When a networking giant like NETGEAR announces they've entered the smart home space; you expect a high-level of reliability just like the rest of their equipment. Last year saw the release of the wireless Arlo security camera, and this year a new camera joins the range in the form of the Arlo Q.
Earlier this week, IoT Tech took a trip over to an event in London where we heard many bold claims about the new camera and received a sample for us to put through its paces. In this article, we'll do just that and see whether it's a worthy addition to your smart home setup.
Hardware
NETGEAR isn't known for inspiring design, but I can't think of a single major networking company whose designs I've lusted over the same way I would a new Apple product. However, when you're talking about the smart home, you need to have a design which you would be happy to have on display rather than hide away.
Fortunately, NETGEAR has stepped up to the plate and delivered a solid device which looks good and feels premium. The Arlo Q has a unique, diamond-shaped appearance which houses the four megapixel full HD camera with 130-degree field of view. Around the edge of the lens you'll find infrared LEDs used for night vision.
Speaking of plates, you will find a wall mount plate included in the package if you prefer to hook your camera up somewhere higher for a better view. Unfortunately, the Arlo Q is wired – unlike the original Arlo – so be aware wherever you plan to hook it up you will need to be near a mains socket.
Pat Collins, Vice President of Smart Home Products at NETGEAR, explained the Arlo Q requires a mains supply in order to power its 1080p camera – upgraded from 720p on the original Arlo. It's a shame there's not at least some form of battery to use for a backup, as the Arlo Q will shut down as soon as the power goes out.
As expected from NETGEAR, the WiFi range on the device is excellent. By a long-shot, the Arlo Q has offered the best reception of all the smart cameras we've played with thus far. That's useful, as the Arlo Q doesn't have an Ethernet port for direct connection to a router.
Overall, the hardware for the Arlo Q is sleek, robust, and functional. It might not be winning design awards, but it gets the job done and it will look pretty good on your shelf (or wall.)
You can see a closer-look at the hardware in our unboxing video below:
Software
The app for Arlo – available for Android and iOS – is again what you would expect from NETGEAR, a bit utilitarian and doesn't have the level of UX polish you would find in an IoT startup's app. But unless you're in a crime-ridden neighbourhood, you shouldn't be spending much time here. Outside of security monitoring, the app offers little other functionality and no integration with smart home platforms/other devices.
From when this article was posted, the feature situation may have changed. As Collins assured us during the launch event, NETGEAR intends to ship five new features every quarter this year. He also said integration with smart home platforms are being worked on. Clearly, the company has a long-term plan for this device; starting with geofencing coming soon for automatic disarming/arming of the Arlo Q when you enter/leave a specified location.
Part of the current feature set is the ability to set up to three "motion zones" to set areas where you don't want people to go. In a home this could be used to monitor windows, doors.etc in places where normal activity is happening – like kids playing – but I feel the feature is better suited for businesses where the public are moving around but alerts can be sent if they stray into somewhere they shouldn't be.
You can set the camera to be "armed" based on a predetermined schedule, if you wish. This means if you or your family are home during the day you won't be spammed with notifications constantly. It's a welcome feature, albeit not as cool or useful as the Netatmo Welcome's facial recognition system which can tell who should and shouldn't be in the building. NETGEAR's motion zone solution is better for business, but it's an impersonal security solution when compared to Netatmo's for the home.
On the main screen of the Arlo software you will find an overview of your cameras. On the 'free' plan you can have up to five cameras and 7-day cloud recordings, but you can upgrade to higher-tier packages as follows:
Premier (£6.49/month)
- 30 days of cloud recording (up to 10GB)
- Up to 10 cameras
Elite (£9.99/month)
- 60 days of cloud recording (up to 100GB)
- Up to 15 cameras
We've not seen any other IoT security camera provider offering such a comprehensive security package for such a low price – compared to traditional systems – but we can't help but think it's overkill for home security and will again be a better solution for business use.
So how does the device fare when it comes to video? Unfortunately, our results have been mixed. The camera doesn't match its HD claims, and particularly seems to struggle with white balance where just a bit of sunlight can often make footage difficult to view clearly. You can see this in a short clip featured in our full review video below:
Things are better when it comes to night vision and the many infrared lights around the Arlo Q's lens offer among the better views at night we've seen from the IoT security cameras we've tested so far. Our main concern is around lag – where the camera often lags for up to 10 seconds even when positioned close to a high-speed router. Although it could be a software bug, reliability has also been an issue with the camera disconnecting after a voice message has been sent using two-way audio.
Conclusion
As we've mentioned a few times in this article, the Arlo Q feels better suited to business-use than a smart home. Features like motion zone detection and superior night vision help it to stand-out in this area, but the lack of smart home integration, innovative features like facial recognition, and an unreliable and unpolished app just lets it down at this point for the home.
Most of the issues we have the Arlo Q at this point are due to software, and can be solved through subsequent updates. Speaking to NETGEAR, we feel they're aware the device is competitive – but could be improved – and the promise of five new features every quarter gives us hope this will happen sooner rather than later. We'll report back when/if this happens.
You can find out more about the Arlo Q and pre-order it here.
Do you plan on picking-up the NETGEAR Arlo Q? Let us know in the comments.
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