Amongst the rest of the blooming smart home market, security cameras are one of the most sought after devices to protect and monitor your house. And while just about everyone in the home automation game has debuted their own release, most sport the same run-of-the-mill design.
But ahead of CES, we’re seeing what may very well end up being the most well-designed camera of the year. Today the UK-based home automation company, Hive, has unveiled the View, a wireless camera boasting a wide range of features.
When thinking about what makes a good home security camera, design may not be the first factor on your list. But for industrial designer Yves Béhar, a device’s form factor should be just as well-thought out as its functionality. Having designed other well-known products in the past, like the August Smart lock, Béhar is now bringing his iconic design ideology to Hive’s latest smart home gadget.
The extremely portable wireless security camera’s 2-inch cube form-factor connects via magnets to a slim metal frame which charges the battery-powered device.
Vive is meant to be placed just about anywhere in your home, meaning it can be mounted right on the wall, set up on a shelf and more. The built-in battery allows it to be placed literally anywhere, but you’ll only be able to expect around an hour of untethered use.
View’s elegant exterior currently comes in two different finishes, a black & brushed copper as well as white & champagne gold.
And while its design very clearly sets itself apart from the competition, Hive’s latest release sports a pretty robust range of features to complement its good looks. View boasts 1080p HD video with a 130-degree field of view making it more than adequate for surveying a majority of rooms and locations.
The camera begins recording when motion is detected and sends notification alerts to your smartphone. These recorded clips are stored for up to 24 hours unless an extended Hive plan is purchased to offer 30-days of storage.
Privacy-conscious folks will fancy the View’s built-in ability to schedule recording so that only specifically desired times will be captured by the camera. And pet owners will have nothing to worry about, as View employs person detection to prevent unwanted notifications.
In terms of other less conventional features, Hive’s new camera can be scheduled to snap photos every few minutes.
When it’s all said and done, View stacks up to a fairly sizable price tag at just under $200. While you can get similarly featured device for much less, most of the high-end smart home cameras are at a similar price point.
Hive’s View is currently available for purchase at $199, or $339 for a double pack. While you’d want to hide most smart cameras available on the market today, the View is one of the first we’ve seen that you may actually want to show off in your home.
[9to5-press-release]
Hive customer research showed a clear desire for an indoor camera that fitted naturally into a home environment and provided useful functionality to give added peace of mind. Continuing the collaboration with renowned designer and fuseproject founder Yves Béhar, a standout feature of Hive View is “Grab and Go” – where the lightweight camera disconnects from its ultra thin stand and can be placed in different areas in the home. Hive View is equipped with must-have features like HD livestreaming, person detection and camera history that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, all intuitively controlled through the Hive app.
Tom Guy, Global Product Director, Centrica Connected Home, commented:
“Customer feedback is central to our design process and is invaluable in ensuring every feature of a new product has a tangible benefit. Working with Yves and his team, we’ve built on this thinking with Hive View, a smart indoor camera that is strikingly designed and, most importantly, keeps people connected to their home, from wherever they are.”
The Hive View design houses cutting-edge technology and processing power in a compact and elegant form. Simple to set up, it works within minutes of unboxing. Hive View is easily manoeuvred to offer the best possible view with a choice of wall, shelf or magnetic mount. All three can rotate, flex and come with a wide 130° field of view.
Hive View only captures content once triggered. It will automatically start recording and send a notification informing it has detected motion or a sound. It can also be set to detect people only, so won’t be triggered by family pets, ensuring users are only notified of what matters to them. Using the Hive app, people can watch a secure livestream in 1080p HD, even when it is dark. Captured content can be viewed for 24-hours as standard, with customers able to upgrade to receive Hive Video Playback – a new service giving a 30-day rolling video history, all easily and securely accessed from anywhere. Hive View also comes with a privacy mode, so it records only when needed via the Hive app or through set schedules, and is available in two color variants – Black and Brushed Copper and White and Champagne Gold.
This February, Centrica Connected Home will launch enhanced Hive Actions which enable easy linking of Hive devices via the app so they work together.
Centrica Connected Home has now sold over 1.2 million connected products, expanded internationally and diversified its product and service portfolio. Hive View is the first product from Centrica Connected Home to launch simultaneously across markets and is available in the UK, USA, Canada, Ireland and Italy.
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