Matthew DeCarlo
Abode (the smart home company, not Adobe) has launched a new smart camera that can serve as a standalone device or be added to your existing Abode smart home system. Representing the company’s first standalone camera, the thing is brimming with features, it’s flexible enough to be used indoors or outdoors, and it can even be powered by your doorbell leads.
It’s clear that a lot of thought went into developing Abode’s new Outdoor/Indoor Smart Camera and the company says it intended to make the device extremely versatile yet powerful. The camera is designed to be used anywhere you might want video coverage and includes features such as facial recognition that can determine when a stranger is approaching the door as opposed to someone who lives at the house.
When an “unauthorized” person is spotted, the camera can send you an alert on your phone, trigger your doorbell, or even integrate with Amazon Alexa to give you a shout, at which point the two-way voice system lets you chime in. The facial recognition software includes profiles so it can begin recognizing certain people and the more they’re seen by the camera, the better it will become at knowing who they are. Considering how sensitive the subject of privacy has become in the public mind, it’s probably worth noting that this feature can be disabled if desired.
The camera measures 2.8 x 2.8 x 2 inches and is described as being smaller than a deck of playing cards. Inside is a 152-degree wide-angle lens that captures video at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and 30 frames per second. Other hardware includes an IR LED for low-light vision, a passive infrared sensor for detecting motion, and a regular old light sensor to adjust for day and night time usage. Abode even throws a doorbell mount in the box.
More features are available if you are folding this camera into one of Abode’s smart home systems instead of using it as a standalone device. When paired with the Smart Security Kit or Iota Security Kit, the camera can be configured to trigger upwards of 100 smart home products such as Philips Hue light bulbs that are compatible with Abode’s systems. It can also stream live video straight to an Amazon Echo Show if you happen to own one, and Abode is working with Apple to get the device HomeKit certified.
You can’t buy Abode’s new Outdoor/Indoor Smart Camera just yet, but the company plans to start shipping units sometime in the first quarter of this year and it will have an MSRP of $199.
Source: Abode
