Google's line of Nest cameras have always offered impressive hardware, but they're expensive and the current lineup is getting a bit long in the tooth. Enter, the new Nest Cam, which features a battery so you can mount it anyplace, even if that location is far away from power. If you're looking for long battery life, this camera has it. The rest of it, not so much.
The camera is missing capabilities at release that older Nest cameras have, and the Home app is just not ready to host your security camera feeds. The slick hardware might still work for some people, but this is one of the few Nest products that I would describe as a disappointment. The good news is the most notable problems are software, and that's fixable. Well, potentially fixable.
SPECS
| Resolution | 1080p, HDR, 16:9, 130-degree FoV |
| Protection | IP54, operates from -4°F to 104°F (-20°C to 40°C |
| Power | 6,000mAh battery, magnetic cable |
| Connectivity | 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4GHz/5GHz) Wi-Fi, BLE |
| Colors | White |
| Measurements | 3.27x3.27 inches, 14.04oz (398g) |
| Price | 9.99 |
THE GOOD
| Mounting design | The magnetic mount is easy to install, and the camera attaches securely. |
| Offline storage | Can save video in the event your connection drops. |
| Assistant integration | Talks to your other Google things with very little configuration. |
| Battery life | Even with frequent wake-ups this camera should run for over a month without a recharge. |
| Versatility | Thanks to the battery and mounting options, you can put this camera anyplace—indoors or out. |
THE NOT SO GOOD
| Video quality | The sensor is only 1080p, and the feed looks noticeably compressed. Slow to wake up. |
| Offline storage again | The device's storage is limited to caching events for later upload because unlocking true local storage would interfere with Google's subscription model. |
| Clunky app support | The Home app is getting crowded and confusing. Camera features feel incomplete. |
| Expensive accessories | This waterproof camera doesn't come with a waterproof cable. That'll set you back $35. The stand is $30. |
Design, hardware, what's in the box
Even from a distance, the new Nest Cam looks like a Nest product. It has the same bell-shaped white body as the company's other cameras, made even sleeker with the addition of a battery. No longer will power availability dictate where your camera goes, which makes it much easier to keep an eye on all areas. The unit is surprisingly big and heavy, so it's not something that will fade into the background. People will see this thing, and some of them might try to steal it. Google says it'll replace a stolen camera, though.
There is a small, recessed power plug on the bottom side of the camera. Annoyingly, it's a proprietary magnetic port that only works with Google's hardware, and the outdoor version of the cable costs . That port is also where the optional stand connects. It's nice that you can leave it plugged in if you want to record continuously instead of only recording events—the new Nest Doorbell can't do that even if it's connected to power. The cable is easy to attach, but it looks backward to me, extending toward the front of the camera instead of the rear. Also on the bottom is a speaker, allowing you to engage in a conversation with anyone nearby.
The magnetic mounting system is great, but I wish the camera came with the tabletop stand (or that the stand didn't cost a whopping $30). It includes a wall mount, which is easier to attach than most. A few screws, and it's all set. Then you just snap on the camera, which is held extremely well. You can adjust the angle, but there is a sensor inside that detects when it's on the magnetic mount. If you angle it too far off-axis, this sensor loses contact and the camera thinks it is not mounted. As long as you don't need to do anything wacky with the mounting location, you should have no problem setting up the new Nest Cam.
App, features, and video
It has been clear for some time that Google is moving away from the Nest app and toward Google Home. Its last few Nest devices have only plugged into the Home app, but that's less annoying for a smart display than it is for a camera. The Home app is becoming a cluttered monstrosity, and its camera features are still incomplete. I don't exactly love the Nest app, which is starting to look quite dated, but the Home app has plenty of shortcomings for camera management. I will say, though, the setup process in the Home app is very quick and straightforward. It's a full end-to-end walkthrough, just like you'd get in the Nest app. You scan the camera's QR code to begin, and then the app guides you through each step, even going so far as to provide instructions based on the type of mounting hardware for your wall.
