Logitech, the electronics ace behind such great products as the UE Megaboom Bluetooth Speaker and the Type-S Bluetooth Keyboard, has announced a new home camera, called the Logi Circle, that allows you to check out what’s going on at home while on the go and even interact with people at home. More than just a fancy doorbell or high-tech security, this new device is designed for the purpose of keeping you in touch with what’s going on at home while you’re out and about. This is accomplished by beaming a live feed to your smartphone and using unique software to pick up on interesting things happening and send a push notification to your device. Logitech has bundled a free companion app for this purpose, which includes free cloud storage for 24 hours worth of video shot with the Logi Circle.
Boasting three hours’ worth of streaming on a charge or twelve hours in low power mode, the device comes with a circular magnetic base that doubles as the charger. Some advanced features are on board to differentiate it from the crowd. First and foremost, we have 2-Way Talk & Listen, which allows you to speak to the folks at home through the camera and be spoken back to while you watch their smiling faces on the video feed. A feature called Scene Intuition adapts to the way your house runs so that you’re shown the juiciest parts, such as funny incidents or first steps. Expanding on that, the Day Briefs feature picks out a 30-second highlight reel to regale you when the day is done. More features are expected to roll out over time.
The futuristic little gadget sports 135-degree wide-angle viewing and 8x zoom so you can check out each moment as if you were relaxing at home. Wifi compatibility includes 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz and 802.11 n 5.0GHz. To link up, Apple faithful will need a fairly recent iDevice such as an iPad mini, iPad 3, iPod Touch 5th Generation or iPhone 4s or newer running iOS8.1 or newer. On the Android side, any device with Bluetooth Low Energy compatibility and Android 4.4 KitKat or higher will suffice.
The new Logi product label’s second child is already up for preorder in the U.S. and most of Europe, with no mention or denial of a wider release of yet. The price is set at $199 and units are expected to begin making their way to homesick buyers sometime in October.