Ausdroid review: Ring Indoor Cam — tiny camera with a large feature set

Ring is one of the more well known companies in the world of security cameras. They started off with their doorbells and the huge success they had there led to them moving into the dedicated security camera space where they are also having large amounts of success.

By now the Ring ecosystem is extremely mature and since the purchase of the company by Amazon has become even more mature, incorporating itself into the Amazon Alexa ecosystem. While many of us do not use Alexa here at Ausdroid, most of us still have Ring doorbells.

Since moving into my new house I have installed a Ring Doorbell Elite along with an indoor/outdoor cam (battery powered) so I have one foot in the door. The problem with the indoor camera I have is that while it is battery powered so can be placed anywhere, it is also large, which my wife tells me is not great for the design aesthetics of our new house.

Apparently that means something. I mean… yes dear.

The Ring Indoor Cam though is a lot smaller, and although it does need to be placed somewhere near a power socket it tends to blend into the decor more.

How does it differ to the other Ring cameras?

First up let’s talk about the features the camera does have and when we do so it is important to keep in mind that the Ring Indoor Cam is just $99 from Ring (you may find it cheaper online at third party sellers).

Ring Indoor Cam delivers 1080p video resolution, infrared night vision, two-way talk, and customisable, multi-segmented motion-detection zones. Its lens has a modest 115-degree horizontal field of view (140 degrees diagonally and 60 degrees vertically). There’s no pan/tilt motor onboard (nor would we expect there to be at this price), so what you see is what you get.

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I deliberately placed one of the cameras facing some bright windows just to see how it handled the bright background — it worked extremely well. Of course, the laundry (dog bedroom) without any bright background provided great imaging. You can of course zoom in and out of an image to help see what the motion issue is.

The Ring Indoor Cam excels in its footprint size. It is a lot smaller than the other Ring cameras and can be easily positioned where it blends into its surroundings. Once positioned it does not have to be touched again and you will almost forget that it is there.

Of course you can either sit it on its stand on a shelf or use the mounting screws and mount it to a wall or ceiling. Personally I placed it on a shelf and it may be difficult hiding the power cable if mounting it to a ceiling but that is your choice. I chose not to to aim for cleanliness.

What features did I love?

Ring has the setup of devices into its ecosystem down pat and you would hope so by now. The setup is easy, simple and quick. Using the barcode on the back of the device you can easily bring up all the details required to add it to your Ring ecosystem — or to create a new one.

The angles the camera is able to be put into is much better than other Ring cameras I have tried. It could be a product of the smaller footprint allowing for greater flexibility or it could be a newer ball and socket joint allowing this. Either way it is a great improvement that I loved.

The Ring Indoor Cam also includes all the usual Ring functions from motion detection zones to various notifications. Ring offers so many features that you kind of forget are there — colour night vision, infrared lights for night vision, people-only motion notifications, two way audio, snapshot capture along with a lot more notifications settings.

What I didn’t love

This is a tough one. There isn’t much to dislike with this camera. The main thing I came up with when thinking about this is the attached power cable. It is a 1.98m microUSB cable but for some it may still not be long enough (or it could be too long which is definitely a first world problem).

I also placed the camera for a while in the laundry to watch the new puppy but here the cable was slightly too short. Of course this is the limitation of an AC powered camera — a battery-powered version would of course fix this but then to place a battery inside this Indoor Cam would ultimately no doubt make the camera a lot larger.

The entire Ring system has a home or away switch within the app but there is no automatic geo-fencing based on your device. As such, to switch into the away mode you need to open the app each time you leave your house to set it (and again to set it to home when you get home). Hopefully Ring can add this feature in soon as according to my searches it is a much sought after feature.

Ring Protect

Every security camera manufacturer offers an online cloud storage plan and Ring are no exception. They offer a per device plan at $40 per year or a plan that covers every device under the one household for $150 per year. Once you have more than four devices obviously it becomes more cost effective to have the Plus plan.

Would I buy one?

The Ring Indoor Cam is small, hidden and takes a great picture. It’s 1080P recording results in a high quality video that can be used to view and distinguish small features as required. The compact nature of it allows it to fit into its surroundings without looking out of place.

At just $99 the Ring Indoor Cam can easily be purchased in bulk to cover all areas of your house — as long as you have a power point nearby (within 2m). The camera is “cheap” but still packs a powerful punch when it comes to features and video quality thanks to Ring’s feature-set.

I would definitely buy one (or more) and can definitely recommend it to anyone else. If you are already in the Ring ecosystem with other products and especially if you have a Ring Protect subscription then this is the camera for you. Grab one from Ring or from your favourite retailer.