Ring Introduces Updated Video Doorbell With Improved Night Vision and Solar Charger Accessory, but No HomeKit
Ring today announced a new Ring Video Doorbell with improved night vision, updated motion zones, support for 1080p HD video, and a new solar charger accessory. The new Ring Video Doorbell still does not support Apple HomeKit.
Similar to previous models, the new doorbell can be hardwired into an existing doorbell spot, or powered by batteries. It connects to the Ring smartphone app, allowing you to keep track of who is at your door. The new device also supports two-way talk with noise cancellation, three preset modes (Home, Away, and Disarmed), and Privacy Zones to exclude areas of the camera's field-of-view.
A classic is a classic for a reason––it’s tried and true, reliable, and delivers on its promise. Yet every now and then, a classic deserves an upgrade. That’s why we’re thrilled to introduce you to the new and improved Ring Video Doorbell. With 1080p HD video, better image quality in day and night modes, and updated motion zones, this second generation Ring Video Doorbell takes your home security to the next level. And all for the same affordable price.
Additionally, a new Solar Charger device can be purchased separately. This accessory is installed first on the frame of the door, and built-in solar panels can provide charge to the Ring Video Doorbell, as long as your front door is in a sunny spot.
The new Ring Video Doorbell can be pre-ordered today for $99.99, and it will begin shipping on June 3. It's available in Satin Nickel and Venetian Bronze on Ring's website and on Amazon. The Solar Charger isn't up for pre-order yet, but it will cost $49.99 and launch sometime in July.
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Top Rated Comments
You may want to ask why those other devices aren’t willing to get on board the HomeKit train.
But the bigger issue is have you not seen the numerous Ring data breaches in the past year or 2? How long, if not already, before Amazon owned Ring is sending your data to humans to verify AI" like Alexa devices, etc? Do you want your house video feed send to strangers?
Additionally, subscriptions. The Homekit compatible lets you store the video on iCloud with no monthly/yearly fee. There are also cameras/doorbells like Eufy that do it locally that you can access via Homekit. I believe Abode system also doesnt require a paid plan (you can for pro monitoring).
The cameras are so cheap because they are getting you monthly for as long as you own them. You get ZERO features in a free Ring plan https://shop.ring.com/pages/protect-plans You can view live video and talk with the person over the camera. Zero recording which defeats the whole purpose until you pay $30/year. Sounds small but after 3 years that $100 doorbell price doubled to $200. And that is just 1 doorbell no other devices. Mine as well buy a better camera up front with no plans.
Mine as well just get a Facebook Portal if you are going to let Amazon in your house. Not a ton of difference giving away your data or who knows seeing it.
Im not a conspiracy theorist or privacy nut, but considering what they did with Echo, I would not want video of my home (or when Im home or not) going to some random contractor for "verification" who can sell that to criminals or use it for blackmail purposes. There is no accountability for those contractors. It was bad enough with your voice but your video tells a ton more about you.
Ecobee is pretty nice and Homekit. The Honeywell Lyric Round is Homekit too and very similar to a Nest.
That last one is the deal-breaker. I have it hardwired with power, but if you press the doorbell the dang phone will ring before the physical bell does. There's like a 3-5 second delay before the bell rings, minimum. As far as I can tell, it doesn't ring the bell until it can check in with the servers, which if you're at home is just stupid. It might be nice for the 10% of the time someone comes to the door when I'm away, but the other 90% of the time when I'm at home the experience is embarrassingly bad.
If they're going to buy anyone I sure would hope it's not them. I put one of their systems in the rental unit I own and it was crude, basic, and a bit hard to set up. Could be they've improved, but it was a bad first impression. If they're going to buy anyone I'd vote for Abode--I've had extremely good experiences with the company, and their hardware is very "Apple-like" in both design and simplicity. For the most part it also "just works" which means a lot.
Ironically the one problem I had with Abode's hardware was a somewhat Apple-like one--they upgraded the hardware in both the base station and the motion-detector with still camera that comes with it along the line, and the newer camera is only compatible with the newer base station. Which is fine, except for the fact they look identical, the product name didn't change, and the only indication is a slightly different model number, so I was really confused when I ended up with an extra camera from a newer system and couldn't get it to pair to my older base station.
For one, yes having one app makes things more simple, and more 'wife approved'. Secondly, there are some benefits to things like cameras with homekit, since they will store footage securely if I have an iCloud data plan, and not count against my storage. Lastly, I have a Nest thermostat and Blink cameras, but I would love to move away from the Google and Amazon model (I understand the privacy aspect is important to some, and nonsense to others).
I haven't seen a homekit compatible thermometer that looks as nice as the Nest for my personal tastes, and I still like staying informed of products like this new Ring doorbell, but I am still going to save my dollars for homekit compatibility.