Nest Doorbell (battery) Review: More features, lower quality
Verdict
With its onboard object detection and 3 hours of offline recording, the Nest Doorbell (battery) adds some clever features that rival products don't have. Simple to apply and integrating with Google Assistant smart speakers, the doorbell is largely a triumph of features. However, relatively low-resolution video and a new app that'due south non quite as good as the old one take the smooth off this product a little.
Pros
- Wired or battery modes
- Onboard object recognition
- Three hours of onboard recording
Cons
- Low resolution
- Google Home app is not every bit good as the Nest app
Availability
- Uk RRP: £179.99
- U.s. RRP: $179.99
- Europe RRP: €199.99
Key Features
- Blazon This is a smart video doorbell that can be bombardment-powered or powered via an existing doorbell transformer.
- Connection This doorbell connects via ii.4GHz Wi-Fi to your home network.
- Battery life You can get upward to 2.5 months of battery life out of a single charge, although permanent ability means that yous'll never need to recharge.
Introduction
While other smart home companies refresh their products on a yearly basis, Google and its Nest brand are far more lethargic: the concluding doorbell we saw from the company, the Doorbell (wired) merely originally called the Nest Hello, was launched manner back in 2018. Today, we finally have the new model, the Nest Doorbell (battery).
With some very clever online processing and offline video storage, information technology's the first Nest production that doesn't demand a Nest Enlightened deject subscription to really get the most out of it, although calculation this does give you a few extra features.
Smart looking and piece of cake to prepare up, the new doorbell has some very clever features simply its relatively depression-resolution video and the move abroad from the Nest app brand the original doorbell a meliorate product.
Design and installation
- Can be wired or wireless
- Corner bracket provided in the box
- Quite chunky
While the one-time Nest Doorbell (wired) had to be mains powered, the Nest Doorbell (bombardment) can be entirely battery-powered, although you practice take the option of wiring it into place also to automatically continue the bombardment topped up. This is similar to how the Ring Video Doorbell four works, with wired fashion charging the battery.
Given the integrated battery, the Nest Doorbell (battery) is far larger than the original, measuring 160mm x 46 10 24mm); however, it's not much wider than the original, then you should be able to fit it on most door frames. I institute that mine slotted in just fine. Below you can run across the erstwhile doorbell (tiptop) versus the new ane.
A sleek white lozenge of a device, the Nest Doorbell (battery) looks neat – I'd say it's nicer than the thicker battery-powered Ring doorbells. However, Band does take an reward: its battery pack drops out for charging, so you can put a spare in and never accept whatsoever downtime; if you run the Nest Doorbell (battery) on battery ability only, you have to remove the doorbell to charge it via USB. This is a little fiddly to do, so make sure you lot know where the removal tool is, otherwise you may struggle to get the doorbell off.
Mounting the Nest Doorbell (battery) is easy, with everything y'all need in the box. In that location's a directly mounting plate plus an optional bending bracket, which I needed equally the doorbell was existence installed next to a wall.
If you want to power the doorbell, you can use any existing 8-24 VAC transformer, which pretty much covers everything in the range. Neatly, if you lot've got an existing chime, the Nest Doorbell (battery) can audio it when the push button is pressed – something that Ring'southward wired doorbells tin can no longer practice.
I went for the wired pick and had to adhere the clip on-adaptors to the existing bare wires. All in all, information technology took me less than 20 minutes to get the old Nest Doorbell (wired) removed and the new 1 physically installed.
Setup then moves to your phone. While the former product used the Nest app, the new doorbell can just be continued to the Google Home app. The setup here is easy, and the sorcerer took me through getting the doorbell up and connected to my Wi-Fi network.
Features
- On-photographic camera object recognition
- Activity zones congenital-in
- Nest Aware adds facial recognition
While previous Nest cameras take relied heavily on a Nest aware subscription, the Nest Doorbell (battery) doesn't. In fact, for most uses, you might non even need to have a subscription.
In one case installed, the doorbell works like other smart ones. When someone presses the push, your phone will beep to let yous know that someone'south there, giving you lot the chance to answer the call from your phone. I slightly prefer the Arlo Video Doorbell here, as that model causes your phone to ring as though in that location was an incoming call; the basic notification you get hither tin can be easy to miss if you're out and about.
If yous take Google Home speakers around your home, they can also chime to permit you know that someone's at the door.
Equally with the Nest Doorbell (wired), if you accept a Nest Hub or other Google Assistant smart display, when someone presses the doorbell you get a video preview, and the chance to respond the door without reaching for your phone.
