Dropcam review: HD monitoring from iOS, Android and the Web

The Dropcam camera, which I will talk about today, was announced about a year ago, but in Russia, to my surprise, few people know about it. Even on Habr there is not a single result in the search for “dropcam” (now there is).

In fact, two weeks ago I started looking for a system for monitoring an office and my own apartment. Nevertheless, thieves in our time, though not a frequent occurrence, but quite possible. I needed a system with the ability to connect multiple cameras, with a microphone, and most importantly - with a good image.

The choice fell on Dropcam ...



I must say right away that the camera costs a decent 7,500 rubles in Russia (in the US - $ 149), but from my point of view the price is fully justified by the functionality and quality of Dropcam itself.

A separate conversation is the design.

Photos not stolen, taken on a subject table

Appearance and really cool. That frame, that the camera is made of metal. The frame is clear, but on the camera the body is painted black, but it is metal.



Installation:

In order to turn on the camera, a lot of time is not required.



First you need to connect it via USB to a Mac or PC. There are already applications in the internal memory for installation, although when they are opened, a browser is launched with the corresponding page for registering a Dropcam account.


We enter mail, login, password and service offers one of the commercial offers.



- Free (Basic) - Live broadcast, 0 minutes to save video on Dropcam servers
- $ 10 (Plus) - Live broadcast, 7 days to save video on Dropcam servers
- $ 30 (Pro) - Live broadcast, 1 month to save video on Dropcam servers

Each new Dropcam camera will have to be paid separately, but if you have more than one of them, then all subsequent ones will cost 50% cheaper. The annual subscription also comes at a discount.

And, by the way, the first two weeks after registering an account, the Basic tariff applies, free of charge.

Functionality and features

Dropcam works with HD-video and writes a fairly high-quality color picture (you can see in the review). I did not understand which codec the device was interacting with, but I would not need superfast internet. In the office, where two cameras hang, Yota 4G is installed, which, unfortunately, rarely pulls out even 10 Mbit at the output and at the input. At home, the Internet is much faster. At the same time, the camera writes both sound, and video and delays occur only in rare cases. In general, the manufacturer recommends a 50 Mbps speed.

The camera has a speaker and a microphone. Both of them are sensitive and the sound quality, both in transmission and in reception, is at the highest level.



Of course, not without a motion sensor. It activates recording while driving, while saving space on the server (although, I already wrote that it is unlimited. Only the storage time is limited). But this can help when the connection speed is very weak or when traffic is limited.

From the title of the article it’s clear that Dropcam has applications for Android and iOS, and, of course, it works via the web.



The iPad application has full functionality, along with the web version. On iPhone, for some reason, you can only view the Live-broadcast, but you can say something through the microphone in realtime-mode.

The fact that Dropcam perfectly "sees in the dark" (video, again, you can see in the review) is also encouraging.

conclusions



Personally, I am pleased to see a refined eco-system (albeit not a big one), so to speak, a ready-made solution. Still, for corporations and even small companies, Dropcam is an ideal choice that allows you to watch what is happening at any time and from almost any electronic device, whether it's a computer or phone.

Well, indeed, for those who do not mind 7,500 rubles or $ 150 (+ time spent), Dropcam will be useful at home, as it is not only an excellent “identifier” of thieves, but also a great Baby Monitor.