Foscam overlooks some DIY security camera essentials

[MUSIC] Hey guys, I'm Megan Mullerton for CNet appliances standing here with the Foss cam plug and play wireless IP camera, FI9826P. So, for the price, $220, this camera has excellent specs. It has a 300 degree horizontal pan, a 120 degree vertical tilt, and a 3 times optical zoom. Compare that to the Dropcam Pro, or the Samsung Smartcam HD Pro, and this one has them both beat. So while this camera by itself has everything it needs to be great, the web interface and mobile app have. A lot of catching up to do. The Foz cam viewer mobile app is available for Android and iOS users, but it doesn't have push notifications. It has a section in the app that says enable push messages, but the app itself doesn't offer that functionality. So I can see a lot of people being frustrated thinking, why are my push alerts not happening? Why am I not getting these messages? Only to find out. Upon calling customer service that that isn't a feature they offer. But [INAUDIBLE] did tell me they're working on a new app that should offer that functionality but for now it's completely missing. So as far as a DIY on the go security camera this mobile app is pretty much useless. If you're doing livestreaming it's great because the optics are good. But for everything else it really falls short. Every other wi-fi security camera I have ever used has had a pretty simple web app set up, basically a login where you enter a username and password, sometimes the same one you used for the mobile app, which makes it even simpler. This one is way, way, way more complicated. Complicated. It actually communicates directly with the router. So you're having to deal with IP addresses, subnet masks, and all this other stuff that you wouldn't otherwise have to bother with. So once I got the web app set up I was able to opt into email alerts, and they worked really, really well. But the problem is that you're not always staring at your phone. Or your email to see if there's a security event happening at your house, you want those push notifications to say, oh, motion was detected, something might be going on, so you can respond immediately. If Foscam makes some dramatic improvements to its web and mobile apps, I think this would be an excellent, excellent security camera. But for now it doesn't do much more than live streaming, so I don't think it's worth it. Thanks for watching this video. Be sure to check out my full review on cnet.com as well as all of our other WiFi security camera coverage. I'm Megan Wollerton for cnet appliances. [MUSIC]