This is the first time the Home app has handled camera notifications, and they're faster than the notifications from the Nest app. This camera supports on-device processing rather than running everything through the cloud. As a result, notifications appear in about a second, and there's no awkward refresh to get the thumbnail like with the Nest app. I very much appreciate that Google stuck with the animated notification previews, too. There is no web interface for this camera, so the Home app is where you'll spend most of your time. There's a history timeline similar to previous Nest devices, but it takes ages to scroll, and jumping between dates is only possible in the "full history view," which shows a list of events but takes some time to update as new events are recorded.
The camera doesn't record continuously in battery mode, waking only when there's an event to record. Those videos appear in your camera history, and you can always fire up a live view in the Home app. Getting to the live view is a bit annoying, though. There's a camera link at the top of the app which opens a non-customizable list of all your cameras. The feeds have to reconnect if you scroll away, and things are slow to load when you've got cameras from more than one manufacturer in your house. Still, partial credit for supporting cameras from different companies in one app. Adding new Assistant/Home connections is pretty tedious, though. It's smoother if you stick to Google hardware. You can also scroll down in the app to find the camera in its room location, but that takes even longer.
Also, thanks to the on-device processing, some previously paid features like activity zones are now included with the camera. That's helpful if you're going to put the device in a high-traffic area but don't want a dozen pings per day. You can get all the notifications if you want, but the camera lets you narrow the scope to people and/or animals. Sadly, there's no custom clip functionality, and downloading events is not presented in an obvious way. There's a download button at the top of the screen, but it only appears when you have the event info panel open. It took me a good 10 minutes of poking around in the app and settings before I realized that. Think you can go to the web to get a more robust Nest-style feature set? Nope, there is no web interface for this camera at all.
Google's last few cameras have had 4K sensors that supported lossless zoom, but that's not an option here. The new Nest Cam is only 1080p, and the image quality looks like a step down, even compared to the 1080p output of older Nest devices. As you can see in the samples, the video (set to maximum quality) looks a bit muddy, flickery, and the dynamic range is middling—strange considering it's supposed to have HDR. I've also had issues with the camera failing to wake quickly enough to record the beginning of events. Sometimes I just get a tiny fragment of video as the subject leaves the frame, which is not helpful when there's no 24/7 feed to fall back on. This is after increasing the default sensitivity and boosting the maximum clip length.
I assume all these video quirks are to help conserve battery life and internal storage, and the videos get the job done if you just want alerts about what's going on within the camera's field of view. If you're hoping to share, edit, or save these clips, you won't be happy with the Nest Cam. The upshot is that the camera lasts a long time on a charge. The longevity will vary based on how often it has to wake up to record, but mine is doing so pretty frequently throughout the day (because dogs). I'm on track for six or seven weeks of battery life.
Should you buy it? Rating 6.5/10
Google Nest Cam (Battery)
For most people, no, you shouldn't buy a Nest Cam yet—wait and see if Google can address some of its shortcomings. The exception is if you are all-in with Google Home. Even if it's not significantly better or worse than, say, an Arlo camera, the Nest Cam integrates with all your other Google devices, and setup is a breeze. The camera has some great improvements over past Nest devices, like the battery, free activity zones, and offline caching. At the same time, the Home app is not ideal for managing cameras, there are some missing features, and the video quality is just okay. You have to expect some of that with a battery-powered camera, but it exacerbates the sluggish activation and flickering issues—what little video I do get of an event doesn't even look good.
The Nest Aware subscription is less spendy than it used to be, having dropped the per-camera pricing last year. It's $6 per month if you only want to retain events and $12 if you want to keep 24/7 video in the cloud. Aware also adds features like facial recognition, but that's supposed to be an on-device feature with the new camera. It doesn't sit right with me that Google is paywalling something your hardware is supposed to do locally. The $180 asking price also feels a bit high, given all the issues I've seen. Although, that's par for Nest hardware.
