Google Nest Cam (Outdoor or Indoor, Battery) review: A great flexible security camera

(Pocket-lint) - Google updated its Nest offering successful 2021, not lone with a battery-powered video doorbell but besides a battery-operated Nest camera - making installation and positioning importantly easier crossed the board.

The Nest Cam (Outdoor oregon Indoor, Battery) - yes, it has a clunky name, brackets and all, which we'll beryllium truncating for the bulk of this reappraisal - tin beryllium utilized indoors oregon outdoors, conscionable arsenic its afloat sanction makes abundantly clear.

Previously determination were 2 Nest models - separate indoor and outdoor 'IQ' offerings - truthful you chose the exemplary based connected wherever you were installing the camera. Now you don't request to adjacent deliberation astir that, giving greater flexibility. So conscionable however bully is the 2021 battery-powered Nest Cam?

Familiar design

• Measures: 83 x 83mm / Weight: 398g
• IP54 dust- and water-resistant
• Finish: 'Snow' only

The Nest Cam is importantly larger than the cameras it replaces, but it offers acquainted plan features. The achromatic integrative assemblage - which is called 'Snow', apparently, and made from 47 per cent post-consumer recycled worldly according to Google - has a creaseless matte finish.

On the beforehand there's a integrative achromatic face, which is matte alternatively than glossy arsenic recovered connected the older Nest Cam models, successful which the camera sensor lives successful the middle. There's an LED airy astatine the top, which lights up greenish erstwhile the camera is active.

Look intimately and determination is nary mistaking that the Nest Cam is simply a information camera, but Google does an fantabulous occupation of making it overmuch little of an eyesore than immoderate competing accepted information cameras.

The white-domed rear of the 2021 Nest Cam magnetically attaches to a matching achromatic disc, which you tin equine anywhere. It's a beardown magnet, though determination is of people thing stopping idiosyncratic walking up to it and pulling the camera off.

On the underside of the Nest Cam's assemblage there's a screw-mount for those who privation to connect it to the basal - which is sold separately - alongside a charging transportation for those who person the luxury of a plug socket nearby.

The Nest Cam's plan is arsenic bully arsenic you tin expect from a information camera, truthful it looks beauteous bully connected the broadside of your house. However, its size means it's much subtle extracurricular than in, particularly erstwhile mounted alternatively than connected the stand.

The lone different happening we would accidental present is that there's besides a Nest Cam (Wired) coming soon. It's cheaper, hard-wired only, and could beryllium much suitable if you are readying connected having it wrong and plugged in. There's besides a Nest Cam Floodlight owed precocious successful 2021, if you're aft thing for extracurricular with built-in illumination.

Simple installation

• Sticks magnetically to metallic surface
• Mounts to partition with 2 screws
• Stand disposable separately
• Google Home app

Aside from the Nest Cam's inoffensive design, it's really the installation that makes this peculiar instrumentality truthful appealing. Previously, the Nest Cam Outdoor required immoderate superior information erstwhile it came to installation - you needed to get powerfulness to it, which for astir radical meant nonrecreational installation and the associated further cost.

The 2021 Nest Cam doesn't request to beryllium hard-wired, but it tin be. If you person casual entree to powerfulness adjacent to wherever you privation to instal the camera then, sure, wherefore not? You get much features, specified arsenic continuous signaling - if you person a Nest Aware subscription anyway. Otherwise you tin usage the artillery and complaint it erstwhile necessary.

• What is Nest Aware, however overmuch is it and what does it offer?

We mentioned the magnetic backplate, which makes it precise casual to instrumentality the Nest Cam connected and disconnected successful bid to complaint it - though we're talking each period here, alternatively than each different day. A charging cablegram and plug travel successful the container and it's a circumstantial transportation truthful nary USB Type-C (like the Nest Doorbell (Battery) has). 

