We like Google’s battery-powered Nest Cam, which works indoors and out, but it’s one of the more expensive home security cameras on the market at $179.99. The Nest Cam (Indoor, Wired) offers many of the same capabilities for $99.99, albeit it isn’t quite as adaptable. The indoor Nest Cam is simple to set up and maintain, with excellent 1080p video, accurate motion detection, and the ability to discriminate between motion from people, animals, and cars. You must subscribe to a premium Nest Aware plan to use the camera’s face recognition capability and to see video older than three hours. The Eufy Indoor Cam 2K Pan & Tilt P24, our Editors’ Choice winner, offers local and cloud storage choices, 2K footage, and mechanical pan and tilt controls for roughly $40 less, making it a better buy if your home doesn’t already run on Google.
Google Nest Cam
Intelligent notifications
Supports Voice instructions for Google Assistant
Face recognition
Wi-Fi dual-band connectivity
CONS
A subscription is required for some features.
There is no support for Alexa, HomeKit, or IFTTT.
GOOGLE NEST CAM (INDOOR, WIRED) SPECS
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi |
| Integrations | Google Assistant |
| Field of View | 135 degrees |
| Resolution | 1080p |
| Storage | Cloud |
| Two-Way Audio | Yes |
| Mechanical Pan/Tilt | No |
| Night Vision | Yes |
| Alarm | No |
Features and a Slick Design
The indoor Nest Cam measures 3.8 by 2.5 by 2.2 inches (HWD) and comes with a Maple Wood Base in your choice of four colors: Snow, Fog, Linen, or Sand. A slender metal arm connects the camera enclosure to a semi-round base, allowing you to tilt and swivel the camera. The base can be used to mount the camera on a wall or to position it on a desk.
Google includes mounting screws and anchors, a USB AC power converter, and a user handbook in the box with the camera.
A microphone and a status LED are located on the front of the camera. A speaker and a 10-foot USB power cable are located in the back. The camera shoots 1080p video at 30 frames per second and employs HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology to improve color and contrast. It boasts a 135-degree (diagonal) field of view, 6X digital zoom, 16:9 aspect ratio, and two infrared LEDs for night vision in black and white. You may connect the camera to your home network using either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands thanks to the included dual-band Wi-Fi radio.
When the Nest Cam detects motion, it sends you a push notification and records video, but without a Nest Aware storage subscription, you can only see the last three hours of video. A basic subscription is $6 per month ($60 per year) and gets you access to the previous 30 days’ worth of material. If you want to see films from even further back, the Nest Aware Plus service costs $12 per month ($120 per year) and includes 60 days of video history.
Smart Integrations and App Features
The Google Home mobile app for Android and iOS smartphones gives you access to the Nest Cam‘s settings and video feed. The camera displays on the home screen in a panel for the room where it was installed, and you can view a live feed by tapping the camera icon. A two-way conversation button is located beneath the video panel. Below that are buttons for History, Live, and More.
The History button brings up a screen where you may go through an event chronology and watch videos of each one. You’ll get a list of events with thumbnails for each clip when you hit the Full History button. To access event details and save the clip to your mobile device, tap any thumbnail or the three dots in the upper right corner. The More button turns the camera on and off, while the gear button (also in the upper right corner) opens the Settings screen, where you can enable intelligent notifications, customize what types of events trigger a recording, create activity zones, adjust video quality and night vision settings, and enable or disable audio recording. A menu item for managing your Familiar Faces (facial recognition) library will appear if you subscribe to a Nest Aware plan.
The Nest Cam can be controlled with Google Assistant voice commands and viewed on a Nest Hub device, however it does not recognize Alexa voice commands. Furthermore, the camera does not work with Apple HomeKit installations or IFTTT applets.
Setup and operation go smoothly
The Nest Cam is simple to set up and use. If this is your first Google or Nest device, you’ll need to download the app, establish an account, and create a house. I tapped the + icon in the upper left corner of the home screen to continue the setup, then selected Set Up Device from the menu, then New Devices.
I choose Camera and then Nest Cam when the app prompted me (wired). I tapped Next after scanning the QR code on the front of the camera and removing the QR code sticker. I then connected in the camera and waited for the app to recognize it and add the new device to my Nest account, which took a few minutes. Finally, I gave the camera a name and waited for the update to finish installing. The installation was finished at that point.
During testing, the Nest Cam met all of the requirements. During the day, it provided vibrant colors, and at night, it provided crisp, well-lit black-and-white footage. The video recordings had no barrel or pincushion distortion, and the two-way audio was clear and loud enough.
People, animals, and automobiles all created motion events, which the camera detected well. I had no issue watching a live video feed on a Nest Hub using Google Assistant voice queries, and motion alerts arrived quickly.
Google Home Users Get a Good Deal
If you currently use Google Assistant or a Nest Hub to control your smart home devices, the Nest Cam (Indoor, Wired) is a great, reasonably priced security camera. It’s simple to set up and provides clear HD video, as well as intelligent warnings and facial recognition. To see event-triggered video older than three hours and use the camera’s face-recognition capability, you’ll need a Nest Aware membership. The Eufy Indoor Cam 2K Pan & Tilt P24 is worth a look if you’re looking for an indoor camera and haven’t already committed to Google. It continues to be our Editors’ Choice winner for budget indoor security cameras since it supports Alexa and Google voice commands and has a lot of features for the price, including mechanical pan and tilt controls, 2K video recording, motion tracking capabilities, and local storage.
Google Nest Cam
Intelligent notifications
Supports Voice instructions for Google Assistant
Face recognition
Wi-Fi dual-band connectivity
CONS
A subscription is required for some features.
There is no support for Alexa, HomeKit, or IFTTT.
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