Wemo today unveiled the first of many alleged new products that will work with HomeKit, as well as Matter, once that becomes official. Of these, possibly the most interesting and surprising is the new Wemo Smart Video Doorbell.
This new product, given the scarcity of HomeKit compatible doorbells, may well be popular, with only Netatmo and Logitech offerings being the other two serious contenders at this stage*. Add to this the fact that the Wemo is also compatible with HomeKit Secure Video (HSV), and that means the Netatmo drops out of this race, with only Logitech also offering this option.
* The Yobi B3 doesn’t support any form of recording, the Robin Proline is both expensive and low-res (only 720p), and the Arlo Essentials requires an Arlo hub.
The Wemo does also bring possibly the widest field of view offered by a video doorbell to date, at 178º vertically, whilst also offering dual-band WiFi connectivity (2.4 & 5.0GHz), as well as ‘enhanced night vision’ and motion detection via the camera’s 5mp sensor. The complete field of view is 178º (Vertical), 140º (Horizontal), 223º (Diagonal).
As you can see from the image above, the camera’s depth may appear quite large, although this image also features the angle mount provided. In reality, the camera’s depth is only 35.5mm/1.4in, with a 43.2mm/1.7in width, and 124.5mm/4.9in in height.
The camera, like the other two products mentioned, needs wired power (16-24v AC), so there’s no battery option as such. It doesn’t come with a light that only the Logitech offers, but because it is compatible with HSV, you do get face recognition, parcel detection, and smart notifications.
One thing that may seem odd, is that on the company’s page for this product, the only tech specs listed are “Supports Thread”. I suspect this is could be an error, and should really read ‘Supports Matter’, as well as show other specs that I’ve outlined already, although it’s entirely possible it can act as either a Thread router, or even Border Router once Matter finally arrives, which will also then open up the camera to other platforms, like Amazon Alexa, and Google Home for example.
The Wemo Smart Video Doorbell is available to pre-order now, via Wemo’s website, priced at US$249.99.