The latest device from Samsung's smart home division, the SmartThings Cam ($89.99), is an indoor security camera that you can add to your existing SmartThings ecosystem or use independently without the need for a hub. It's a 1080p camera that delivers sharp High Dynamic Range (HDR) video and offers sound and motion detection, as well as free and paid cloud storage. But it lacks IFTTT support, motion sensitivity settings, and the ability to independently stream video to Alexa and Google devices. For the same price, our Editors' Choice for affordable security cameras, the D-Link Full HD Wi-Fi Camera DCS-8300LH, offers native Alexa and Google streaming, IFTTT support, and more storage options.

Design and Features

The black-and-white camera enclosure measures 2.7 by 2.7 by 1.5 inches (HWD) and is attached to a 2-inch arm and a 3-inch round base that allows you to use it as a desktop stand or mount it to a wall or ceiling.

The camera captures 1080p video at 30fps and uses HDR to deliver brighter whites, darker blacks, and an overall sharper picture than non-HDR cameras. It has a 145-degree field of view and uses two infrared LED arrays to provide up to 16 feet of black-and-white night video. Two-way audio comes by way of a microphone and speaker, and the camera connects to your home network via an embedded Wi-Fi radio that supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz connectivity.

The SmartThings Cam offers motion and sound detection with push alerts. It comes with free cloud storage that gives you a rolling 24 hours of 10-second event-triggered videos, but if you require longer clips, you can subscribe to the $7.99 per month Premium Plan that gives you 30 days of rolling storage and 60-second clips. Missing is an SD card slot for local storage like you get with the D-Link DCS-8300LH and the Wyze Cam Pan cameras.

The camera works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, but you have to have it paired with a SmartThings Hub to use voice commands, and even then it won't stream video to Amazon or Google smart displays. You can create Automations to have the camera work with the SmartThings Wifi Smart Plug as it too can operate independently of the hub, but in order to have it interact with other SmartThings and third-party devices, you need the hub. As is the case with Smart Plug, the camera doesn't support IFTTT applets.

When you first open the free SmartThings app (available for Android and iOS), you'll see the My Home screen with tabs for each room and its installed devices. Here you'll also see the SmartThings Home Monitor tab, which lets you arm and disarm the camera for home and away modes, buttons for Scenes that you've created, and the SmartThings Video tab, which brings up a list of event video clips with the time and reason (person, sound, object motion) of the event.

Tap the camera tab to view a live feed, turn the camera on and off, take a snapshot, manually record a clip, and initiate a two-way conversation. To configure camera settings, tap the three dots in the upper right corner. Here you can enable HDR, flip the image, adjust speaker volume, set motion detection zones, and adjust sound detection sensitivity. Missing is a motion sensitivity setting.

Back at the My Home screen, the plus icon in the top right corner is used to add new devices, and tapping the three-bar icon in the left corner will launch a menu where you can view each room or all installed devices. There's also a menu tab for creating Scenes that allow you control the camera and other connected devices with a single tap, and Automations, which allow you to have the camera respond to certain triggers such as time of day, location, and other SmartThings Wi-Fi devices. For example, you can create an Automation to have motion from the camera turn the Smart Plug on or off.

Installation and Performance

It took just a few minutes to get the SmartThings Cam up and running. I already had the SmartThing app from a previous review, but if this is your first SmartThings product you'll have to download the app and create an account. I opened the app, tapped the plus icon in the upper right corner, selected Add Device, and tapped the SmartThings icon. I selected Camera from the list, pressed Start, and selected a location and room for the camera.

Following the on-screen instructions, I plugged the camera in and waited around 20 seconds for the LED to begin blinking amber. I clicked Next and used the phone's camera to scan the QR code found on the bottom of the camera base. I allowed the camera to join the SmartThings network, selected my Wi-Fi SSID from the list, and entered my Wi-Fi password. After 30 seconds the camera was connected to my home network and I was prompted to enable a free 30-day Premium trial.

The SmartThings Cam delivered very sharp video in my tests. Colors appeared well saturated, and black-and-white night video was uniformly illuminated, with excellent detail out to around 16 feet. Motion and sound alerts arrived quickly, but the camera was triggered by even the slightest movement including movement from outside from passing cars. A motion sensitivity setting would help to reduce the frequency of triggered alerts.

I created an Automation to have a SmartThings Smart Plug turn on when the camera detected motion and it worked like a charm. This was the only Automation that I was able to create, as I didn't have the camera (or the plug) paired with a SmartThings Hub. Two-way audio was crisp, and recorded video was just as sharp as the live feed.

Conclusions

The SmartThings Cam is a solid indoor home security camera that will work on its own or fit seamlessly into an existing SmartThings home automation system. It delivered sharp 1080p video in my tests and had no trouble working with a SmartThings Smart Plug, and it was a breeze to install. You'll need a hub to make it work with third-party devices such as door locks, thermostats, and lighting systems, and to use voice commands to stream video to Amazon and Google smart displays. Moreover, it doesn't support IFTTT applets that allow it to interact with other smart devices. If that's what you're looking for, check out our Editors' Choice for affordable home security cameras, the D-Link Full HD Wi-Fi Camera DCS-8300LH. It doesn't offer HDR video, but it delivers sharp 1080p video and supports IFTTT applets, streams video using voice commands, and offers local and cloud video storage.

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Further Reading

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