Neos SmartCam | Wi-Fi SmartHome Security Camera, Works with Alexa, 1080P HD Video, Night Vision, 2-Way Audio, Free Cloud Storage, UK Support, White, Single Pack

This little camera has been unfairly maligned in some of the reviews here.. Or the company has taken note and changed its settings [Nov 19]. Its a buy, please read on for a detailed comment on each feature, and do kindly mark this review helpful if you find it so. I normally don't write this long reviews but someone's got to correct the record0) Overall - if you are buying a cheap camera, please make it this one, and not something shipped over by a company based outside the EU which doesn't have to comply with local laws or at least EU law isn't easily enforceable. It ticks almost all the boxes, and you can be assured that coming from an eternal gadget geek, it works for me.1) privacy - [TICK] no it does not want your address. See my screenshot of the made up address I put in. If you want to use geofencing and auto arming when you leave home etc, of course they need to know your location and where your home is.. I didnt turn that feature on. I only had to out my email and phone number, which is standard for most online logins with OTP being sent to your phone etc..2) Security - [TICK] I haven't done an indepth 'phone home' analysis of the camera sofware but was easily able to turn cloud recording, noise detection etc. off in the app. Obviously to access the stream on your phone while you are out and about, the data does have to go through their servers. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will post a review of their encryption standards, but I for one feel much better know this is a UK based company that has to comply with EU law... Even though the hardware is obv China made.3) Setup - [TICK] very straight forward, do make sure your router SSID (WiFi name) is different for the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz networks, so something like mywifi-2g and mywifi-5g etc., as the device is not 5g compatible..most cameras arent.The instructions are very clear. You have to get the app, setup an account, turn the camera on, give it the WiFi details via the app (granted this always makes me nervous... But I think they are sent to camera via a direct connection and are not later stored in the cloud.. As I had to put it in again for every setup). The camera then connects to Neos and registers itself. There are voice prompts from the camera to keep you updated.NOTE: if you have the highest (paranoid) level setting on your router firewall, the camera will be blocked. I had this, my Nest cam got setup OK but always had small issues on streaming data to my phone when not on 4g. This 'high' setting also blocked some Amazon Alexa features, voip, WhatsApp video calls...so Neos are not alone. Facetime (apple) did keep working flawlessly, and so did Google Hangouts at that security level which blocks almost all incoming connections at all ports. But if you want to use most of the Internet, you'll have have to decide for yourself. Your router will have the setting at medium as default, and most router makers will recommend the medium setting. When you have IoT devices in the home, your firewall is the last defence.. Please take this seriously and only change settings if you know what you are doing. NEVER have it at low or turned off. Anyways back to the camera..4) image quality - [TICK] I use it indoors, it is full 1080p and is comparable to my Nest cam. Both in day mode and in night mode. The camera field of view is enough to cover a 100sq foot area relatively well, similar to nest cam (sorry i am not putting pics of this, but rest assured it holds its own, given its price, with Nest, which is the defacto standard in consumer cameras for me)5) sound - [TICK-ish] it's OK. And the two-way chat is slightly laggy but manegable. I have a 'geek' level Internet connection with mega bandwidth (multi-100mbps) both down/up-load so it's not that. I think it's the cloud capacity deployed on the neos app. The Nest cam on the same WiFi network had no stutter in two-way speech.6) Smart home - [TICK?] Alexa, Google home etc.. Now amazon sell this in a package with their echos (that's how I first got it), so you do expect it to be compatible. It is. I don't have Google's hub, only the minis so I cannot comment. Note you can enable the Google assistant ON your nest cam and talk to it, like an extra speaker! This does not do that with Alex, is merely compatible with alexa skills and let's me say things like 'show me xxx camera', to get a pleasing view on my echo show or fire TV etc..NOTE: their alexa streaming has had a few issues over the last few days, BUT the company keeps you updated in the app (see screenshot) and tells you what is going on. Their own app kept working without interruptions and I could see the camera feed on my phone. Now this is annoying, but I haven't dropped a star - mainly because of the price...I can get 5 of these cams for one Nest. Also, they kept me informed, and their core app kept working all the time.. So unless this is an extended disruption to Alexa for Neos, I'll put up with it..7) Attachments - [TICK] the micro USB cable is long enough. You can only use theirs or a similarly thin one cause of the recessed port. The wall attachment is very handy. The camera has magnetic feet so will happily sit