The long-awaited fourth hardware product from Nest has finally arrived, and it's another home security camera. But unlike last summer's Nest Cam, this version is designed to monitor what's happening outdoors.
The Nest Cam Outdoor is pretty much the same device as its predecessor (to be renamed the Nest Cam Indoor), only with a white waterproof housing. Nest says that because the new camera uses a power outlet and is always recording and uploading footage to the cloud, it avoids the lag associated with battery-powered devices that only start recording when they detect motion.
The camera records 1080p HD video, offers a 130-degree view, and even has night vision thanks to its 8 built-in infrared LEDs. It also has a speaker and microphone for conversing with anyone outside of your home, and, thanks to some machine learning algorithms from Google, is able to tell the difference between a person and something like a dog or a car.
As is the case with the Nest Cam Indoor, this outdoor version has a companion app for encrypted live streaming. More advanced features are available with a subscription.
Installing the device to the outside of a house is simply a matter of screwing the magnetic base into a wall and attaching the camera. The method allows you to position the Nest Cam in almost any direction.
Additionally, Nest is bringing some new features to its redesigned Android and iOS apps. With the new Spaces function, you'll be able to monitor all of your Nest systems on a room by room basis, "making it easier to access and control" multiple products. Having a thermostat and camera in the living room, for example, counts as one Space.
Another new app feature is the ability to share password-protected livestreams with multiple people, which will be useful if you want friends to keep an eye on your home for you while you're away. The company is also adding bandwidth optimization and wearables support, but the latter only works with the Nest smart thermostat.
The Nest Cam Outdoor is available for preorder at $199 and will ship this fall. The redesigned app launches at the end of the month.