Best smart home security cameras to keep your home safe in 2018
Upgrade your home security today with one of these awesome smart cameras
WANT to keep a close eye on your home while you're out and about?
We've rounded up some of the best smart home cameras to give your house the security boost you need.
What is a smart camera?
Smart home tech is invading every corner of your home – and it can make a huge difference to your life.
Smart cameras are the evolution of CCTV, and connect to your smartphone.
That means you can use your mobile to check up on what's going on at home.
And the best cameras will even alert you to motion when you're out, so you'll be the first to know if you're being burglarised – which is always handy!
Hive Camera – £129
The Hive Camera is surprisingly cheap compared to its rivals.
This easy-to-set-up snapper is built for indoor-use only.
It lets you livestream video from your home to your phone using the Hive app.
It shoots in HD quality and offers a remote zoom feature. It also offers night vision, so you can capture footage at nighttime too.
You can also chat through its speaker using your smartphone's microphone, so you can talk to your pets when you're away from home.
- Buy Hive Camera –
Honeywell Lyric C2 – £139
The Honeywell Lyric C2 does all the usual bits you'd expect from a smart camera.
Using a phone app, you can check up on what's going on at home – including at night time.
But Honeywell offers some seriously useful additional features.
For instance, it can tell the difference between a crying baby and a smoke alarm.
Better yet, it'll send a notification to your smartphone of it hears either.
It records in Full HD, has a 145-degree wide-angles, supports 6x zoom – and keeps your video encrypted to boot.
- Buy Honeywell Lyric C2 –
Nest Cam IQ – £299
Meet the big daddy of consumer-grade smart home cameras – the Nest Cam IQ.
It's probably the most attractive camera out there, and has a distinct Pixar lamp feel.
First off, it can tell a person from someone else using facial recognition.
So if your partner or kids are home, it'll know – and if there's a stranger in the house, it'll know too.
It can also let you know when your kids get home using this facial recognition feature, and will send you a notification via smartphone.
It records in Full HD, and has a close-up tracking feature. So if it's captured someone in your house, it'll automatically track their body and face for the best close-up view.
- Buy Nest Cam IQ –
It's got a two-way speaker system that lets you talk through the camera – but will also capture high-quality sound thanks to a triple microphone array.
It films in very high quality at night too, thanks to infrared LEDs that illuminate your whole room evenly with invisible light.
And if you're willing to fork out for the Nest Aware subscription (ranging from £4 to £24 per month, depending on the features you want), you'll get 24/7 continuous recording.
This means you can check back through a 30-day history of video and sound – and get intelligent alerts throughout the day.
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All of your video is encrypted too, which is a major highlight.
We've tested the Nest Cam IQ extensively, and it's by far our favourite smart home cam. It's a fab buy, but only if you can stomach the price.
Would you buy a smart home security camera? Let us know in the comments!
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