Nest Hello: UK release date and price revealed
The Nest Hello video doorbell has launched in the UK, with units shipping from mid-June. Here’s what you really need to know about Nest Hello including its UK release date and price.
Designed to protect and monitor your front door, the Nest Hello is both a video doorbell and smart video camera.
Unlike the competition, such as the Ring Video Doorbell 2, the Nest Hello has to be hardwired into an existing doorbell or chime, and there’s no battery-powered option. For some, this may be less convenient, but Nest’s approach has several advantages.
First, Nest has managed to fit a more powerful wireless chip in the doorbell. One of the issues with the Ring system is that its Wi-Fi is pretty weak, so you need a strong signal. The Nest Hello has a dual-band 802.11ac chip in it, although UK regulations mean that it can only connect to 2.4GHz networks.
The second advantage is that as the doorbell is always powered, it can record continuously. Sign-up to a Nest Aware subscription and the camera can record 24/7 (just as with other Nest cameras), giving you a full feed to scroll back through. Other smart doorbells only record short clips when motion is detected or the button is pushed. And, with the new Nest subscription, prices start at £4 a month (or £40 a year) for 5-days of continuous recording. Without Nest Aware, you get three-hours of history.
Nest has implemented a granular notification system. Most obvious is the doorbell push, which makes the internal chime ring and calls your smartphone so you can answer from anywhere. There’s also an option to have your Google Home devices ring, too, so you can answer using just your voice.
Video is recorded in a 4:3 format using the 160-degree lens, designed to show people head-to-toe, so there’s no need to turn your phone into landscape mode, as you have to with Ring. Nest uses HDR to improve capture during day and night, with IR illumination used when there’s not enough natural light.
Related: Best security cameras
By default the Nest Hello has person recognition built-in; sign up for Nest Aware and you also get facial recognition. If you have a Nest camera with this already, such as the Nest Cam IQ, then your recognised faces are pulled in automatically. With this turned on, your alerts tell you who is at the front door, too.
Motion alerts can be set so that Nest Hello will let you know when a person comes to the front door. You can set notifications so that you’re only warned when a person approaches, with all other movement ignored. And, with Nest Aware you can set activity zones to monitor, further suppressing alerts.
Nest Hello has a couple of unique features. First, you can turn on Quiet Time, which stops your internal chime or bell ringing, which is perfect if you don’t want someone sleeping to be disturbed.
Secondly, you can use one of three pre-recorded replies if you can’t or don’t want to answer the door: “Hi there! No one can answer the door right now. We’ll be notified you stopped by.”, “Hi there! You can just leave it. Thanks!” and “Just a sec… we’ll be right there.” Currently, there’s no option to set your own replies.
Related: Google Assistant guide
From a tech perspective, Nest Hello certainly seems to be the most advanced camera. But, that comes at a price, with the camera costing £229 (£329 with professional installation) – £90 more than the Ring Video Doorbell 2. Is it worth it? We’ll find out soon when we put the Nest Hello through our full review process.
You can order a Nest Hello direct from Nest.com now. Alternatively, it’ll be available from a range of popular UK retailers including John Lewis, Argos, and Currys PC World, when it’s released in mid-June.
Share your thoughts on the Nest Hello with us on Twitter @TrustedReviews.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
