Aqara Camera Hub G3 review

More than just a camera by far!

Strengths	Weakness
The combination of features in this camera go far beyond anything I’ve seen anywhere else, without putting the G3 into a higher price bracket. Integrations are available with all of the major platforms, IFTTT etc The ability to have your recordings saved in iCloud (for Apple users) is a really nice and secure method of ensuring you have your recordings even if someone steals your camera!	The AI features are only available within the Aqara ecosystem (NB. not Aqara’s fault!) It’s not possible to use all of the AI features at the same time. Non-Aqara Zigbee devices won’t attach to the Camera Hub G3.

The Camera

This camera is so much more than meets the eye.  Impressive, as what meets the eye is already more than what you get from most IP cameras!  The Aqara Camera Hub G3 is a really cute piece of smart home tech, with it’s cat like ears and cute sleepy face when it’s put into privacy mode.  Straight out of the box it feels like a quality piece of kit, with a decent weight to it and Aqara’s signature slick white simplistic design.  Most of my cameras are tucked away, out of the limelight of people’s view, but this one is nice enough looking to have out on display.

As a camera, I have to say, I’m pretty impressed.  The image quality is the best I’ve seen to date in daylight and the night vision is not far behind, giving impressive clarity and motion. The Camera Hub G3 can turn through 360° and the microphone is decent quality, picking up sounds in nearby rooms (with the doors open) with sufficient clarity to make out what’s happening albeit the sound can be a little “clippy” at times and it’s not as crisp as I would like, but in fairness the same can be said for every camera I’ve used.

The camera supports 2.4/5GHz dual-band Wi-Fi, and delivers 2k video with local recording to a micro SD (up to 128GB) or if you are using HomeKit and have a HomePod, Apple TV or other suitable Apple device, this will allow you to use the Apple secure video protocol to record to your iCloud Drive. Aqara have also added an “event timeline” to recordings, allowing you to automatically bookmark time stamps in your recording when there was movement, or where another Aqara sensor (such as the Door & Window Sensor) is activated, making it easy to go directly to the most important moments. 

Security, AI modes and features galore!

Not satisfied with this level of security, Aqara have added Security Guard mode to the G3, which can use the built in person recognition to watch for unknown faces in your house while you’re out and should any be found, not only will it record them, but it will activate a siren which is pretty impressively loud for a device of this size, whilst also dropping you a notification, so you can check what’s happening!

Person recognition is one of a suite of AI capabilities on the G3. Setting this up is as simple as adding a clear front on photo of the people you want the system to recognise and Aqara’s software does the rest, allowing your camera to activate either the Security Guard or automations when it sees a specific person or a stranger. A really powerful security option. 

The G3 can also be set to human tracking, dog & cat tracking or cruise mode, where you can specify the track the camera follows, for example, looking towards the door for 30 seconds, then towards the next room for 15 seconds and back again. 

Finally the G3 has gesture mode. This allows you to hold up your hand in specified poses to the camera and have this activate automations. For example, holding up a “v” sign can activate the Security Guard mode and an “ok” sign could turn it off again. It’s worth noting that this mode takes up sufficient computing power that you can’t use it alongside any of the other AI modes. 

This is already a pretty impressive set of specs, but the name may have given you a clue that there’s more yet to come. Yes, the Camera Hub G3 is a Zigbee 3.0 hub, capable of connecting up to 128 Aqara devices. The hub is scheduled to receive a Matter capabilities in a forthcoming firmware update, which will expose any connected devices to your wider Matter set up should you be moving your Smart Home in that direction, giving you a good level of future proofing in a rapidly moving area. 

Just to add a cherry and sprinkles on top, Aqara have added an IR blaster to the Camera Hub G3, allowing you to control TVs and any other device that uses an infrared remote. The app has preset controls for many of the brands you might have in your house, giving you a nice, simple set up experience for this feature in most cases.

Is it worth it?

The price tag on the G3 is comparable to other pan and tilt smart cameras, but with all of the other features packed into this device, it definitely gives you a good value proposition with lots of options to make use of as part of a wider smart home system. It integrates with Google, Alexa and Apple HomeKit although (and to be clear, this is due to those platform’s capabilities rather than Aqara) the AI functions can’t be accessed outside of the Aqara app, which I hope is something that changes, as activating routines and automations with equipment from other manufacturers using the person recognition or gesture functions would be a real game-changer!  If you’re a Google or Amazon developer, please sort this out!

I’m summary, it’s a Zigbee hub, it’s an IR blaster, it’s a really good quality camera with some of the smartest features you’ll find anywhere. It’s a security alarm, it feels well made and it’s one of the cutest bits of tech you’re likely to find with its cat ears (which are part of a removable skin if they aren’t your thing) and sleepy “privacy” face. All of this in one small USB-C powered package. This device really pushes the boundaries of what you can pack into a single smart home product, so if you’re using Aqara devices already, I can thoroughly recommend this as a device you’re likely to love.  The biggest issue arises when you try to pair non-Aqara devices to the built in Zigbee hub.  You can’t at present! This is a major limiting factor until such time as the Matter standard allows cross system integrations to improve.

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