Dropcam Pro Review
Due to the popularity of Dropcam HD among consumers, the developers were motivated to create its successor as Dropcam Pro. It outshines not only the predecessor, but comes with a wide range of interesting features that have the potential to give a good competition to the other similar products available in the market. The most unique upgrade of Dropcam Pro is its 8x digital zoom power. Moreover, the improved visual quality and the competitive price has made it a top selling product in the market. Keep on reading this article to learn more about Dropcam Pro and learn what it can deliver you.
Design
The design of Dropcam Pro is identical to its predecessor. The camera is clipped into the metal stand that is located on a hinge. You can easily attach the base on any place that you prefer. After clipping it to a wall, you can rotate the stand according to your preferences. This can assist you to get a better view of any place. The dimensions of this camera measure 4.5*3.15*3.15 in inches. You should also note that it is hard to place this camera on a place without using the stand. The black colored stand blends perfectly well with its design and you can place it in any place without worrying about the elegant appearance. However, the USB power cord is white in color. So the cable and the camera does not match very well.
Moreover, Dropcam Pro is not equipped with an Ethernet port. It uses the wireless technology for data transferring. That’s why you can find a dual band 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter inside the product. It can be connected via 2.4 GHz to typical setup or via 5 GHz. The design has helped users with the installation process. You can simply plug it into power, download the Dropcam app on your Android or iOS device, log into it and set the camera.
Performance and Features
As I mentioned earlier, Dropcam Pro is equipped with a lot of new features than its predecessor. The view field of this camera is increased up to 237 degrees. The double powered sensor works perfectly well with the camera. This sensor is even bigger than the one that you can find in Apple iPhone 5S. A fabulous streaming quality is provided at a resolution of 1,920*1,080. In other words, it is one of the best home surveillance cameras available in the market.
The mobile app that comes along with Dropcam Pro can easily be operated. In fact, it enhances the functionality of the camera. You can use two fingers to zoom the video and look for the things you want in detail. The video provides a great view even if zoomed because of the excellent 720p video resolution. The 8x digital zoom is pretty impressive and useful. The audio capabilities of this camera are also enhanced. The microphone sensitivity is high, allowing you to hear all the things clearly. You can also use Dropcam Pro to communicate with other people over the network, thanks to two way audio.
You can even use Dropcam Pro if you don’t have a smartphone. Its interface is based on Flash, which means that you can access it on any major Internet browser out there. The data is sent in an encrypted format over the cloud based technology. Therefore you don’t need to worry about the security of your surveillance videos. Since all the recordings are stored in the cloud, you can simply go back in time. They offer two different pricing plans for the customers as $99 per year for 7 days of continuous recording or $299 for 30 days of continuous recording. The recorded footage can be used to make small video clips according to your requirements. You can easily share the clips on social media channels such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. You can even make your video stream public and let all the people know what’s happening in a specific place.
Dropcam Pro also comes with a brand new feature named Activity Recognition. It is paired with machine learning technology and advanced computer vision. According to the developers at Dropcam, this camera has the ability to recognize motion patterns and turn its head according to those movements. These specific motions can be used to trigger alerts as well. You are provided with the ability to customize the alerts. For example, you can specify a time slot to trigger alerts, which helps you to turn them off when you don’t need. If you away from home, you can get an alert when someone enters your room.
Conclusion
Dropcam Pro offers a do-it-yourself video monitoring solution to the people in need. The entire camera and its app are user friendly and offers you high quality videos over the network. The only requirement that you need to have is a reliable Wi-Fi network with a fast internet speed in order to stream smooth video and audio footage.
The Dropcam Pro is marked at an affordable price of $199. It is $50 higher then the predecessor. But when you compare the features that you can get, Dropcam Pro is a clear winner.