I however beloved the quick replies feature (available in-app or from smart displays) that lets you send a quick response, including that you're on your way, you lot can't answer the door, or telling a courier to leave a parcel for you.
If you want to have a break from callers, Quiet Time is available. This lets you silence your doorbell and all notifications, including the internal chime for your option of xxx minutes, 1 hour, ninety minutes, two hours and three hours. I'd like an option to schedule Quiet Time.
I found the Nest Doorbell (battery) relatively quick to ship notifications and incoming rings to my telephone and devices, unremarkably taking less than xx seconds to alert your phone and smart speakers. The Nest Doorbell (wired) is quicker on this front, taking less than ten seconds on average.
Beyond the standard smart features, the Nest Doorbell (battery) tin too act as a regular security camera. Cleverly, the doorbell has storage built-in for upwardly to 3 hours of videos, so you don't need a deject subscription for basic security and recordings. When y'all first set the photographic camera upward, you lot'll be taken through a wizard to manage, for privacy reasons, if you want your camera to tape and if you want to record sound or not.
And, the doorbell has on-device object detection for people, packages, animals and vehicles – features that are usually only available with a deject subscription.
For each type of object detection, you lot can cull to record or ignore, and whether you lot want to get a notification. For example, yous could choose to record videos for people, animals and vehicles but only to get a notification for when a person is detected.
Activity zones tin can be applied, likewise, letting yous select the part of the image that you want to monitor. Cleverly, you can apply multiple activity zones and select what you want to record or exist notified about in each, say vehicles in ane area and people in another.
Cleverly, Google assigns everything outside of a zone as 'Outside of zone': yous then have the selection of ignoring everything or applying the filters you want. Most cameras just ignore everything exterior of a zone with no monitoring options.
Beyond the smart object recognition, you go a catch-all option to tape all motility. That'south expert for security, only if you're running your doorbell on battery mode it will reduce battery life significantly, and then use this with caution.
Upgrade to a Nest Aware subscription (starting at £v a month for all Nest cameras y'all own) and you as well get xxx-days of video history and facial recognition. This doorbell is not compatible with the continuous recording feature of the more expensive Nest Aware subscription – y'all need the Nest Doorbell (wired) if yous desire this. Still, Nest Aware is a worthwhile upgrade if y'all want amend security and the choice to move back through more than than three hours of video, and facial recognition is still one of Nest's standout features.
Facial recognition works beyond all of your uniform Nest cameras, including the new Nest Cam (battery), and tells y'all who'southward at the front door. Your smart speakers can even announce who'due south at the door. Yous need to manage detected faces carefully to avert faux detections. In the app, you lot tin can name detected people, delete people and remove incorrectly identified faces from a person'southward contour.
With or without a Nest Aware subscription, your Nest Doorbell (battery) can keep recording when Wi-Fi and power are down, buffering up to three hours of video, then y'all get constant protection.
Managing the new Nest Doorbell (battery) through the Google Habitation app is slightly more clunky than with the Nest app. For starters, on my iPhone, the Nest app would prove rich notifications with a thumbnail preview of the video; the Google Home app shows basic alerts that you tin can long-printing to view more data.
Managing recordings and viewing video history is also more fiddly. With the Nest app, opening it up would give yous a video preview of your cameras, so you could see what was going on. Tap a camera and you'd spring into the live preview with the timeline beneath that you could ringlet through and filter to detect a recording.
With the Google Home app, it's more fiddly. Outset, you have to find your doorbell in the list of devices, scrolling down to the right room first. When you tap your doorbell you can get a live preview (automated if your camera is powered, through a 2nd tap if it's running on battery ability), but take to tap History to view a more basic timeline of recordings.
If y'all want to view all history events and filter them past date and time, yous have to tap Full history. This gives you a list of thumbnail events, which you tin can view and so download to your device to go along forever.
While Nest had Home/Away assistance, the Google Dwelling app works slightly differently, and you have to tap the choice to prepare Home and Away routines. These apply to the entire household and everyone in information technology.
You can set whatsoever phones in your home to deed as presence sensors, merely other Nest devices, including Nest Protect and the Nest Thermostat, can also be used. You lot can then pick which devices you want to control, including automatically toggling your Nest doorbell on and off.
This feature is more useful for cameras, say turning off indoor cameras when you get home, then that y'all don't record yourself. For the Nest Doorbell (bombardment) you lot're ameliorate off with the pick in the app that turns off motility notifications when you're at abode, and turns them on when you're out.
That'southward not a bad level of command, but Ring is far more advanced. You can schedule when cameras give you alerts, and you can automatically toggle a camera's status (on or off) based on the Ring Alert'due south state. While the Nest Secure alarm arrangement can exist used to toggle Home/Away mode, that product has been discontinued and wasn't available in the UK.
