What is NetGear actually working on for the wireless Arlo cameras?

[jwilliams08]

Since purchasing the Arlo Pro system in the middle of December, I have yet to see any new features or enhancements released for these cameras outside of general bug fixes.  There are clearly lots of things that would improve customer experience with these cameras, but all I've seen is customers being told to go throw their ideas (many of which are several times redundant) into the Idea Exchange board.  It would be nice to get some insight into what NetGear is actually working on and which ideas are actively being developed.  I hate having the feeling that I bought something that has lots of software potential but doesn't produce on it and eventually dies off.  

Tell me I'm wrong, and back it up with signs of life, please.

[steve_t]

A Netgear Press Release says they're working on 

Smart Motion Recognition (coming later this year) - With smart object recognition launching later this year, Arlo will use advanced machine learning algorithms in the Arlo cloud to improve how Arlo cameras capture and report events. Smart recognition analytics identify people, cars, animals and swaying trees, allowing Arlo cameras to record and alert only those events that matter. Distinguishing between people, pets and other objects, and having the ability to ignore irrelevant movements and objects, eliminates unnecessary alerts, making Arlo even smarter and allowing you to focus on what matters most.

That'd be awesome

[jwilliams08]

That would be nice, but that press release was back in October.  That means that they intended to have something together by the end of 2016 but missed the target. That's exactly what I'm talking about - vaporware. No mentions of Beta testing groups or anything.  

I appreciate that @JamesC is on here fielding questions and addressing concerns, but I die a little inside every time I see that copy/paste "The Arlo development team routinely reviews posts in the Arlo Idea Exchange..."  I routinely review posts in the Arlo Idea Exchange as well, and I have concluded that nothing new has been implemented as of late.

[steve_t]

Probably busy with Arlo Go and Arlo Baby

They probably wouldn't mention a beta test test group in a press release. And beta testers are not allowed to talk about it

[TomMac]

If you look, they do and have Incorporated ideas from the 'wish bin' lately...

For example, just release Android ( and soon IOS ) the option to allow users to pick alerts sounds and other options on their phones when getting notices,

This is a good user improvement.

As to what their currently working on... not going to happen, as the industry is in heavy competition

[jwilliams08]

Maybe we have different opinions of what qualifies a feature as one of "substance".  To clarify - I'm looking at this product with a Development / Home Automation lens. Perhaps that falls into the "Power Users" category and therefore gets deprioritized. That would be unfortunate, though, because I have to assume "techies" are a large market for this product and are a great source for bolstering it to friends, family, and neighbors.  I'm sorry, but picking a sound for notifications doesn't really get my gears turning.

As for the points about competition - it's not like these forums are private. There's nothing stopping a competitor from reading and implementing Idea Exchange posts into their own products, and that wouldn't even matter because I'm sure they are getting similar feedback in their own communities.  If Blink, Canary, Ring or whomever beats Arlo to the punch, that's the result of time-to-market with features and integrations, not secrecy.  There's not a ton of "innovative" features differentiating these products.  Once you have the hardware (which isn't easy), the rest is getting creative with algorithms.  The reasons Arlo won me over are because it had the only (mature) cameras that I could wirelessly put out in the rain AND it had integration with automation platforms such as SmartThings and IFTTT.  However, this is becoming a low threshold for competition now, and (besides ease of use) the primary competition is going to come from how connected and open a system is to other systems - at least on the home automation front.

[NCKpu86]

You're right, in general.  I generally try not to get too mad when new, amazing technology isn't totally mind-blowing - and as an engineer myself, I have an appreciation for what is feasible and what is not.  But like you said, the hardware is in place, and this isn't some crowd-funded startup company - this is Netgear, arguably the worldwide leader in home networking.  I think the short answer is that this product line/division is not their top priority... and understandibly so.

Still, it's frustrating.

[Paul_FCCL]

---

steve_t wrote:

Probably busy with Arlo Go and Arlo Baby

---

That may be it.......too many big projects going, a lot of new stuff they introduced over last six months. Now may be time to concentrate more on existing product improvements.

Paul

[Paul_FCCL]

Tom:

Where in the android app is that feature/option?

Thanks.

Paul

[steve_t]

---

Paul_FCCL wrote:

Tom:

Where in the android app is that feature/option?

Thanks.

Paul

---

Go Settings > Notifications > Notification Tone

You can also toggle Vibrate on and off as well as the LED color and LED Blinking Frequency

[Paul_FCCL]

Tom:

Sorry, this may be a stupid question......

Which LED are we talking about, camera or phone?

Thanks.

Paul

[jguerdat]

Phone.

[TomMac]

---

Paul_FCCL wrote:

Sorry, this may be a stupid question......

Which LED are we talking about, camera or phone?

---

As you prob know , Phone as Jeff answered... But it also may be phone dependant... My new S7 and older LG androids both had led usage , same one for calls, alerts, charging if used for same.

[jguerdat]

Or, in the case of my Nexus 6, there's no LED at all to be used (well, there is one but you have to root the phone and use a specific app to get it to work).

[mbauer]

A classic case of overpromising and under-delivery. My biggest issue right now is that the cameras will not continue to record if there is still motion. Someone broke into both of our cars several weeks ago and much of it was not recorded because of the long 30+ second reset period. Why is it so difficult for Netgear to resolve this issue?

[jguerdat]

How do you know motion was continuous? Any break in the action would cause the recording to stop. I don't know what the length of inactivity is to be determined to be no motion and to stop recording but there's always a possibility of the action to be in spurts. That may well be an issue for recording while motion continues - you end up with the same thing.

I happen to use both a Q camera pointing out through a window as well as a wireless camera to keep an eye on my idiot neighbors. The Pro captures 45 seconds and the Q 2 minutes to try to cover all bases.

[mbauer]

Both of our cars are less than ten feet away from the camera. The guy broke into my wife's car first and then proceeded to break into mine. You can see in several clips that the guy was moving when the camera stopped recording and did not start recording again until around 20-40 seconds.

[mbauer]

Another example is my front porch camera is set to record for 45 seconds. After 45 seconds have passed I can do jumping jacks in front of the camera and it takes anywhere from 20 to 45 seconds for it to detect motion and start recording again.

[jguerdat]

That still doesn't mean motion was continuous but I understand what you're saying.  Yes, the reset time seems to vary from short (5-10 seconds) to long (30 seconds or more).  I've seen both. The only "solution" for the moment is to use longer recording times.  It does hurt battery life but that's a worthwhile tradeoff, in my opinion, to get what's needed.

Another possibility would be to use a Q camera shooting through a window, if that's available.  That one can be set for recording while motion continues.  You have to turn off Night Vision so the IR illuminators don't reflect in the window but the enhanced low light capability still gives you a decent view and the illumination from your other cameras is plenty to brighten the scene (mine is set up like this).

[Paul_FCCL]

---

TomMac wrote:

---

As you prob know , Phone as Jeff answered... But it also may be phone dependant... My new S7 and older LG androids both had led usage , same one for calls, alerts, charging if used for same.

---

yeah tried it with my asus zenfone2 and found out it still uses its own default color led light, but it lets me change the notification sounds.

Thanks.

Paul