$80 mini camera sees 360 degrees, links up 'smart' devices

Hikvision’s consumer and residential-focused subsidiary, Ezviz, has released the Mini 360 Plus, a low-cost round smart home surveillance camera that can do a lot despite its small size.

What’s drawing attention toward the compact model is said to be its price. With $80, one can have a smart home monitoring device that shoots full-HD 1080p videos, the camera rotating on its base 360 degrees and capable of tracking motion on its own. The unit, standing on a table or placed up a ceiling, can be controlled remotely and conveniently by a mobile phone. It has night vision, two-way talk and privacy masking features.

Aside from the price, the surveillance camera can also connect to various smart home devices because it supports IFTTT. The maker provides cloud storage services for $6 per month.

The Mini 360 Plus camera is not the only all-around vision camera that went small but features-packed. There are already a number of compact 360-degree cameras out in the market but many are meant for use in sports, VR, mobile phones and automobiles. ABI research predicts that in 2021, shipments for these types of cameras will total to 2 million. The release of Mini 360 Plus and similar new products, though, could indicate that 360-degree video technologies and miniaturization of surveillance cameras are also becoming more significant now in the security industry.