34 APRIL2020|COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE386
WE’VESEENCHEAPsecurity cameras
before,but not really from big manufacturers,
which makes the Ring Indoor Cam something
of atreat. Priced at £49,thisisone of the
lowest-cost Full HD cameras we’ve seen.
While the price maybelow,Ring has managed
to keep the features up,making this oneof
the best-value security cameras ever.
NOTGOING OUT
One of the reasons Ring has managed to keep
the cost down is because the Indoor Cam is,
as the name says, an indoor-only model.
Everything else in the line-up is suitable for
use outside,requiring an additional layer of
weatherproofing that’s not needed here.
Ditching all of that means the Indoor Cam
is alot lighter and smaller than its siblings.
It feels slightly cheaper as aresult, but don’t
let that initial impression put you off,asthis
has all the flexibility and quality that we’ve
come to expect from Ring.
While the body is light, the Indoor Cam is
well designed generally.Point it fully down, for
example,and it won’t topple over,ascheap
cameras tend to do.The power cable doesn’t
pull the camera out of position, either.
You’ve got optionnnsssbbbeeeyyyooonnndddppplllaaaccciiinnngggttthhheee
cameraonashelf,toooo,asthestandactsasa
ceilingmount.Youcccanrepositionthestand
to the back of the camera, turning it intoa
handy wall mount.TTThese options make it
easier to put the Indddoor Cam
exactly where youwwwant it.
There’s one minooor
annoyance,however: the
setup button is placcced
right on topofthecccamera.
Lean past it or try tooo
reposition the view and it’s all
tooeasy to enter it back into
setup mode,disconnnnecting it
from theapp.Placinnngthis
button around thebbback would
have made alot more sense.
If we had one issssue with
Ring’s cameras befooore,itwas
the lack of control.WWWhile you
could schedule when acamera
could and couldn’tsssend
RING Indoor Cam
★★★★★
£49•Fromwww.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
Alowcost,high-qualitycamera,theRingIndoorCamis
powerful,andthenewModesletyoucontrolyourprivacy
INDOORSECURITYCAMERA
notificationstoyou,thecamerrrasalways
recorded.ThankstotheadditiooonofModes
totheapp,thishaschanged.
ModeswereintroducedwittththeRing
Alarm,andgiveyouthreeoptionsforyour
home: Disarmed, Home and Awwway.For each
mode,you can configure what each camera
in your home does: if it can recccordvideo
and if the live view is enabled.
If you don’t have aRingAlaaarm,youcan
setthemodemanuallythroughthe app
(thoughthere’snoscheduling,,,sadly);ifyou
haveaRingAlarm,modesaresssetthrough
thecontrolpanel.Thisisexceppptionally
powerful: as you go out and tuuurnthealarm
on, your indoor cameras springggtolife,
capturinganyonethatmaybreeeakin;when
youcomeback,yourcamerasturnoff,
giving you privacy; and whenyyyou go to bed
and turn on Home mode,asele
camerascanprotectyouatnig.
Beyondmodes,youcansetttac v
to watchfor motion, and schedddule when you
do and don’t want motion alerttts. Ring further
helpscutdownonnotificationswithitsnew
People Only detection switch, which only
warns you when aperson is spotted.
JUST INTIME
Footage from the Indoor Caaamcanbesavedto
the cloud if you have aRingggProtectplan. This
costs areasonable £2.50 peeermonth (£25 per
year) for30-dayhhhistory per camera.
Ring Protect Pluuusis£8per month
(£80 per year)aaand covers all the
cameras inyyyour home,while
also providdding cellular backup
and assisted monitoring for
your RingggAlarm.
Whenyou select your
IndoorCCCam from the app’s
home paaage you get the
timeline screen. From here
you can seeeethe live view (if
allowed by thhhecurrent mode),
which triggersssarecording, and
have atwo-waychatwith
anyone yousssee.
Using theeetimeline,you can
swipe back to see recorded
view,motion or favourites,asweas jump to
aspecific day. However,scrolling backwards is
cumbersome.AnEvent History section in the
app gives you afilterable list of events, but
this doesn’t have thumbnail images, which
cccaaannnmmmaaakkkeeefififinnndddiiinnngggooonnneeeeeevvveeennntttaaabbbiiittttttrrriiiccckkkyyy.
LIFETHROUGHALENS
Footage is very good, with the Indoor Cam’s
140° lens picking up most of aroom.
Recorded at aresolution of 1,920x1,080,we
found that video quality was alittle soft, but
that there was still plenty of detail in people’s
faces. At night, the camera shoots with its IR
lights in black and white, which makesthe
image softerstill, although you can still see
clearly what’s going on.
Youcan also use colour night vision, which
uses acombination of the IR lights and a
colour sensor.Quality depends on the level of
ambient light available; in our test room, there
wasn’t much, so footagejust looked abit grey.
It’s fine forthe price,however.
The quality of the footage, itsflexibility
and the excellent value make the Ring Indoor
Cam agreat choice foranyone.Ifyou also
have aRingAlarm system, the integration
with Modes makes it an even better option.
DavidLudlow
VIDEORESOLUTION1080p•CLOUDSTORAGEYes
(subscription required)•NETWORKING802.11n Wi-Fi•
WARRANTYOneyearRTB•PARTCODERing IndoorCam
SPECIFICATIONS
Youcan setactivityzones to watchfor motion, and
schedule when youdoand don’t want motion alerts
