With the Nest Doorbell, Google introduces its first video doorbell that works on battery power. Favorable, because it saves homeowners the necessary connection problems. The assembly takes no more than fifteen minutes, after which you receive push notifications from visitors on your smartphone. How do you like the Google Nest Doorbell in practice? High time for an extensive test.
Google Nest Doorbell
Price
€199.99
Camera lens
1.3-megapixel 8.5-millimeter color sensor
Resolution
960 × 1280 pixels
frame rate
30 fps
Aspect Ratio
3:4
Diagonal viewing angle
145 degrees
IP certificate
IP54
wireless
802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz), Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
Dimensions
4.6 × 16 × 2.41 centimeters
Battery capacity
6000 mAh
Weight
206 grams
Website https://store.google.com/nl/
8 Score 80 
- Pros
- Simple assembly
- Vertical field of view
- Intelligent Recognition Functions
- User-friendly app
- Negatives
- Scanty paper manual
- Vulnerable to theft
- Current chime unusable on battery power
- Relatively low resolution
- Duration
Google is targeting the masses with the Nest Doorbell. In contrast to its predecessor (Nest Hello), the assembly is dead simple. So you don’t have to be a glorified electrician to get things up and running. Anyone who can handle a drill attaches the housing effortlessly to the door frame. The camera lens notices as soon as someone is at the door and then signals the Google Home app on a smartphone. Watch live on the screen and, if desired, start a conversation remotely. You can also view previous recordings in the app.
Fast assembly
The supplied paper manual does not amount to much. According to the brief explanation, you must charge the battery via the supplied USB-C cable and install the Google Home app for further instructions. Then scan the QR code on the back of the housing with a smartphone camera and read the instructions in Dutch. The app explains step by step how the assembly works, so it is almost impossible to go wrong. To be on the safe side, you may want to watch a short installation video.
The product box contains a mounting bracket, plugs, screws and a wedge. This completes the installation. With the latter attachment, the Nest Doorbell tilts inwards twenty degrees, so that people appear in the middle of the screen. Once you have screwed the mounting bracket and wedge onto the door frame, you can easily maneuver the Nest Doorbell into the holder. You will hear a clear clicking sound. For prying the Nest Doorbell off, Google provides an unlocking tool. This tool allows you to quickly detach the device and charge the battery indoors. A tricky point is that the unlocking tool is relatively easy to imitate. This makes this product vulnerable to theft.
Elongated housing
Compared to the previously released Nest Hello, the weatherproof housing of this new video doorbell is slightly larger. The manufacturer also opted for a white color scheme with a black circle around the camera lens. The call button is also white. Dirt from dirty fingers is therefore noticed a little faster. There is a white LED ring around the call button. It lights up as soon as someone rings the doorbell. A small status light can be seen below the camera lens. For the operation of two-way audio, the housing has an inconspicuous microphone and loudspeaker on board. The speaker sounds surprisingly loud, allowing visitors to clearly understand your voice commands from the Google Home app.
Vertical field of view
When a visitor presses the doorbell, your smartphone will sound a ding dong. You can also connect Nest speakers and smart speakers with Google Assistant support to the video doorbell. So decide for yourself on which devices you hear the doorbell. If you would like to use the existing gong, you still need to connect the Nest Doorbell to the current wiring of the doorbell system. In that case, you might as well buy a wired video doorbell.
The video resolution of 960 × 1280 pixels is a bit sparse. Presumably, the developers deliberately chose a relatively low resolution to limit the impact on the battery as much as possible. Fortunately, people are clearly recognizable, although the image is a bit pixelated. In addition, we see a slight curvature in the display. The colors, on the other hand, look natural and the brightness is also okay. It is striking that this video doorbell captures images in a 3:4 ratio, while the Nest Hello makes widescreen recordings. A good decision, because the vertical field of view ensures that people appear completely in the picture.
Record in the cloud
This video doorbell is connected to the internet via WiFi. Recordings of events (movement and ringing) therefore end up on an online server. Any user can request events from the last three hours. This time frame is obviously far too short. During holidays and late hours, you naturally also want to review afterwards which events have taken place in front of your house. You can’t really avoid a paid Nest Aware subscription. This gives you access to a 30 or 60 day video history. This service costs five or ten euros per month respectively. It is useful to know that the Nest Doorbell never records continuously, as the camera only records events. In the event of a sudden loss of WiFi or power, this video doorbell automatically switches to local storage. The internal memory offers space for one hour of video material.
Intelligent functions
The Nest Doorbell is an intelligent video doorbell. For example, if a courier appears in front of the camera lens, you will receive a push message with the message ‘Person with package’. The camera distinguishes between people, animals (dogs and cats), vehicles and packages. That works very well in practice. Determine in the settings for which you want to receive a notification. You can also activate facial recognition if desired and set zones if necessary. With the latter function, you can use virtual lines to mark out a front garden, for example. In this way, you avoid receiving useless notifications of activities on public roads.
Conclusion
Due to the ease of installation and the simple operation, the Nest Doorbell is suitable for a wide target group. Thanks to the integrated battery, you will not experience any hassle with (often dated) power wires and you can select a spot at the front door yourself. With normal use, the battery only needs to be recharged after a few months. On the other hand, the use of this accessible video doorbell with battery also has some limitations. For example, the resolution is relatively low and you cannot use the existing gong. Finally, the product is firmly priced.
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