In San Francisco, Nest is having a rather small event to announce a few new products. One of those products was the Nest Cam. Which is basically their answer to Drop Cam. It can record in 1080p at 30 frames per second, and also store video in the cloud. It’s pretty sweet. But that’s not all the company had to unveil today. Nest is also unveiling its second generation Nest Protect, which is their smoke detector. The second generation product includes a “split spectrum sensor” for smoke detection, which is a step beyond the single photoelectric in the original Nest Protect. The company says that the ability to detect smoke with a sensor that is able to read shorter wavelengths is important because materials used in modern buildings can burn much faster. Which means this new sensor should be able to detect smoke quicker than the original Protect did. Using the Nest app on your phone, the smoke alarm will also warn you, and allow you to silence it through the app.
The new hardware was completely redesigned by Nest, and is actually 11% smaller as well. Nest has stated that there is a new “smoke chamber” which keeps dust and insects out of it. The company also says that the new Protect is even easier to install compared to its predecessor.The new Protect is also supposedly able to constantly test itself. Even down to testing its own alarm. It has its own embedded microphone that allows you to listen and see if the smoke alarm’s beeps and alerts are working. Additionally, Nest will do this when they think you aren’t home. This is so that the Protect won’t annoy you.
For those wondering about pre-orders, those are starting today, and the price will be about $99. Shipments are slated to start at the beginning of July. We should be seeing pre-orders opening up later today at retailers that sold the Nest Thermostat as well as the Nest Protect. As soon as those pre-orders are open, we’ll be sure to let everyone know. The connected home just keeps getting better and better.