Samsung has a new surveillance camera coming for $200 and it’s fit for use both outdoors and indoors, making it perfect for doubling or tripling up if you want one or two in the home and one to look out over your front porch. The new device is simply called the Samsung SmartCam and just like any of the other cameras out there from companies like Nest, and Logitech (as well as Samsung’s already available surveillance camera), it connects to your local Wi-Fi network in the home so it can allow you remote access to its video recordings through a companion app.
The SmartCam is rated for 1080p video which should mean you’ll get clear picture quality for your videos, though it might not be as clear as the enhanced 1080p video that you get from Nest’s new camera. The SmartCam comes with a small stand that props it up if it’s used indoors and it has a flat pad that can be used for sticking if mounting it outside, and it’s capable of viewing things up to 50 feet away with a 130-degree field of view. This isn’t a completely wireless camera as the product listing page over at Best Buy says it comes with a power adapter, so presumably it will need to be continuously plugged in which may limit some customers depending on where they want to put it.
Users will be able to access the camera features through their computer, including accessing the footage and personalizing notifications that would come into the connected smartphone or mobile device. It’s packed with other standard features that you would expect from a surveillance camera too such as infrared night vision, motion detection technology so it starts recording when it detects movement, and Wide Dynamic Range for a better picture quality when what it sees is backlit. It also offers 10x zoom and takes SDXC memory cards for the storage of video footage. Currently there’s no mention of a release date on Best Buy’s website as it merely says the device is “coming soon,” which could mean the release is just around the corner or it could be a month or two away.
