Homeboy tries to redefine DIY security
Homeboy tries to redefine DIY security
2:26

Homeboy tries to redefine DIY security

Smart Home
[MUSIC] Hey there, guys. I'm Megan Mullerton for CNet Appliances, here with a review of Homeboy. Now, Homeboy is a $150 DIY security camera that took a different approach than a lot of its similarly priced competition. One thing you'll notice right away is that it isn't tethered to a power cord. This is actually a rechargeable. Battery powered camera. This thing is actually designed to last for up to 3 months or more on a single charge. So the tradeoff is that it doesn't offer live streaming and it doesn't have an HD high quality resolution. But if you take a step back from what you think a DIY security camera should be, you might. Really really impressive home boy. Although it doesn't have HD the optics were really good it's nothing like the terrible streaky picture that we saw with store bought. Another thing is that it has free cloud storage and excellent alerts that responded every time motion. Motion was detected. Another thing I really like is that you can tie this camera to your phone's GPS. So when you leave home, it will actually send you the motion related alerts and when you come back, it will disable the system and stop sending you alerts so that you aren't triggering it every time you walk by. Another thing I really like is that this cute little camera has its own [UNKNOWN] channel. So I actually tried a bunch of different recipes and they all worked incredibly well. One of them was when it detected motion I had it send me a text message, another recipe I created sent all of my saved video clips to my Dropbox account, and a third one actually turned on my Balkan remote insight switch connected lamp on whenever. Motion was detected. This functionality is something that really opens up this camera to broader home automation applications and it's something we haven't seen with any other home security camera. The many thing iOS app has it, but, of course, that's a free app and more of a DIY security workaround than an. Actual solution. And that its functionality also gives HomeBoy potential smart things integration, even though it isn't technically a smart thing compatible product. So even though HomeBoy is a more pared-down security camera than what we've seen, it really nails the features. Pictures it has and it won't take up a ton of storage or bandwidth. Thanks for watching this review of Home Boy. Please be sure to check out my full review on CNet dot com as well as all of our other home security camera coverage, I'm Megan Wilterton for CNet appliances. [MUSIC]

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