advances in machine learning on the device. The new models can detect people, animals, packages, and vehicles and provide specific alerts for each one without the need for cloud processing (or associated subscription costs). (The Familiar Faces feature, which uses cloud-based facial recognition, still requires a paid plan.) The idea behind this is to reduce noise from constant motion notifications, a common complaint with home security cameras. and video doorbells.

Google says the tensor processing unit (TPU) in the new cameras allows the algorithms to run on twice as many pixels and at twice the frame rate of previous Nest Cams, which provides sensing. ‘more reliable events and alerts, in the same way that a TPU will improve. the capabilities of the upcoming Pixel 6 smartphone. The cameras also include three hours of subscription-free event history and have internal storage that can hold up to an hour of event clips (roughly the equivalent of a week’s worth of events). ‘events) in the event of a Wi-Fi failure.

Finally, Google offers versatility with this range, as the doorbell and the new Nest Cam can be used in either battery-powered or wired configurations. There is also a range of accessories available for wall or table mounting, or for installing a camera indoors or outdoors.

What you won’t see highlighted with the new models is 4K resolution or race-specific hardware advancements. Google says the trade-off required for 4K video – higher bandwidth consumption, higher cloud storage costs – outweighs the benefits. Additionally, Google thinks things like better HDR processing and smarter notifications are more useful than just increasing the resolution.

Google Nest Cam

Photo: Google

The centerpiece of the line is the new $ 179.99 Nest Cam, which can be used indoors or outdoors. (Sophie Le Guen, Google product manager for Home and Nest products, tells me the outdoors is where the company sees the most interest and growth in security cameras.) It has a battery. internal which the company says lasts up to three months between charges with typical usage. It can also be wired as a permanent power supply; Weatherproof power cable or optional solar panel is available for outdoor installations.

The Nest Cam has a soft, rounded design that’s partly made from recycled plastic, but it maintains the IP54 weatherproofing. Google says its magnetic mounting base has been tested to withstand high winds and that there will be an anti-theft mount that can be used to ensure the camera is not stolen.

The camera records 16: 9 1080p video at up to 30 frames per second in a 130-degree field of view. You can digital zoom up to 6x in the Google Home app while watching the stream or a recorded clip. If you need more than three hours of event history (snippets of events from the last three hours) included for free, you can pay for a Nest Aware or Aware Plus subscription that offers up to 10 days of recording. 24/7 and 60 days of event history.

The new Nest Cam is available in white and can be pre-ordered starting today, August 5, with shipments scheduled to begin August 24.

Google Nest Cam with projector

Photo: Google

The $ 279.99 Nest Cam with Floodlight is Google’s first connected projector camera and fills a gap in the lineup that other companies have tackled for some time. It’s actually a Nest Cam attached to a 2,400 lumen projector. It requires permanent power – no battery option here – and features an IP65 weatherproof rating.

Unlike standard projectors, which are triggered by any kind of movement, Nest Cam with Floodlight can use the same intelligence available in other cameras to activate only when it detects a person or vehicle. This separates it from other Floodlight cameras, such as the Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro, which turns on and records a clip for any movement it detects.

Google says Nest Cam with Floodlight will be available at a later date.

Google Nest Cam Indoor

Photo: Google

The simplest and cheapest new camera in the line is the Nest Cam Indoor at $ 99.99. A much smaller camera than the standard Nest Cam, the indoor model lacks the battery and weatherproofing of the more expensive model, but retains the same camera specs and intelligence features.

The Nest Cam Indoor will be available in four colors (white, pink, beige or green) to better match your decor or other Nest products you may have in your home. A wooden base is also available as an option and the camera can be placed on a table or mounted on a wall.

The Nest Cam Indoor should be available at a later date.

Google Nest doorbell

Photo: Google

The $ 179.99 Google Nest Doorbell is the company’s first video doorbell to run on battery or wired power. (The 2018 $ 229.99 Nest Hello doorbell was limited to wired setups only.) It’s compatible with more homes than Nest’s previous doorbell and comes in four colors (white, tan, green, or gray) for the better. match your entryway decor. Google says typical battery life is around two and a half months between charges, although this is affected by your door’s occupancy and the environment.

The Nest Doorbell has a 3: 4 aspect ratio, similar to the old Nest Hello, which Google says lets you see head-to-toe visitors and packages within eight inches of the door. The vertical field of view reaches 145 degrees, although the width of the horizontal field of view is unclear. (A mounting wedge is included in the box to adjust its viewing angle for different inputs.) The Nest Doorbell can record 960 x 1280 pixel video at up to 30 frames per second and has both night vision capabilities and HDR.

Photo: Google

Like the new Nest Cam, the Nest Doorbell includes up to three hours of video event history, but you can subscribe to a paid plan for longer storage (you can’t get 24-hour video history and 7/7 on the doorbell, however). One of the main advantages of the original Nest Hello was how quickly it delivered notifications or a live feed to a Nest Hub smart display after the bell rang compared to other video doorbells – we’ll have to see if the Nest Doorbell maintains this performance when running on battery power.

The Nest Doorbell can be pre-ordered starting today, August 5, and shipments are expected to begin August 24.

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The new cameras fill in some obvious gaps in Google’s smart home lineup and make it more competitive with Ring and others who have had projector cameras and battery-powered doorbells for years now. The lower prices also make the cameras more accessible than before, although they are not as affordable as the cameras available from Wyze and other smaller brands.

But if you have a Google Assistant-centric smart home, cheaper cameras or Ring products won’t work as well for you, and you certainly won’t have as consistent an experience as Google. devices. We’ll see how good this experience is when we get a chance to review the new cameras in the near future.