DoorBot Rebranded To ‘Ring’, Announces New Wi-Fi Enabled Video Doorbell

DoorBot, the company that introduced one of the first Wi-Fi connected doorbells that is able to stream live audio and video to your smartphone, has announced its first new product under the company’s new brand, Ring.

In an interview Jamie Siminoff, Ring founder and CEO, said:

“With the Ring doorbell, early on when we were designing it, we decided what we were really doing was designing the alarm system literally turned inside out. Not an alarm system that copied what ABT is doing, what Canary is doing, or even what Dropcam was doing with its window and door systems, but actually building some kind of pre-crime system.”

Siminoff goes on to say that he thinks the first generation of the video doorbell, which started off as a KickStarter project, was a success in spite of a few flaws. He then goes on to compare his company to Apple, saying:

“The Doorbot, I think it turned out in the end to be a ‘good’ product, but I certainly wouldn’t say it was the best product. We now sort of looked at the world with, ‘we have to compare our products to Apple, regardless of whether we compete with them or not,’ and I don’t think we succeeded at that level.”

ring1The new Ring Video Doorbell allows users to communicate with anyone at their front door directly from their smartphone or tablet. 

The company’s latest device also offeres a High-Definition camera, which can record 720p video at 30fps, that comes with night vision capabilities and motion triggered notifications, allowing you to be aware of everything that is happening at the entrance of your home.

The device will also record any activity occurring in front of your home and store it on the cloud. Users can then access all recorded video from their iOS or Android device using the free Ring app. 

ring2The video doorbell can be powered using either the existing doorbell wires or using the device’s internal 5200mAh rechargeable battery. 

The Ring Video Doorbell is available for pre-order (in four different colour options) on the company’s website for $199. On November 1, the device will go back to its normal retail price of $249. All pre-orders are expected to start shipping on November 3 and will include free cloud video recording until January 1, 2015 at which point there will be a subscription fee. 

[via TechCrunch]

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