Ring Adds New Doorbell Features
This week, Ring refreshed the $99 Ring Battery Doorbell, the company’s entry level product, with a host of new features. Among the new capabilities are better battery life and color night vision, a new mounting system to make charging the battery easier, and an upgrade to the camera’s aspect ratio. The change in aspect ratio from 16:9 widescreen to 1:1 and a 150 degree by 150 degree field of view is particularly helpful as it offers a top to bottom view of what is in front of the door, allowing users to see when a package has been delivered to their door. This is a feature found in Ring’s higher priced offerings and among the company’s competitors.
The Circana Take:
- Improvements to Ring’s entry level doorbell are significant as it shows the company is looking to attract new adopters to the category. Keeping the price low ($99) while bringing the device in line with other, higher priced offerings will make the Ring Battery Doorbell an even stronger value in the market.
- Though Ring has kept 1080p video on the device, the change in aspect ratio and battery life are likely to resonate with potential buyers.
Nest Gets an Update
Google recently updated its well-known smart thermostat, releasing the Nest Learning Thermostat, 4th generation. The device features a new design, improved learning capabilities and now comes standard with the Nest Temperature Sensor to gauge the conditions in other rooms throughout the house. A Soli radar sensor was added to better detect the presence of people in the house and Google’s AI is said to be improved so learning a household’s heating and cooling preferences will be faster. The new thermostat works with Matter (just as the Nest thermostat from 2020 does) however it lacks a Thread radio.
The Circana Take:
- Smart thermostat sales have been soft in 2024, making a refresh to the Nest line helpful in getting current users to update and perking interest among non-owners.
- The addition of a presence sensor and a temperature sensor for other rooms will help add more value to the device though the thermostat is slightly more expensive than its predecessor.