Bulbs & Fittings Ideas

Customer Video Review Length:: 1:24 Mins

We purchased a number of IP camera in the last few years to watch over an older relative who has a tendency to fall and not press her emergency alert button. This IP camera works but had a few issues that caused me to rate it below a number of others cameras I have tried.

My biggest problem with the camera is related to the security of the upgrade for the app. The first thing you have to is download an app from GooglePlay store (so far so good) and then tells you to get an update to an application, which takes you to the vendor’s Chinese website which is not trusted by Google. There is absolutely no excuse for not having an update through Googplay store, in fact it indicates that for some reason the app does not follow the standards and Google did not approve the upgrade to be in GooglePlay. I did not download this update and do not recommend it to others. I am a software engineer who has a lot of experience in security area and getting untrusted apps is something I just don’t do. I am using the app I downloaded from GooglePlay without an update and as you see in the video it works but missing whatever is in the update (good or bad).

Another security related issue is that the password allows only letters, no numbers and no special characters. I kept getting an error that the password was not right (even though it matched what I specified), after many attempts I decided to try a simpler password (only letters, no numbers or special characters) and it worked. Tried again with a mix of numbers and letters, it did not work. It did allow me to enter a long string of characters, long enough to form a phrase. Overall experienced left me concerned that developers are not security savvy and that the app may have other security issues as allowing a complex password with special characters is Security 101 for any software developer.

CONFIGURATION
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The camera has three methods for connecting the camera (1) WIFI (2) LAN (3) Manual. Manual and Ethernet options worked, but not WI FI. I could not get WI FI to work but worked fine when it was connected by Ethernet. I have set up many IP cameras in the past, so it more likely to be a problem with the camera than my mistake.

OPERATION
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1. The camera can be controlled from the app. All I have to do is swipe by finger across the screen and it makes the camera move left to right or up and down. I now have several cameras with this feature and it now became a check off item. It is really convenient be able to turn the camera and for our use to be able to look down on the floor. Not all cameras can look down, this camera does reasonably well in the down direction although not all the way below the camera.

2. Response time to swipe commands has a large lag. A larger lag that I have experienced with other cameras. Since this is an IP camera you gesture first goes to the cloud and then comes backto the camera. You can see the delay in my video as I show both the camera and what I see in the app in once screen so you can see how quickly how quickly the camera shows something different.

3. Overall video quality is acceptable. It is slightly over exposes in bright light but otherwise pretty good. Certainly good enough to see what is going on.

4. The camera can be used free standing or be mounted on the wall with a bracket that is included in the package.

5. I find the ability to record on a micro sd inserted into the camera very helpful. This camera allows me to record to micro sd.

I received this video camera for testing and unbiased review. I described the pluses and minuses of the app and contacted the seller regarding making the app updates be available via Google Playstore.

Ali Julia review

Great day and night clarity in a small size

A good addition for big store that needs manual labor that must be monitored or conducted regularly. Its features are unique.