Following in the footsteps of competitors Withings and Dropcam, Netatmo is launching Welcome at CES 2015, a smart home camera featuring face recognition. The surveillance device learns to recognize family members and is able to send their names to the user’s smartphone, when an unknown face appears, the application notifies the homeowner.The system provide reassurance, for instance, it can detect when the kids are back from schools and send a notification to parents at work. I am not sure if teenagers would appreciate to be tracked down by big brother like that, and they can opt out of this feature in the privacy settings. They can also decide if they want the footage with their face stored or not. In any case, the videos and identification data is not uploaded in the cloud, but saved on the embedded SD card, to better protect privacy. This may sound great for privacy preservation, however, knowing that surveillance cameras with cloud backup is the number one fear on the thieves’ list, it may not be the best for theft prevention. On the bright side, local data storage means no subscription fee for the service.
According to Netatmo, the setup process is fairly simple, the user needs to plug the camera and pair it to the free application available both in the App Store and Google Play. The device records full HD video with a130 degree of field and is accessible from a smartphone, a tablet or a computer PC or Mac. The software displays the timeline lists past events and people detected by the system.
Welcome will be available in Q2 2015, and we got no word on the pricing yet.
Technical specifications
- Face recognition technology
- 1080p full HD resolution, extra-large 2 micron pixels
- 130° field of view
- Night vision obtained by light sensitivity and infrared LED
- Micro-SD card included
- Bank-level encryption for data transfer from the camera to the smartphone or tablet
- Easy setup within minutes
- Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection
- Embedded microphone
- Powered through micro-USB and included plug
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