securely on top of my fridge without attachments.8) Build - [TICK] plastic but pleasing functional design (for me at least). The magnetic feet are just about strong enough to hold it in place and the hinge is solid to have it angled and not slip.9) misc - [TICK] what is with the insurance company website?! Well, if you check it out, it does make sense. Looks like an insurance startup who give smart devices with their policies realised, hey we could sell these things and use the cloud capacity / infra /app investment we are putting in for our insurance customers to have less idle time etc.. Lets also sell our cameras,maybe we can do it cheaper than most others. So this isn't from their FAQs, but if i was doing a startup like this, I'd have thought the same. Fair enough. If anything, I like that the company selling the cam is also an insurance provider and has to deal with all the regulation that entails in the UK. You can use the cam they supply with the policy directly in the Neos standalone app according to thei FAQs. I haven't got their policy so can't attest to it.. But I might get a quote from these lot too at my next renewal!10) this is an indoor camera - the porch may be OK (fingers crossed for the foggy nights), but nothing where it can get moisture and certainly nothing where the overhead protection is not adequate.12) SD card - [TICK? ] I haven't tested loop recording but seems to read the 32GB sd card fine

(I am an owner of multiple Nest cameras (indoor and outdoor) as well as Amazon Blink Cameras and have been using NEOS Smart cameras for over 6 months.)The cameras themselves are very well made and seem great quality. Camera comes complete with USB power supply, cable, camera, metal wall plate and sticker and a warning window sticker.Out of the box you need to setup the camera using software that is available on apple and google stores. The setup itself is extremely simple and once you enter wifi details into phone or tablet you will be shown a barcode. Just point the camera at the barcode and setup is complete. you can then name camera etc and update firmware.The quality of image is excellent and rivals the Nest cameras. (The 1080p ones, not the Nest 4k) There is clearly a lot of compression going on but it's not enough to take away from the cameras purpose. They record at 1080p and can be set to send video at a lower quality 720p if required. Night recording is also Excellent quality thanks to the built in UV lights. (Outdoor night picture attached)The software allows you to set movement zones, alarms, playback footage and adjust things like video quality, motion and sound sensitivity etc. You can even live view or take video and pictures if you want to. It does offer the ability to record your voice and talk to the camera but the speaker in the camera is small and weak so don't expect to much.The cameras will trigger on movement and 12 second recordings are available for review. You also will get alerts sent to your phone/tablet. These can be a little annoying in busy areas but you can configure and adjust sensitivities and only alert based on zones etc.NEOS offer a subscription service. At time of writing for £2.50 a month you can upgrade to 1 minute recordings and much more configuration options such as automated arming. On the agreement it states that this subscription covers 3 cameras however I have not been charged and have 4 with full service. There is a message on website (Nov 2020) that they are not enforcing the 3 camera limit at this time but may in future.If you are installing multiple cameras in same room then you can use the USB port on the back of the unit to power second camera (up to 3 can be daily chained) to limit the number of sockets required. This is very useful for multiple angles in same room.The camera has a micro SD card slot and if you decide to add one (Max 32GB) it will locally record in a round robin way deleting oldest recordings. This is very useful in that you can view the short clips on the NEOS app but also see all footage if you should need to. Just remember it overwrites depending on the size of SD card you install. You have to remove the cards to review the footage at this time. Neos have hinted that they will allow remove retrieval but don't rely on this.The cameras themselves are exactly the same as Wyze cameras. You cannot re-flash them to be Wyze cameras without significant technical know how and difficulty however you don't really need to.The cameras are for indoor use. I have however recently purchased an outside cover for the camera. Whilst the outdoor case itself is only slightly weatherproof with a little silicon I think it will hold up OK. For the low cost of these cameras I think it's worth the risk.Overall I think the Neos Smart cameras are excellent value for money and even after upgrading to the subscription service. Neos themselves are part of the AVIVA group so considered relatively safe from a privacy perspective and the cameras themselves are based on a proven and trusted platform.I think for indoor usage it offers better value for money over Nest products. Blink cameras would also serve as an alternative however the subscription service on these from Amazon is not clear at time of writing this review. Either way. If you are looking for a cheap 1080p camera for the home I think you should look at the Neos Smartcam.