Gadgetory

like so many gadgets of the past half decade security cameras have gotten smart typically a smart home appliance means you get a mobile app to tinker with some settings and maybe some light automation perhaps an Alexa integration if you're lucky but do you really need a camera in your home that knows it's your dog and not your kid or that can tell the difference between you or your spouse it all depends on why you're interested in a home security camera what you think you're gonna use it for and how many people in your household you're trying to keep tabs on give them that criteria the best indoor home security camera for most people isn't necessarily the smartest and it's definitely not the most expensive but it covers most spaces at a reasonable price and it allows you add more features through a cheap monthly cloud subscription that device is the Amazon Cloud cam for $119 it's cheaper than most competing cameras and what you get for the money is almost as good this device is nearly three times the price the camera itself is easy to set up in pretty no frills it has night vision and it can record and store HD footage up to 24 hours into the past or farther back if you have Amazon's monthly subscription it also has 2-way talk and audio recording there are some downsides the image quality isn't the greatest and you get a fair deal of graininess and noise especially when you use the cloud cam zoom feature and unlike nest cameras the cloud cam doesn't continuously record it only saves clips when it detects people or motion one big plus the app is way less cluttered than those from Nasty Netgear and others it's just three screens an account management panel a live video feed and then a list of settings there are some compromises you have to make with the cloud cam beyond just picture quality the camera on its own will only do motion detection if you pay for amazon $6.99 multi subscription you get people detection which means it can differentiate between humans and pets but unlike cameras from nest the cloud cam cannot do facial recognition so that means you'll get constant notifications if you have the cloud cam facing a busy part of your home like the living room or the kitchen if you do pay for amazon's multi subscription you get a feature called zones which lets you section off parts of what the camera sees to tell it to ignore activity in that area so I don't think people are really losing out on too much and the AI shortcomings aren't enough to tank our recommendation for one hundred and nineteen dollars and all the additional features you go with Amazon's subscription plan the cloud cam is the most capable camera for its price if you're looking for something a little pricier but high quality and much much smarter nests top-of-the-line nest cam IQ is a solid by the mess cam IQ records in HD and it comes with a night vision and a lot of the other standard bells and whistles but it's picture quality is stellar with a 4k sensor with HDR you account for changes in life it also has a powerful microphone array and speaker so with Google assistant built in the nest cam IQ doubles is a mini Google home and unlike the Amazon Cloud cam the nest cam IQ continuously records so you can scroll through a day's events with the flick of a finger but the nest cam IQ really stands out though isn't it's AI features unlike the standard nest cam this model knows when it sees a person and not just a pet no subscription required if you purchase the nest aware subscription which starts at five dollars a month and scales depending on your video storage needs you get what nest calls familiar face alerts that lets the camera recognize people you can even go into the mobile app and train it to recognize certain faces and to create profiles for people so it remembers them later that said at two hundred and ninety-nine dollars the nest cam IQ is really pricey and you need to ask yourself those AI features are really worth it someone like me who lives in an apartment and doesn't have kids or a lot of people coming in and out all the time it's a bit overkill also I found the nest cam IQ to be a bit too sensitive on the AI front it kept asking if it recognized the faces of actors that saw on my TV screen but if you have a larger house and a bigger family and you want to know when your kids come home from school or where the dog is or whether it's the babysitter or a burglar entering your home then that's K Mike you can handle all of that plus it's a really nicely designed gadget there were a lot of really solid devices out there that will do a majority of the tests most people are looking for and almost every brand lets you link multiple cameras together but there are a few shortcomings and compromises here and there that made it so other devices didn't make the cut for instance the Netgear are low Q has a ton of customization settings and a lot of features you'd find in a more professional grade security camera like using geofencing to arm and disarm the camera and scheduling recording times but it lacks any kind of smart AI features to tell people from pets or to do any kind of facial recognition it does have motion detection but I found out the system registered a lot of false positives pushing me to limit notifications the logitech circle 2 has an ultra wide viewing angle and a pretty fully featured mobile app but to get people detection you're going need to purchase the premium $10 a month subscription service the camera is weatherproof so you can use it outside and it also integrates well with LexA home kit and Google assistant but it's more geared for people who want a camera for outdoor surveillance purposes truth be told security cameras are pretty Spartan gadgets most people don't need fancy AI perks like facial recognition or super featured in mobile apps they buy security cameras for peace of mind and for that reason the Amazon Cloud cam is the best camera for most people at $120 it leaves enough in the bank to buy more than one and down the line the camera is down to get even smarter as Amazon upgrades the software and makes this Alexa digital assistant even more advanced