Given how crowded the home security camera space has become, it’s not surprising that a new player in the space would want their product to offer something unique. Artificial intelligence isn’t one I would have expected to see, but that’s what Psync Labs is promising with its Psync Camera Genie S.
The Genie S would be notable for its $34.99 price tag even without the AI angle, given that it’s a motorized pan/tilt model with 2K resolution (2560 x 1440 pixels), motion tracking, person and pet detection, integration with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, and 32GB of local storage. A second model with 64GB of onboard storage is available for $39.99. But the manufacturer says this camera not only uses artificial intelligence to recognize the objects in its field of view, but that it can recite a text narrative of what’s happening in front of it.
The news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best home security cameras.
I received an early review unit with beta software, and while I haven’t spent enough time with it to produce a full review, I’ve found the early AI results to be more amusing than truly useful. I set the camera up in my living room facing my front door, and the AI seemed to have different interpretations of what’s happening every 10 or 15 minutes.
I have a half-lite front door, with a Stoneside smart shade mounted on the interior side. This being Halloween, it’s decorated with a flying vampire doll on the outside. The Genie S just didn’t know what to make of this, describing the scene one time as “A person is standing in front of a door, looking through the window, and observing a shadowy figure.” Another time, it said “A shadowy figure is seen through a window, possibly a ghost or a person in a dark room.”
Ambient lighting had an outsized effect on what the Genie S thought it was seeing in this scene. Given this was the night before Halloween, I found the notion that it was seeing a ghost to be the most interesting.
Michael Brown/Foundry
To be fair, Psync Labs doesn’t make over-the-top claims about what the camera can do, describing its AI as “still learning and growing, just like a curious child.” As with many products in this class, you’ll need to purchase a subscription to get full use of the camera. That will enable the camera’s person, animal, and object identification, and it will send push notifications based on motion-detection events. A subscription costs $6.99 per month, but is currently discounted to 99 cents per month for a limited time.
Thanks to its pan and tilt motors, the Genie S can tilt its camera over a 135-degree arc and pan it 350 degrees.
Michael Brown/Foundry
The camera has a unique cube-like design when it’s powered off, unfolding its camera lens and LED spotlight panel when activated. The camera’s body can pan 350 degrees and its lens can tilt over a 135-degree arc. There’s a built-in speaker and microphone for two-way audio.
Both versions of the Psync Camera Genie S are available for purchase now. Look for my in-depth hands-on review in the coming weeks.
