The Nest Cam (Outdoor or Indoor, Battery), the newest member of Google’s family of home security cameras, is also its most adaptable. As the name suggests, you can use this weatherproof camera indoors or outdoors and power it using either the provided USB cable and AC power adapter or the built-in rechargeable battery. In tests, the Nest Cam did well, recording clear 1080p video and detecting motion brought on by both people and animals. However, it needs a Nest Aware subscription to view recordings older than three hours and to use its face detection feature. Our Editors’ Choice winner, the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera, costs $20 more but offers 2K video and more features in addition to compatibility with a much wider range of third-party devices. In the end, it’s difficult to recommend it over the aforementioned rivals unless you reside in a Nest-only household. also you will learn our article on Google Nest Cam Battery review.
Google Nest Cam Battery review: Design
The Google Nest Cam (battery) is a small home security camera that has dimensions of 8.3 x 8.3 x 8.3 cm (3.27 x 3.27 x 3.27 inches). The glossy black fascia complements the matte white appearance and houses the 130-degree Full HD camera lens, along with a speaker and microphone that let you communicate with anyone in the camera’s field of vision and an LED that turns green when motion is detected. The Google Nest Cam (battery) can be used indoors or outdoors and is weatherproof. When mounting the camera on a wall, it comes with a magnetic plate that allows you to adjust the angle to your liking; however, if you want to use the camera freestanding, you’ll need to purchase an optional stand. Although it may also be powered by mains electricity, the Google Nest Cam’s battery is rechargeable. It comes with a 3.3-foot/one-meter indoor mains cable, but if you want to mount the camera outside, you can purchase a weather-proof cable for $34.99/£29.99/AU$59. Similar to the Google Nest Doorbell, the Google Nest Cam has a battery that stores up to 60 minutes of video locally in case the power or Wi-Fi goes out. This video will be uploaded to the cloud and viewable in your timeline of events once the camera is back online. It was relatively easy to set up the camera using the Google Home app, and we were impressed that during the process, we were given many helpful tips for mounting the camera on the wall and were asked to choose how the camera operates when we’re at home or inside the building.
Features
The previous Google Nest Cam IQ Indoor’s functions are mostly hidden behind a membership service. The Google Nest Cam (battery) is unique for offering up to three hours of event video history right out of the box – without the requirement for a subscription. That’s fantastic news because it records and stores video of everything that happened in the three hours prior. You will then need to subscribe to Nest Aware for continuous video recording for up to 10 days if you require more coverage than that. The Google Nest Cam (battery) will continue to detect events and save clips, so we’re happy to report that it can continue to operate normally even if the network goes down. With our router unplugged, we put this to the test. This is particularly helpful because it won’t become inoperable if the power or Wi-Fi network are interrupted. Additionally, the Nest Cam (battery) will continue to provide smart warnings based on what it sees. also you can check our article on Google Nest Cam Battery review. As of now, it has done a pretty good job of distinguishing between people and animals and informing me via a notification on our phone. It also has the capability to detect automobiles when used outdoors. We appreciate that the app allows us to personalize the notifications, as this reduces the likelihood of false alarms. Finally, it does have two-way audio for communication. When used indoors, the internal speaker produces loud and clear sound, but we believe that background noise from the outside might compromise its performance.
Google Nest Cam Battery review: Audio Performance
Who asserted that surveillance cameras cannot prevent crime? However, Nest went a step farther by offering noise cancellation. Our Brooklyn apartment is on a rather busy street, thus this contributed to the clearest audio ever. With the exception of the Ring security cameras, not many other security cameras have noise cancellation, so congrats to Nest for taking it up a notch.
Video performance
The 2MP 1/2.8-inch camera of the Nest Cam measures. It broadcasts at 1,920 x 1,080 resolution in a 16:9 aspect ratio with a 130-degree field of view (FoV). It has a night vision capability and supports HDR for sharper shadows and highlights. The Google Nest Cam’s video quality is adequate for security cameras. Although it doesn’t set any industry-wide gold standards, it does the job. Despite the fact that many cameras, including older Nest cameras, offer 4K, most individuals won’t require anything higher than 1080p. A 1080p resolution also helps control battery life. The camera has a 6x digital zoom capability. The visual quality decreases as you zoom in, as one might anticipate. We would want to avoid positioning the camera in a situation where you would have to use the zoom to record video, but if you do, it is available. The night vision feature is undoubtedly helped by the HDR support. Even though night vision on cameras can occasionally make it difficult to see details, this is not a major issue. It’s disappointing that Google didn’t include a colour night vision mode here, especially given that competitors do so at a lower cost. When you consider how well Night Sight performs on Google’s Pixel smartphones and how well it might have performed for this camera, it becomes even more puzzling.
Google Nest Cam Battery review: Software
As we already mentioned, unlike previous Nest Cams that could still work with the Nest app, the Google Nest Cam (battery) only functions with the Google Home app. We are happy about the change because it unifies all of our smart home appliances. An events page with a list of all event triggers, animated preview clips, and detection type is accessible through the app. We initially thought the app’s navigation was a little complicated because we had to access different menus in order to find the filtering choices. Using the software, we also noticed a strange absence of the ability to instantly take a photo or a video while watching the live video feed. They don’t have any options, which strikes us as odd considering that it’s a common feature in many cameras. We sincerely hope that Google updates the camera to support this essential feature because it is useful.
Battery life
However, this will depend on how frequently motion is detected, how frequently live view is triggered, and how long it is activated for. According to Google, the Nest Cam’s battery can last up to three months between charges. Due to the intense testing we did on the camera for this evaluation, we are unable to validate this based on “normal use.” It’s disappointing that the battery took five hours to fully recharge because the camera will be inactive during that time due to the built-in battery. As with the Arlo Ultra 2 and the Arlo Pro 4, we’d prefer to see a battery that can be swapped out, ensuring that the camera is always operational as long as you have a spare battery on hand.
Price and availability
Ordering for the Google Nest Cam (battery) costs $179.99/£179.99/AU$329 right now. As previously indicated, this is the replacement for the Google Nest IQ Indoor ($299, £299, or AU$399 at launch) and the Google Nest IQ Outdoor ($329, £329, or AU$425, available in the US and the UK). One of the three Google Nest cameras introduced this year is the Google Nest Cam (battery). The Google Nest Cam Indoor, the company’s most affordable home security camera, will cost $99.99 / £89.99 (roughly AU$130), while the Google Nest Cam with Floodlight, a mains-powered security camera flanked by two LED lights, will cost $279.99 / £269.99 (about AU$370). Later in 2021, both of these will be launched. you can read our article on Google Nest Cam Battery review.
Conclusion
It’s difficult to not be dissatisfied with the Nest Cam after waiting for a new Nest camera for such a long time (Battery). Smart alerts, activity zones, and three hours of event storage are all welcome additions, but you’d expect such capabilities from a pricey security camera. Because there is none, both Alexa integration and video quality have declined (yet). There is currently no web portal alternative for Google Home as there is for older Nest Cams, and the Google Home app needs improvement to be on par with the Nest app. You might be persuaded that the Nest Cam (Battery) is the security camera for you if you don’t own those older models but do have at least one Nest Hub smart display and are content to reside inside Google’s walled garden.
