With much anticipation, Amazon announced their entry into the security camera business with their Amazon Cloud Cam. A direct competitor to Google’s Nest Camera, the stylish new smart home device allows for checking in on pets from work, monitoring the front door, or keeping an eye on the kids from another room. Cloud Cam releases at a $119.99 price tag on November 8.
The Amazon Cloud Cam is stocked with features that you’ve come to expect from today’s top end smart cameras. The wi-fi camera stays on all the time and broadcasts in 1080p HD at up-to 30 frames per second. Two-way audio with a built-in microphone and speaker allows for conversations to take place using the Cloud Cam App. Eight infrared LEDs will activate when light is low to provide night vision functionality for when your home is most vulnerable. The wired camera has 120 degrees diagonal field of view with motion detection and computer vision technology. Amazon states that the camera will get smarter over time with more advanced detection (noticing the difference in pets and humans) and specific audio cues (alarms, broken glass for instance).
“Cloud Cam has all the features you need to monitor your home, including a 1080p Full HD camera, night vision, two-way audio, and free storage for clips’ and with the secure AWS cloud powering Cloud Cam’s advanced computer algorithms and intelligent alerts, the service is always getting smarter”, said Charlie Tritschler, Vice President, Amazon Devices. “All of this is just $119.99 Cloud Cam is a premium product at a non-premium price.”
Both iOS and Android apps will be available at launch. The app will let you view live feeds, recorded events, and for setting up custom alerts. The new camera will work with all current and future Alexa devices that include the Echo, Echo Show, Echo Spot, Fire TV, and Fire Tablets. The hope is that pulling up a feed from your house will be as simple as saying “Alexa, show me the camera in the bedroom”.
As for the cloud service portion, Amazon will be launching with one free and three paid options. The free option will store events for up to 24 hours and allow for the use of 3 cameras. The Basic plan ($69.99/year) will store for 7 days and include 3 cameras. The Extended plan ($99.99/year) will store for 14 days and include 5 cameras. And finally the Pro plan ($199.99/year) gives 30 days of storage and the use of 10 cameras. All paid plans will include person detection, zone setting, and the unlimited downloading and sharing of video clips. Notification alerts are included in all plans including the free one. There is a 30-day free trial for first time subscribers.
“Amazon Key gives customers peace of mind knowing their orders have been safely delivered to their homes and are waiting for them when they walk through their doors,” said Peter Larsen, Vice President of Delivery Technology, Amazon. “Now, Prime members can select in-home delivery and conveniently see their packages being delivered right from their mobile phones.”
Along with the Cloud Cam, Amazon also announced their Amazon Key service which is exclusive to Prime members. This service works alongside your Cloud Cam and a compatible smart lock to allow orders to be delivered securely into your home. Amazon will use an encrypted authentication process to unlock the door for their delivery driver. This causes the Cloud Cam to start recording for peace of mind. If the delivery driver cannot gain access to the house for some reason, they will leave the package at the door like before. This service will only be available in the 37 cities that currently use Amazon’s own delivery drivers. Packages that come via UPS or other carriers will not be utilizing this feature at this time.
