Smart doorbells to watch over your front stoop
Cnet rating: 4 stars out of 5
The good: Nest’s video doorbell looks great and works consistently well. Its optional facial recognition feature and advanced integrations with the Nest Cam IQ Indoor and Google Home speakers set this smart buzzer above the rest.
The bad: A seemingly unnecessary “chime connector” accessory comes with your purchase and is a required part of the installation for “power management” purposes whether you have a manual or a digital doorbell chime. There’s no free video clip storage.
The cost: $229
The bottom line: The Nest is a really solid choice for anyone — but it’s especially appealing if you’re sold on a broader Google/Nest smart home.
Cnet rating: 4 stars out of 5
The good: SkyBell’s latest Wi-Fi doorbell has a 1080p high-definition resolution, on-demand clip recording and free video storage, as well as an IFTTT channel and integration with Amazon’s Alexa Skills Kit and Google/Alphabet’s Nest.
The bad: There’s no web interface, it doesn’t work directly with Samsung’s SmartThings or Wink, and you can’t tweak push alert settings or the quality of the video resolution in the app.
The cost: $199
The bottom line: The resolution and array of third-party integrations set it apart...