This Doorbell Recognizes Your Friends – And It Actually Works!

Price & availability

The Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410 has been available in stores since the beginning of July at an RSP of $ 152.99 in gray and black. However, there is currently a 15 percent discount, which means you can get the smart doorbell for just $ 129.99. But that's not all: using our code NEXTG410, you can save even more. A solid 20 percent discount is provided, offering you a total of just $ 122.39. Both codes are not able to be combined.

This article is part of a cooperation between nextpit and Aqara. It has no influence on the journalistic opinion of nextpit.

Design & furnishings

The Doorbell Camera Hub G410 does not consist of just one device. When setting it up, you therefore need to attach the camera and doorbell unit and connect a chime to a power supply. The chime acts as a bridge and is the device that connects to your Wi-Fi. Here we also find a microSD card, on which we can save videos. This has the advantage that the videos always remain safely within the home and cannot be stolen by burglars, as is the case with many smart surveillance cameras.

In our test, however, we were initially a little confused by this setup. We didn't leave the chime permanently connected to the power supply, and were then puzzled as to why the doorbell lost its connection to the Wi-Fi. A mistake on our part that we would like to spare you. So let's move on to the design of the doorbell.

You can either operate the doorbell unit using batteries or connect it permanently to the mains. In many cases, you can unscrew your existing doorbell and connect the exposed cables to the new doorbell. As we tested the doorbell in an apartment building, this was not possible. We therefore operated the doorbell with batteries.

Aqara equips the doorbell unit with a removable back plate that we can drill or glue on. It is convenient that the screw, which sits on the side under a rubber cover, does not fall out, but stays in place when unscrewed. The gong, on the other hand, only has an adhesive surface on the back. However, as it is very light at 70 g, this is not a problem. However, the USB-C cable supplied can be problematic - the flat cable is only 1 m long. You may therefore have to use a different one, but then you lose the advantage of being able to lay the cable under doors or through cupboards.

Furthermore, the device is not completely waterproof. However, it is IPX3 protected against water spray and should therefore withstand rain. However, a higher IP certification would have provided a little more freedom. What Aqara does include is a plastic block for angling the doorbell. This angles the camera sideways at an angle of approximately 45 degrees.

Dual role as Matter and Zigbee hub

Aqara has already impressed with Matter support for its smart home devices in previous test reports. Now, with the Gong of the Doorbell Camera Hub G410, a remarkably compact device has found its way into our smart home, which also functions as a Matter controller, Thread Border Router, and Zigbee hub. This saves us from having to use proprietary bridges from other manufacturers. For example, I could connect my Tado-X thermostats via the Aqara hub and thus have a free socket in the home. The smart home hub also supports Thread - this is the kind of compatibility you really want from all alternatives.

The Camera Hub G410 can also be integrated into the smart home ecosystems of Amazon, Google, Samsung, and Apple. What is particularly interesting is that we can also access the video feed via the open-source Home Assistant system. However, those who opt for the Aqara ecosystem enjoy a few more advantages.

The Aqara app expands the range of functions to include facial recognition, masking functions for the camera image, and two-way calls with voice distortion for more privacy. In addition, much of this can even be used in the context of smart home automation. For example, if the doorbell recognizes your own face, it can play a personalized greeting and automatically unlock a connected smart lock. Or it can make compatible lamps light up green when it recognizes faces and red when it recognizes strangers. Many more or less sensible ideas are conceivable here.

However, Aqara shows once again that they understand smart homes. In my opinion, it is always an advantage to design your own products to be as compatible and open as possible. Even if customers then perhaps opt for devices from other manufacturers, satisfaction with devices such as the Camera Hub G410 is higher. And perhaps this is precisely why people buy the Aqara product for a non-manufacturer ecosystem.

Video quality, detection functions and 2-way audio

Let's move on to the technical features of the Doorbell Camera Hub G410 and the detection functions. The maximum resolution of the built-in video camera is 2K and covers a 175° field of view. This means that the camera delivers very clear images during the day and should also cover driveways or part of the street in addition to the area directly in front of your front door. In combination with the 24/7 recording function, the doorbell can even take on a dual role as a smart surveillance camera.

When it gets dark outside, however, the Camera Hub G410 is limited by a missing function: there is no built-in spotlight to deter burglars or illuminate visitors. I think Aqara assumes that most door areas are equipped with lights anyway. If that's not the case for you, the device at least has infrared night vision - you can see exactly what the night vision looks like in the pictures in our gallery.

Both during the day and at night, the Doorbell Camera Hub G410 offers an exciting feature that I already mentioned in the automation functions: Faces can be saved via the smartphone, which Aqara's smart doorbell can then recognize. This works reliably; the camera recognized me 100% of the time after I set it up. Aqara also integrates parcel recognition. Apart from these, however, only people waiting in front of your door are identified. I think it's a bit of a shame that Aqara doesn't also integrate the car and animal detection from the Camera Hub G5 Pro. However, at least tampering detection can also be activated in the app. If someone sprays the camera or covers it, you will receive a notification.

For more privacy or fewer notifications, Aqara also offers the option of deactivating certain areas of the camera image. These are then blacked out, but detection still works thanks to the integrated mmWave radar sensor.

Overall, the video quality and the range of tracking functions are impressive. And so we come briefly to the 2-way audio. This enables us to speak to people outside the door from anywhere in the world. In combination with a smart door lock, we can even let visitors into the house without being there. The sound quality is adequate and is definitely sufficient for short conversations. The voice distorter is a little "gimmicky" - the privacy it provides is probably lost in most houses anyway, by looking at the doorbell sign.

Finally, one more technical thing: the smart doorbell supports microSD cards with up to 512 GB of storage space. At the same time, it can overwrite old recordings to enable continuous recording even with smaller cards. In general, it can provide 24/7 recordings thanks to installation via cable.

Alternatively, there is the Aqara cloud called "HomeGuardian". If you don't want to use this, you can still use free uploads for the first 24 months. These are graded as follows:

• First 6 months: Cloud storage for one day
• Month 7 to month 24: Cloud storage for 12 hours
• After 24 months: No free cloud storage

If you use the paid HomeGuardian, you get online storage. As this is not a major advantage and the camera can also be used to its full extent without the cloud, the subscription is not a major drawback. The cost is $6.99 for one camera or $14.99 per month for an unlimited number of cameras.

Battery and charging

The Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410 is somewhat unusual in that the camera unit is battery-operated with six AA batteries, which are not rechargeable out of the box. According to the manufacturer, the battery life is up to five months. However, Aqara assumes only 10 activations per day. If people regularly walk past your front door or you have a lot of visitors, the battery life will decrease accordingly.

It is therefore advisable to operate the camera via a fixed power connection. Aqara specifies the voltage as 12V-24V AC 0.2A 50/60Hz or 12V-24V DC 0.5A. When permanently connected to the power supply, the video stream can be recorded 24/7. Unfortunately, these are not battery-operated.