For those who have built their smart homes around Google, the Nest Cam fits right in. That's me—I mainly use Google hardware around the house, and I would prefer to use Google's wire-free camera even if it's lacking in some areas. I've had Arlo cameras for years, but the reliability has never been great. The Nest Cam doesn't improve on that aspect, but the rest is a small step up (Arlo's non-hub camera has terrible battery life, for example). So, I might consider buying a few of these devices, but I'm not going to recommend them generally until Google can address some of the shortcomings.
Buy it if...
- You already have lots of Google smart home devices.
- There's no power outlet near the location you need to monitor.
Don't buy it if...
- You don't already use Google Nest hardware.
- You need high-quality video footage.
Where to buy
UPDATE: 2021/11/03 13:22 EST BY RYNE HAGER
I bought one for myself, and I have regrets
After reviewing the battery-powered Nest Doorbell (and while stuck in NYC for a few days), I opted to pick up one of the new battery-powered Nest Cams to go with it. I’d already been using the Nest Doorbell without a Nest Aware subscription, so it made sense for me to be the one to take a look at how the Nest Cam stacks up for those unwilling to pay. And, in short: It doesn’t.
Like the Nest Doorbell, unless you pay for a Nest Aware subscription, you only get a rolling three hours of recordings and alerts. That means the free experience can’t even tell you about a theft that took place at 3 AM if you happen to sleep past 6 — and that is ridiculous. Google told me previously that it believed this was competitive with other offerings, but I disagree: Wyze does better with two weeks of rolling cloud storage for free (admittedly, with a 12s limit and a cooldown), and both Eufy and Arlo offer local storage mechanisms. Ostensibly fully on-device features like Familiar Face detection are also paywalled, even though Google confirmed to me that functionality is built right into the hardware itself that you already paid for.
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For $180, I think Google should be offering more for the base experience. 24 hours of recordings would be reasonable, and Google really shouldn’t be paywalling hardware-level features when you paid an up-front cost for that hardware.
On top of that, I have the same complaints that I did for my Nest Doorbell. The camera also likes to flicker when recording in bright light — I assume that’s a bug that Google can fix eventually. And, even at the highest possible sensitivity settings, the camera can’t recognize people or animals until they're within something like ten or twelve feet. Using it on battery power, most of my alerts start well after they should, and I don’t have the benefit of continuous recording for context — though using it plugged in would fix that issue. Still, alerts straight-up miss people or movement that might be further away. For a “security” camera, the Nest Cam (Battery) lets a lot of things slide.
The battery life I’m getting is a little worse than Ryan — probably because I had to crank things like the sensitivity settings and recording quality to try to improve my results. At around 4-6 weeks, I’m not exactly thrilled that I’ll need to charge the camera quite so frequently. I put mine in a spot that’s sort of hard to reach in an eave, with very precise framing, and it is difficult to get it back exactly where I want it with the magnetic mount. I really wish Google offered some kind of alignment tool for the Home app where I could compare the current view with a saved snapshot — even better if it could guide me slightly for how to tweak the camera in its mount to get back to those results.
Charging is also annoying. Unlike the Nest Doorbell (Battery), the Nest Cam doesn’t take a standard USB Type-C port for power; you need a specific magnetic cable with pogo pins. I don’t know about you, but I tend to misplace things all the time, which is a big part of why I love how ubiquitous USB Type-C is in this far-future 2021 dystopia. And I just know for a fact that every time I take this camera inside to charge it, finding the one dumb specific cable I need will mean searching through drawers and cabinets. Somehow, the Nest Doorbell managed the same IP54 rating with a full-blown USB Type-C port on the back, and I wish Google had done the same here.
Ultimately, if you aren’t going to pay for a subscription, you shouldn’t buy the Nest Cam (Battery). And if you aren’t already knee-deep in Nest cameras, then I think you really shouldn’t buy one. You can get five Wyze Cam v3s for the same price, festoon your entire home in the warm and watchful gaze of smart security cameras, and enjoy better video quality (especially in low-light) and free cloud recording. Google services and Assistant integration aren’t as good with Wyze products, but I wouldn’t pay five times more for that alone, given all of the Nest's other drawbacks.
Frankly, I wish I hadn’t bought my Nest Cam (Battery), and I think that says it all.
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