Nest Unveils All-New ‘Nest Cam’, Updates ‘Protect’ Smoke Alarm [PIC]

Google-owned Nest today unveiled the first new product since its acquisition of Dropcam at a press conference in San Francisco, and it’s called the Nest Cam (looks exactly like the leak we’ve seen before). While it looks a lot like the current Dropcam, it’s just a little slimmer and a bit more curvier, though the base idea is still the same i.e. an ultra simple, plug-and-play WiFi security camera. Meanwhile, the company has also introduced a second generation of its ‘Protect’ smoke alarm (via TechCrunch).

The all-new Nest Cam will ship next week in the US, and cost $199 USD, currently available for pre-order from Best Buy USA. Below are the main features of the new device:

• 1080p video (The last Dropcam was 720p)
• It has a built-in tripod mount
• Its base is magnetic, allowing it to be mounted to your fridge
• 8 built-in infrared LEDs for night vision.
• Like the Dropcam, the Nest Cam uses a cloud-based DVR to store video. Alas, also like the Dropcam, it sounds (so far) that that’s the only option for recording video— meaning if you want to record and store video (rather than just stream it) you’re looking at paying $100-$300 a year on top of the cost of the device. 10-days of video archiving will cost $10 a month; 30-days of archiving will cost $30 a month
• You can mix Nests Cams and older Dropcams in your home, if you so choose. They’ll both appear in the newly designed Nest app for iOS and Android.

Up close with the new Nestcam, the successor to the Dropcam. Definitely shares some design cues. pic.twitter.com/VRwMRe5G0Y

— Geoffrey Fowler (@geoffreyfowler) June 17, 2015

The second generation Nest Protect features a “split spectrum” sensor, which the company says detects smoke/fire earlier whilst also throwing less false alarms. A new feature called “App Silence” lets you stop your smoke alarm with your smart phone.

Here are the main highlights of the second gen. Protect smoke detector:

• It has a built-in microphone that will automatically self-test your smoke alarm’s speaker/horn, ensuring that it’s actually emitting an alarm. This can be done manually, of course — but once a month, the Protect will do it automatically “when you’re unlikely to be home”
• It’s 11% smaller
• The previous generation of Protect needed to be replaced after 7 years; this generation will last for 10.

The new Nest Protect will cost $99 USD and will ship next month. We’ll most likely see updates for these new Nest products to hit authorized retailers in Canada soon.

Nest also announced it has 9,000 developers signed up so far for its Works with Nest program, while it’s cutting deals with insurance companies to offer discounts (up to 5%) for households that use the Nest Protect. Former ‘father of the iPod’ and Nest CEO told the press smart homes need setup “without any programming, without any complexity.” Now that’s taking a mantra from his days at Apple.