Nest's new security camera will know who you are
When Nest Director of
Product Marketing Maxime Veron first
revealed the $299/£299 Nest Cam IQ indoorsecurity camera to me via Google
Hangout, I wasn't particularly impressed. At a glance, the IQ looks a lot like
the Nest Cam Outdoor,
but it's indoor-only and costs a hundred bucks more. Why would someone
pay more for this thing?
Well, because of the
better tech inside. The IQ has a 4K image sensor (that's 8 megapixels, folks).
Both the Nest Cam Indoor and Outdoor have
sensors of just 3 megapixels each -- and they already have great optics. Among
other things, the higher-quality sensor raises the digital zoom range to 12x,
up from 8x on the Nest Cam. The IQ also adds high dynamic range (HDR) video
capture to the mix. Veron walked me through comparative shots of the same
person's face with a "competitor's" camera, plus a Nest Cam Indoor
and the new Nest Cam IQ. As you'd expect, the IQ's image looked significantly
better than the other two.
Enlarge Image
Nest's next camera costs $299, but
adds 4K tech and other advanced features.
Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Note: The IQ streams in
1080p, not 4K. Nest instead relies on the upgraded sensor for advanced
features, likefacial recognition (more on that
below).
Other connected cameras:
Since you're spending a
lot more money on the IQ camera, Nest gives you two advanced features for free:
Person Alerts and Supersight. Person Alerts is part of Nest's Nest Aware cloud
storage service for Nest Cam Indoor and Outdoor subscribers. But IQ customers
will receive free Person Alerts when the camera detects a person (this feature
won't tell you who it sees, just that it sees someone).
Nest Aware costs $10 per
month for 10 days of continuous recording or $30 per month for 30 days of
continuous recording.
Supersight is an
entirely new feature that's exclusive to IQ cameras. It gives you a dual
display of your live feed -- the main 1080p view and a smaller zoomed-in
viewing window that's supposed to automatically recognize a person's face and
zoom in on it to monitor potential intruders.
If IQ customers
subscribe to Nest Aware, they also get access to a new feature: Familiar Face
Alerts. With Face Alerts, the IQ should be able to differentiate between you
and your roommate -- and someone who's trespassing. Nest is also working on a
smart audio alerts feature to notify Nest Aware subscribers (all in this case,
not just IQ customers) whenever the dog barks.
Nest'
The IQ also promises
improved audio with speakers that are "seven times more powerful than the
original Nest Cam," according to the official press release. The new
camera is also equipped with three microphones. Two-way talk is often
hit-and-miss with DIY cameras, so I'm definitely looking forward to testing
this feature out.
Concerning smart home
integrations, the Nest Cam IQ will be part of Works with Nest, Nest's own smart
home platform, as well as IFTTT. The IQ
doesn't currently work with Amazon's Alexa speakers or the Google Home($129.99 at Dell Home),
but Veron described a possible use case where Google Home customers would be
able to pull up the IQ camera's live feed via Chromecast.
Since you can snag a
solid facial recognition camera for
just $60, the IQ's $299 seems quite steep. But it might just be worth it if you
want the high-end specs. We'll know more when we get our hands on a review
unit. The Nest Cam IQ indoor security camera is currently available for
preorder on Nest's online store. Units are expected to
start shipping in late June.
No comments: