Google has announced the Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen) with a fresh design, enhanced video quality, and new recording features.
Last year, Google launched the Nest Doorbell (battery) whilst promising a refresh for the then-three-years-old Nest Doorbell (wired) refresh for a later date. Now, more than a year later, the second generation Nest Doorbell (wired) is here.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it looks a lot like that aforementioned wireless model, albeit a little shorter and thinner. This still makes it larger than the original Nest Doorbell (Battery), aka the Nest Hello. It also comes in four colours: Snow, Linen, Ash and Ivy.
The main and quite obvious difference from the battery-powered version is that you have to wire it into the mains. This enables the second generation Nest Doorbell (wired) to record 24/7 over a 10-day period when you sign up to a Nest Aware Plus subscription. Otherwise, it’ll record 3 hours of footage at no extra cost.
Google’s new smart doorbell can also record up to an hour of footage to local memory if your Wi-Fi cuts out.
Google is also making claims about the Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen)’s footage quality. It has apparently eliminated the distorted fish-eye effect that you often get with such smart cameras, while HDR implementation evens out areas of shadow and bright light.
The company references tests done by DXOMark, which found the second generation Nest Doorbell (wired) to be “the best camera doorbell we have tested so far in terms of image quality”.
Google’s smart image processing expertise doesn’t stop at image quality. It also helps the new Nest to tell the difference between people, packages, pets and vehicles.
The Google Home app has also been upgraded with a brand new UI, bringing across features from the old Nest app like Nest Cam, allowing you easy access to your Nest video feeds.
The Nest Doorbell (wired, 2nd gen) is available to buy now in the US and Canada for $179.99. There’s no news on a wider rollout as yet.
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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.