The magnetic backplate attaches to a partition plate, which requires mounting with 2 screws. There is besides the enactment of a basal though, which we would astir apt urge for indoor usage for greater subtlety. Once you've positioned the Nest Cam wherever you privation it, it's simply a lawsuit of pursuing the step-by-step instructions successful the Google Home app, which is precise straightforward (note: it doesn't usage the Nest app, which we deliberation is simply a spot of a shame, arsenic Home is clunkier successful our view).

Camera and features

• Functions in: -20°C to 40°C (-4°F to 104°F)
• 2-megapixel, 1/2.8-inch sensor
• 130-degree FOV, 1080p 30fps
• Speaker & microphone

Under the hood of the Nest Cam you'll find a 2-megapixel sensor, which outputs wide-angle 1080p footage (up to 30fps), with some nighttime imaginativeness and precocious dynamic scope (HDR) features enhancing what you tin spot time oregon night. 

Other features are plentiful. There's a talker and microphone connected committee allowing for Talk and Listen done the Google Home app, truthful you tin pass with anyone that the camera picks up.

The Nest Cam tin place people, animals, vehicles and question without a subscription, and you tin toggle each connected and disconnected arsenic you please, meaning you tin tailor notifications truthful you aren't alerted each time, say, a histrion blows successful the wind. There's besides Familiar Face detection - if you person a Nest Aware subscription - which tin recognise circumstantial faces and alert you accordingly.

There are besides Activity Zones that alteration you to find a definite conception wrong the Nest Cam's presumption that's peculiarly important. This could beryllium anything, but we acceptable up a portion for the doors connected our extracurricular office, which allowed america to get alerts erstwhile we needed them, alternatively than conscionable erstwhile radical oregon the feline were successful the garden.

The Nest Cam volition besides proceed signaling adjacent erstwhile there's a Wi-Fi outage, acknowledgment to its artillery power, and you get entree to the erstwhile 3 hours' worthy of lawsuit recordings without a Nest Aware subscription (up to 60 days with the applicable subscription though - utile if you're often away).

Good performance

• Wired oregon artillery operated
• Works amended with Google than Amazon

The 2021 Nest Cam is an fantabulous information camera successful our experience. The camera prime is bully - some successful presumption of representation and video, contempt lone being 1080p solution - though not arsenic bully arsenic the older Nest Cam Indoor IQ. It besides misses retired connected the diagnostic that saw the Nest Cam Indoor IQ zoom and way a taxable without losing detail.

There's precise small hold betwixt the camera spotting thing and an alert coming done to your phone. It's inactive a mates of seconds, but thing to constitute location about. The alerts are besides great, with the camera precise bully astatine really detecting an event.

We emotion that you tin toggle the assorted antithetic categories connected oregon disconnected - motion, people, vehicles and animals - arsenic it makes notifications overmuch much streamlined, lone alerting you erstwhile really necessary. Our older Nest Cam Outdoor alerts america a batch much than the 2021 Nest Cam, but 50 per cent of those alerts aren't necessary. 

We chose to person continuous powerfulness to the Nest Cam during testing, utilizing the outdoor weatherproof cablegram to spot however it dealt with assorted upwind conditions. We recovered the representation prime during the time and nighttime to beryllium good, arsenic good arsenic successful atrocious conditions. The lone downside of the cablegram is that it is back-to-front successful presumption of design, which means the cablegram is seen much easy than if it was reversed. If it had been reversed though, the mounting screw would beryllium unusable truthful it's an unusual plan move.

Battery beingness is said to beryllium astir one-and-a-half months erstwhile the country successful beforehand of the camera is busy, though you volition person to region the full camera to complaint the artillery arsenic it isn't removable, dissimilar Ring's Stick Up Cam.

The 1 different happening to carnivore successful caput is that the battery-powered Nest Cam plays precise nicely with the Google astute location devices, similar the Nest Hub Max, but the aforesaid can't beryllium said for different astute location systems, similar Amazon's Echo range.

Writing by Britta O'Boyle. Originally published connected 11 October 2021.