Nest Announces Cam IQ, a $299 4K Smart Home Camera With Facial Recognition

[MacRumors]

Nest unveiled a new smart security camera today called the Nest Cam IQ, an indoor 4K device capable of increasing footage resolution when it detects unusual or suspicious activity in the home.

Using built-in smart capabilities powered by Google's AI for facial recognition, the Nest Cam IQ is able to identify a person in its visual range, which automatically triggers a notification alert that includes a zoomed-in photo of the figure.

A variation on the same feature called "Supersight" appears in the mobile app feed, as a zoomed picture-in-picture inset of any figures identified in the camera's field of view. The Nest Cam IQ also tracks the subject as it moves and provides a close-up of the face to make it easier to spot identifying features.

Additional smart features are in store for Nest owners who sign up to a Nest Aware subscription, such as the ability to identify and remember family members and trusted familiar faces, as well as the ability to recognize specific audio cues like conversations and barking dogs.

Elsewhere, the Nest Cam IQ comes with a weighted base and tilting head, invisible infrared LED emitters, high-powered speakers, and a three-microphone array for improved background noise suppression and echo cancelation.

The Nest Cam IQ costs $299 in the U.S. and can be pre-ordered today on the company's website, which also sells the Nest Cam and Nest Cam Outdoor. Shipping is expected to start at the end of June.

Article Link: Nest Announces Cam IQ, a $299 4K Smart Home Camera With Facial Recognition

 

[CarpalMac]

I was interested, right up until I saw the subscription part. No thanks.

 

[44267547]

I was interested, right up until I saw the subscription part. No thanks.

The article states the subscription is additional for other features who sign up for a 'Nest Aware Subscription.' Rather it requires a subscription in general is another factor.

"Additional smart features are in store for Nest owners who sign up to a Nest Aware subscription, such as The ability to identify and remember family members and trust in their faces, as well as the Billy to recognize specific audio cues like conversations and barking dogs. "

 

[deany]

CCTV with DVR nowadays allows Live stream and playback FREE, Comelit are very competively priced and very good. iOS app
Comelit View S by Comelit Group S.p.a.
https://appsto.re/gb/LA6bab.i (UK)

I think I worked out one Nest camera on 24 / 7 uses about 300GB a month surely this will effect users on the home network, slowing it down.

Plus the subcription cost as previously mentioned, for playback.

edit
its upto 380GB a month https://nest.com/uk/support/article/How-much-bandwidth-will-Nest-Cam-use

I'll pass, great thermostats and Nest Protect though.

 

[CarpalMac]

The article states the subscription is additional for other features who sign up for a 'Nest Aware Subscription.' Rather it requires a subscription in general is another factor.

"Additional smart features are in store for Nest owners who sign up to a Nest Aware subscription, such as The ability to identify and remember family members and trust in their faces, as well as the Billy to recognize specific audio cues like conversations and barking dogs. "

Yeah I did research it enough to see that I could go without. Problem is that I would always feel that I wasn't getting the best out of it, without. I found the pricing though and I am too mean to pay that much each year, every year. Especially if they then decide to do an Apple / Adobe and up subscription prices due to currency fluctuation type excuses.

 

[gabicava83]

CCTV with DVR nowadays allows Live stream and playback FREE, Comelit are very competively priced and very good. iOS app
Comelit View S by Comelit Group S.p.a.
https://appsto.re/gb/LA6bab.i (UK)

I think I worked out one Nest camera on 24 / 7 uses about 300GB a month surely this will effect users on the home network, slowing it down.

Plus the subcription cost as previously mentioned, for playback.

edit
its upto 380GB a month https://nest.com/uk/support/article/How-much-bandwidth-will-Nest-Cam-use

I'll pass, great thermostats and Nest Protect though.

I have Thermostat, very happy too. The protects are great too.

If this device allowed you to save locally to say a NAS, and or, use another third party storage service then I would purchase one. However, being forced for the subscriptions, no thanks.

It's a shame really, as I would really like to get some of these and use them in conjunction with my Synology.

 

[Sandstorm]

I was interested, right up until I saw the subscription part. No thanks.

Yes, the subscription is optional, but it without it the Nest cameras are almost useless. I'd be fine paying some reasonable amount (for example, ideal solution would be if I could simply allocate some portion of my paid Google Drive space), but the Nest subscription is just too expensive. And on top of that - it's not even available in most of the world, only select countries!

