While you first unbox Aqara’s diminutive Digital camera Hub, you’re greeted by a tiny face with detachable cat ears. It’s all very kawaii (Japanese slang for “cute”) if you happen to’re into anime and such, however that cute little face belies a monster of a tool inside.
It does so much and also you’re going to wind up asking your self, “Do I run this via HomeKit or their proprietary app Aqara Dwelling, or a little bit of each?” It could be overwhelming. Good factor the Apple Dwelling and Aqara Dwelling apps are each well-designed and simple to make use of. Let’s get into it!
Aqara Digital camera Hub G3: Worth and availability
The Aqara 2K Safety Indoor Digital camera Hub G3 is accessible via Amazon for $109.99 however trying over value monitoring historical past, in December and January, the G3 was on sale within the 80-dollar vary.
Aqara Digital camera Hub G3: Specs and options
The Digital camera Hub G3 is an almost five-inch tall robot-shaped machine that pans 340 levels horizontally, tilts 30 levels up, and 15 levels down. It may do this robotically with AI-powered monitoring, or manually by way of the Aqara app, however no handbook management in Apple’s Dwelling app. Pair that every one with a 110-degree area of view; it’s best to be capable to seize the whole lot in nearly any room.
The centerpiece of the unit, the high-resolution 2K 2304x1296P digicam, and its infrared night time imaginative and prescient LED module have a face on it, which is cute and purposeful. When the G3 is “stay” you possibly can see the digicam, however for privateness, you possibly can cease the stay feed and the lens module rotates into the “head” housing, exposing one other look, eyelashes. Sure, you possibly can inform the digicam is “sleeping” as a result of the face reveals that.
In case you’re nonetheless uncomfortable with that, you possibly can retailer a preset viewing angle and ship it there. To the left and proper of the lens and LEDs are two microphones that will let you have two-way conversations, detect irregular sounds, stream audio, and report it. The audio recording is fairly good from the twin mic setup!
The entrance additionally has a microSD slot which helps as much as 128GB of storage. You entry it by turning off the digicam’s stay feed and having the lovable eyelash cowl rotate into view. Beneath is a standing LED that glows purple when lively, together with some delicate branding. The again of the digicam is the place you’ll discover the speaker and the USB-C port which additionally helps video output instantly from the unit by way of the UVC protocol, so if you happen to join the Digital camera Hub G3 to your pc for instance, it ought to robotically acknowledge it.
You may set the Digital camera Hub G3 on a flat floor like a bookshelf, or mount it by way of the usual tripod quarter-inch threads on the underside. It may be mounted the other way up, then the picture adjusted accordingly within the Aqara Dwelling app.
Aqara’s Digital camera Hub G3 has a neural processing unit (NPU), powering some AI features that don’t require an web connection. A Zigbee 3.0 good house hub on board permits you to join as much as 128 Aqara units to the G3, although you’ll want to incorporate repeater units like a wall change or good plug in your setup to realize that quantity.
The Digital camera Hub G3 helps each 2.4 and 5GHz Wi-Fi connections, and Wi-Fi Protected Entry 3 (WPA3). There’s additionally IR blaster assist to your house units which nonetheless use that customary.
Aqara Digital camera Hub G3: Construct and appears
The Aqara Digital camera Hub G3 appears to be like like one thing you’d purchase in a Sanrio retailer (Hey Kitty) till you take away the pre-installed cat ears accent hood. You may set the Digital camera Hub G3 on a flat floor like a bookshelf, or mount it by way of the usual tripod quarter-inch threads on the underside. It may be mounted the other way up, then the picture adjusted accordingly within the Aqara Dwelling app.
Although it’s principally plastic, the Digital camera Hub G3 gives the look that it’s well-made and can be long-lasting indoors. The pan and tilt motor is whisper quiet, and the totally different faces for the lens cowl, although novel, put the “enjoyable” in “purposeful.” It ought to look proper at house with nearly any decor, and you may take away these cat ears if that’s a bit too flamboyant to your feng shui.
Aqara Digital camera Hub G3: Ease of use
Aqara’s Digital camera Hub G3 does a lot that it will take just a few pages of a deep, deep dive article to handle all of them totally, but its options within the Aqara app are clearly laid out and simple to make use of. And since not all of these options are uncovered in Apple Dwelling, it’s even simpler to make use of there. That was one of many hallmarks of all of the Aqara cameras I’ve examined just lately, ease of use. This G3 was arrange in lower than ten minutes and I totally loved the voice confirmations I obtained from the unit as I accomplished particular steps within the onboarding course of.
I’ve the G3 related to my 5GHz wifi community. Opening both app and connecting to its stay feeds has been quick every time. I’ve even opened Apple Dwelling on my Apple Watch Sequence 9 and held conversations with my spouse, which was fairly cool! No glitching, fluid audio, and movie, all from my wrist.
Motion monitoring is simple with the G3. You may set it to trace people, canines, and cats, work with face detection, or gestures, and there’s a cruise choice that may set the digicam to pan and tilt to pre-defined positions for a time period. Face detection from Aqara works by importing pics out of your telephone, or snapping a pic of somebody’s face proper then and there. Then you possibly can set automations like getting a notification when little Jamaal will get house from college. Gesture activation permits you to assign automations to 5 totally different hand gestures, however that disables the human and animal monitoring features.
Talking of monitoring, I actually thought the G3’s potential to maintain up with the people it was monitoring was admirable. If somebody is working, or transferring quickly, it might lose them although. When the G3 is monitoring somebody and panning and tilting to maintain up, you’ll see the video pixelate a bit till the digicam settles, after which the video clears up and is stable once more.
For the safety acutely aware, utilizing the Aqara Dwelling app’s face detection requires you to add these pictures to Aqara’s cloud servers. With the G3 having a built-in neural processing unit, I’d wish to see facial recognition retailer pictures domestically as properly.
There are another minor points I’d wish to see improved. The graininess the digicam picks up when it’s in movement isn’t excellent. I’d additionally wish to see the handbook pan and tilt options, in addition to the predefined place setting obtainable in Apple’s Dwelling app.
Aqara Digital camera Hub G3: Competitors
There isn’t a number of competitors at this value level with comparable options, contemplating the G3 has a built-in Zigbee hub.
One various value a take a look at is Eufy’s E220. It has a bigger 125-degree area of view and an 8X digital zoom. The E220 is half the value however is 2.4GHz wifi solely, has no privateness mode, and doesn’t embody a built-in hub for connecting different IoT units.
Aqara Digital camera Hub G3: Must you purchase it?
You should purchase it if..
- You want Aqara and wish to join extra units
- You desire a pan and tilt HKSV digicam with a sturdy feature-set
- You desire a digicam with a bodily privateness mode
You shouldn’t purchase it if…
- You desire a digicam nearer to $50
- You don’t want hub performance
Aqara Digital camera Hub G3: Verdict
In addition to being a cute digicam with detachable cat ears, Aqara’s Digital camera Hub G3 is a powerhouse of options at a good value. Aqara has some nice IoT units of their choices of movement sensors, window/door sensors, and automatic blinds, so having the hub built-in is a superb characteristic.
With Matter assist, HomeKit uncovered alarm performance, USB-C video out, native storage, and native AI processing, you have got a successful bundle that’s arduous to beat within the indoor pan and tilt digicam market. The Aqara Digital camera Hub G3 is simple to suggest.
Enjoyable and purposeful! Extremely really helpful for HomeKit
The Digital camera Hub G3 works with all of the digital assistants, helps HomeKit Safe Video, is a Zigbee hub, helps 2k video decision, has a bodily safety shutter, and is kawaii!