As the Nest Doorbell (battery) is installed through the Google Home app, it works with the Google Assistant. In that location is no option to go it working with Alexa at the moment. If you've got a business firm full of Echo speakers, this really isn't the smart doorbell for yous. There'southward also no IFTTT support currently.
When Thing rolls out next year, the story may be different, but today it's clear: if yous desire a doorbell that works with Google Assistant, this is for y'all; if yous want one that works with Alexa, this isn't for you.
Video quality
- Abrupt video during the twenty-four hours
- Good nighttime vision
- Image is lower resolution than previous camera
Internally, the Nest Doorbell (bombardment) has a sensor with a resolution of 960 x 1280 pixels, which is down on the original doorbell's 1600 x 1200. With a viewing bending of 145-degrees, y'all get a narrow capture area, too (the wired version has a 160-degree field of view), simply you can come across a person in full portrait style, rather than the cropped mural mode of the original.
Lower resolution video is a petty disappointing, particularly as other wireless doorbells have college resolutions: the Ring Video Doorbell 4 has a Full Hard disk drive resolution, while the Arlo Essential Video Doorbell Wire-Free has a resolution of 1536 x 1536, as does the wired Band Video Doorbell Pro two.
The net effect is that the Nest Doorbell (battery) looks, well, a petty low resolution. During the solar day, at that place'south clearly a lot of paradigm sharpening going on: the image is clear and well balanced, but yous lose subtlety in the picture and people's features aren't too defined equally with either the older model or rival doorbells.
At dark, the camera turns on its IR lights, which have good range, lighting upward beyond the forepart of my garden. If anything, the epitome gets softer. You lot can meet what's going on but information technology's harder to piece of work out details than on rival doorbells.
Latest deals
Should you purchase it?
If you've got Google Assistant devices in your dwelling and want a wireless camera that will work with them, then this is a great selection for you.
If y'all want the best resolution, then in that location are doorbells that can shoot in more detail. And, if you desire a doorbell to work with Alexa devices, then this model isn't for you.
Concluding Thoughts
The Nest Doorbell (battery) is a combination of the bright and the disappointing. Three hours of offline storage and object detection out of the box are slap-up to see, and facial recognition when y'all pay for Nest Enlightened is something that rivals don't have. Integration with the Google Assistant, particularly smart displays is first-class, besides.
Still, lower resolution video than on the original is very disappointing and the Google Dwelling app isn't quite as easy to use as the Nest app. I'd rather have the original Nest Doorbell (wired), every bit information technology's notwithstanding a slightly better product.
For those that live in an Alexa earth, the selection is fifty-fifty greater: the Ring Video Doorbell iv is the all-time wireless doorbell and the Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 is easily the best wired model.
How we examination
Unlike other sites, nosotros test every security camera we review thoroughly over an extended period of fourth dimension. We utilize manufacture standard tests to compare features properly. Nosotros'll always tell y'all what we notice. We never, ever, accept money to review a production.
Find out more about how we test in our ideals policy.
Used as our main security camera for the review catamenia
Nosotros test compatibility with the main smart systems (HomeKit, Alexa, Google Banana, SmartThings, IFTTT and more) to run into how easy each photographic camera is to automate.
Nosotros take samples during the day and night to meet how clear each camera's video is.
You might like…
FAQs
How long does the Nest Doorbell (bombardment) last?
A unmarried accuse volition last for upwardly to 2.5 months, depending on how many events the doorbell records.
Is this doorbell bombardment operated?
Yeah it is, although you lot tin wire it to your existing doorbell power to keep the battery topped up automatically.
Which smart assistants does the Nest Doorbell (battery) work with?
Information technology works with the Google Assistant simply.
Total specs
‹
UK RRP
U.s. RRP
European union RRP
Manufacturer
Size (Dimensions)
Weight
Release Engagement
Commencement Reviewed Date
Model Number
Resolution
Voice Assistant
Battery Length
Smart administration
App Control
Camera Type
Mounting option
View Field
Recording option
Two-way sound
Night vision
Light
Motility detection
Activity zones
Object detection
Audio detection
Power source
›
Jargon buster
IFTTT
If This Then That (IFTTT) is a free web-based smart abode platform that lets y'all create simple rules to automate your home.
Google Banana
A vox banana which is Google'southward accept on Amazon's Alexa.
Alexa
Amazon's smart voice assistant
Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/nest-doorbell-battery
Posted by: wilsonhimattim.blogspot.com
0 Response to "Nest Doorbell (battery) Review: More features, lower quality"
Post a Comment