According to the “2015 State of The Smart Home Report” released by Icontrol Networks, personal and family security continues to be a key driver in smart home adoption, where 90% of the consumers surveyed agree that security is one of the most important reasons to purchase a smart home system. In home security, access control plays a pivotal role as it determines who can be granted entry into the home. The simplest form of access control for home involves the use of door locks, doorbells, peepholes and video intercoms or door phones.
By taking advantage of connected video intercoms, homeowners can not only monitor activities in front of their door but also answer the door from remote locations using a smartphone or tablet, and the visitor won’t know whether someone is actually home. We see that some companies in the access control industry have already made or are making the transition to upgrade their video intercoms to support remote access using a smart device. For instance, connected video intercoms supporting two-way talk, one-way video and door unlocking using the app from a smart device.
Beyond door phone
Companies like Avadesign Technology and Kingdom Communication Associated (KCA) from Taiwan are working on integrating smart home applications into the intercoms they offer. Avadesign offers V-Bell DP-104 that can integrate with Vera's and Fibaro's systems. KCA is now integrating smart home gateways, sensors and energy management applications into its intercom systems.
Startups are also pushing their smart door products to the market. Skybell and Chui are two smart doorbells proposed by startups that got funding through crowdfunding. Skybell is a Wi-Fi video doorbell that kickstarted from an Indiegogo campaign, raising total funds of US$604,279; and Chui is a smart doorbell with facial recognition capabilities that received US$86,963 using Crowdtilt (name changed to Tilt in July of 2014).
It is worth noting that these smart doorbells may merge the features of doorbells, video intercoms and home cameras. Skybell, Chui and Ring are called “doorbells” even though they are more than just a button to play the chime.
To encourage adoption, these smart doorbells are aesthetically pleasing and easy to install and maintain. Skybell, Chui and Ring support Wi-Fi connectivity to save the trouble of connecting to an Ethernet cable. However, this also means that the Wi-Fi signal has to be stable where the doorbell is installed. Skybell even offers theft guarantee that will replace stolen Skybells for free to attract more customers.
Key points
Under the Wi-Fi environment, the challenge of a smart door phone is to stream two-way talk and one-way video to one or multiple mobile devices smoothly. According to makers, streaming technologies are crucial for smart door phones.
In addition, some products such as DoorBird support door unlocking. This feature is available if the doorbell can integrate with existing or new locks.
Chui provides facial recognition capabilities and full integration with Lockitron as their value added features. Chui can even unlock doors for friends and family automatically if their faces are recognized. This presents significant benefits because no smartphones or apps are required.
While traditional intercoms do not normally support motion sensing, many smart door phones/doorbells now support it as well as motion based triggers. When motion is detected, it may trigger alerts, video recording or the alarm.
Furthermore, unlike traditional intercom systems that include at least an outdoor unit and an indoor unit, smart door phones/doorbells now can be stand-alone devices that are suitable for DIY.