Gadgetory

am seen that's right Chris here at the I smart alarm my camera keep and this is the second-generation camera for the fee-free smart security system we first reviewed eye smart alarm back in 2013 and at that time the camera that came with the kit as an optional accessory was a bit of a letdown it was glitchy it was tough to get started with the setup wasn't that easy this camera now things are a lot better you've got a much easier setup process you'll just plug it into your phone and let it register it takes less than a minute to register with your Wi-Fi network and hop onto the app there I tested that out in multiple locations and on a couple of different Wi-Fi networks and every time it was a piece of cake so very satisfied with the setup process additionally monitoring the video feed in the app was very smooth even on LTE off the Wi-Fi network I could look at my video feed in a smooth seamless fashion didn't have much lag didn't have any difficulty panning and tilting the camera which you can do by swiping over the video feed in the app the camera features a resolution of 720p it also has built-in night vision for seeing in the dark and built-in motion and sound sensors that you can set to alert you if the camera sees or hear something the live video feed was smooth and seamless the motion and sound alerts came through whenever I wanted them to all so nice is that you can use this camera as a standalone device you don't need an existing eye smart alarm system in order to set it up you can just buy the camera on its own and have it running through the app without a cube one base station and the other eye smart alarm sensors you can also integrate it with those though and use the motion and sound sensor to trigger the alarm now that level of performance and functionality is very good considering the price of this device at 150 dollars it's cheaper than Dropcam cheaper than piper in canary the thing that you're missing though by paying less is that this camera does not yet have the ability to save video clips so whenever it detects sound or motion it will automatically start recording you can open the app up and view the live feed and see what's happening and you can snap a screenshot of what's happening but you can't tell it to record even manually iSmart alarms planning on debuting a huge overhaul of the app version 2.0 in February and that will include options for cloud storage and also local storage by plugging a USB Drive into the back of the device also down the line I smart alarm is planning compatibility with thread with home kit with nest and even channel so a lot of new stuff coming in 2015 for this system we'll be paying attention and letting you know how it works in the near future be sure and check out my full written review of the I camera keep I'll be sure and update that in February once we know how that video storage functionality works and also check out the rest of our smart home reviews at cnet.com for CNET appliances I'm right Chris