Once you first unbox Aqara’s diminutive Digicam Hub, you’re greeted by a tiny face with detachable cat ears. It’s all very kawaii (Japanese slang for “cute”) for those who’re into anime and such, however that cute little face belies a monster of a tool inside.
It does lots 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 straightforward to make use of. Let’s get into it!
Aqara Digicam Hub G3: Worth and availability
The Aqara 2K Safety Indoor Digicam Hub G3 is accessible via Amazon for $109.99 however trying over worth monitoring historical past, in December and January, the G3 was on sale within the 80-dollar vary.
Aqara Digicam Hub G3: Specs and options
The Digicam Hub G3 is an almost five-inch tall robot-shaped system that pans 340 levels horizontally, tilts 30 levels up, and 15 levels down. It could actually do this mechanically with AI-powered monitoring, or manually through the Aqara app, however no handbook management in Apple’s Dwelling app. Pair that each one with a 110-degree subject of view; it’s best to be capable to seize all the things in nearly any room.
The centerpiece of the unit, the high-resolution 2K 2304x1296P digital camera, and its infrared evening imaginative and prescient LED module have a face on it, which is cute and purposeful. When the G3 is “dwell” you’ll be able to see the digital camera, however for privateness, you’ll be able to cease the dwell feed and the lens module rotates into the “head” housing, exposing one other look, eyelashes. Sure, you’ll be able to inform the digital camera is “sleeping” as a result of the face reveals that.
In the event you’re nonetheless uncomfortable with that, you’ll be able to retailer a preset viewing angle and ship it there. To the left and proper of the lens and LEDs are two microphones that can help you have two-way conversations, detect irregular sounds, stream audio, and file 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 digital camera’s dwell feed and having the lovable eyelash cowl rotate into view. Beneath is a standing LED that glows pink when energetic, together with some refined branding. The again of the digital camera is the place you’ll discover the speaker and the USB-C port which additionally helps video output straight from the unit through the UVC protocol, so for those who join the Digicam Hub G3 to your laptop for instance, it ought to mechanically acknowledge it.
You may set the Digicam Hub G3 on a flat floor like a bookshelf, or mount it through the usual tripod quarter-inch threads on the underside. It may be mounted the wrong way up, then the picture adjusted accordingly within the Aqara Dwelling app.
Aqara’s Digicam Hub G3 has a neural processing unit (NPU), powering some AI capabilities that don’t require an web connection. A Zigbee 3.0 sensible house hub on board permits you to join as much as 128 Aqara gadgets to the G3, although you’ll want to incorporate repeater gadgets like a wall change or sensible plug in your setup to realize that quantity.
The Digicam Hub G3 helps each 2.4 and 5GHz Wi-Fi connections, and Wi-Fi Protected Entry 3 (WPA3). There’s additionally IR blaster help to your house gadgets which nonetheless use that normal.
Aqara Digicam Hub G3: Construct and appears
The Aqara Digicam Hub G3 appears 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 Digicam Hub G3 on a flat floor like a bookshelf, or mount it through the usual tripod quarter-inch threads on the underside. It may be mounted the wrong way up, then the picture adjusted accordingly within the Aqara Dwelling app.
Although it’s principally plastic, the Digicam Hub G3 gives the look that it’s well-made and will likely 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 Digicam Hub G3: Ease of use
Aqara’s Digicam Hub G3 does a lot that it might take a couple of pages of a deep, deep dive article to deal with all of them totally, but its options within the Aqara app are clearly laid out and straightforward 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 not too long ago, 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 linked to my 5GHz wifi community. Opening both app and connecting to its dwell 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 film, 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 digital camera to pan and tilt to pre-defined positions for a time period. Face detection from Aqara works by importing pics out of your cellphone, or snapping a pic of somebody’s face proper then and there. Then you’ll be able to set automations like getting a notification when little Jamaal will get house from faculty. Gesture activation permits you to assign automations to 5 totally different hand gestures, however that disables the human and animal monitoring capabilities.
Talking of monitoring, I actually thought the G3’s means to maintain up with the people it was monitoring was admirable. If somebody is working, or shifting 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 digital camera settles, after which the video clears up and is strong once more.
For the safety 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 prefer to see facial recognition retailer pictures regionally as nicely.
There are another minor points I’d prefer to see improved. The graininess the digital camera picks up when it’s in movement isn’t best. I’d additionally prefer to see the handbook pan and tilt options, in addition to the predefined place setting accessible in Apple’s Dwelling app.
Aqara Digicam Hub G3: Competitors
There isn’t a whole lot of competitors at this worth level with comparable options, contemplating the G3 has a built-in Zigbee hub.
One various value a have a look at is Eufy’s E220. It has a bigger 125-degree subject of view and an 8X digital zoom. The E220 is half the worth however is 2.4GHz wifi solely, has no privateness mode, and doesn’t embody a built-in hub for connecting different IoT gadgets.
Aqara Digicam Hub G3: Do you have to purchase it?
You can purchase it if..
- You want Aqara and wish to join extra gadgets
- You need a pan and tilt HKSV digital camera with a sturdy feature-set
- You need a digital camera with a bodily privateness mode
You shouldn’t purchase it if…
- You need a digital camera nearer to $50
- You don’t want hub performance
Aqara Digicam Hub G3: Verdict
In addition to being a cute digital camera with detachable cat ears, Aqara’s Digicam Hub G3 is a powerhouse of options at a good worth. Aqara has some nice IoT gadgets of their choices of movement sensors, window/door sensors, and automatic blinds, so having the hub built-in is a good function.
With Matter help, HomeKit uncovered alarm performance, USB-C video out, native storage, and native AI processing, you will have a profitable bundle that’s arduous to beat within the indoor pan and tilt digital camera market. The Aqara Digicam Hub G3 is simple to advocate.
Enjoyable and purposeful! Extremely beneficial for HomeKit
The Digicam 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!