The other thing I don't understand is why are Nest so slow with more smart home products (like video doorbells, locks, motion sensors etc).

 

[44267547]

The other thing I don't understand is why are Nest so slow with more smart home products (like video doorbells, locks, motion sensors etc).

Primarily because they were just usually manufacturing thermostats along side Ecobee. Now they are venturing on the path of cameras and other products that the company has expanded upon. I think they're trying to finally size up to the rest of the competition and other products available on the market. Like you said, their services are not cheap.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Primarily because they were just usually manufacturing thermostats along side Ecobee. Now they are venturing on the path of cameras and other products that the company has expanded upon. I think they're trying to finally size up to the rest of the competition and other products available on the market. Like you said, their services are not cheap.

It's Google. They need to make sure the products they put out collect the right type of customer information for their marketing and profits.

This new Nest allows them to work on AI facial identification. It allows them to build a database of faces which it can then link to people and profiles, allowing even more informed profiles for AdWords and other marketing opportunities where Google makes money.

It's amazing but Google is actually getting people to pay for a hardware device, then a subscription, in order to give Google more information to turn around and make more money. It's a brilliant business they run.

 

[centauratlas]

I was interested, right up until I saw the subscription part. No thanks.

And turning over facial rec to Google...plus it doesn't appear to have HomeKit support.

 

[DoctorDoctor]

I have had the misfortune of being broken into 3 times in the last 25 years so paying a small monthly/yearly fee to watch over my belongings and my family is no big deal to me. I am not sure I can put a price on security and safety. The biggest plus is getting instant notification of a person lurking around especially when we are at home.

With that said I wouldn't pay for a subscription using the current hardware Nest has. I had both an indoor and outdoor Nest cam but returned both. The quality of video is ok, but you can not zoom in when the video starts out at 1080p to get details like faces or license numbers of cars. So if this new 4k (I know it doesn't record/stream in 4k) camera with its ability to zoom in and still record in 1080p works as advertised this may change things. Hopefully soon they come out with an outdoor camera with the same abilities.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Lol. A 4K capable cam that doesn't record in 4K because Google is still trying the Nest Aware lock in.

I'm going 4K POE camera to an NVR. I give a #%#%#% about facial recognition. This cam is way overpriced

 

[oneMadRssn]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a generic Wi-Fi-enabled camera and software that can run on an always-on Mac Mini for recording and accessing through an app?

 

[kis]

Netatmo Welcome has been doing the facial recognition thing for years and doesn't require an expensive subscription. Plus it has a dramatically better privacy policy.

We have one of them at home plus three Netatmo Presence outdoor cams (which are capable of distinguishing between animals, cars and people) and everything has been working like a dream.

They also cost less than Nest's offerings and are actually available where we live while the Nest cams aren't officially supported in Switzerland. You can get them and the subscriptions as well but only by using a trick with a dummy address in some other country :-/

 

[Mobster1983]

No homekit integration?

 

[FelixDerKater]

They're already at the top end of the field in price. $299 for a single camera is ridiculous with the residual annual costs for subscription.

 

[DanSteel]

No HomeKit = no buy

For now living with the FLIR 4K and hoping they actually adopt HomeKit like they said they would. Quite happy with it too. Good quality. Zooming good. Lag is reasonable.

 

[greg8799]

I was interested until I saw the price! I thought this was a refresh of the current camera so I was looking forward to an upgrade! I have two indoor Nest cams already and unfortunately they're average. Image quality is so so (even after getting 200MB fibre broadband which made image quality a bit better), speaker quality is rubbish, app is incredibly basic and doesn't allow to set up different permissions for different family members, timeline is buggy and sometimes won't playback unless you restart the app...
I expected a lot more from Google and this would have been a nice worthwhile upgrade. However, now I feel like I'm stuck with two old basic cameras, an expensive annual subscription, and moving to a competitor brand would set me back the same amount of money I've already invested... And why no doorbell cam from Nest? Still no HomeKit integration?! And why a Flash based website as opposed to HTML5?
Rant over!

 

[FelixDerKater]

Amazon lists two for $500, so maybe they will be progressively cheaper in bulk.