Expert's Rating
Pros
- Excellent 5MP video resolution
- Runs on battery or hardwired power
- Cloud storage plan is truly optional
Cons
- Advertising in the Aosu app, including pop-ups
- Device must be dismounted to recharge its battery (essentially)
- Unimpressive B&W night vision
Our Verdict
This doorbell camera covers all the basics and then some, offering excellent resolution and a very wide field of view; plus, plenty of features for those who want to tinker.
Price When Reviewed
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Best Pricing Today
Best Prices Today: Aosu Video Doorbell Ultra
Remember when Ring doorbells were exotic and rare? After just 10 years, everybody has a video doorbell—and it seems like every company makes one, too. We’ve now reached commodity status for the device that, for many, is the gateway to smart home technology.
Aosu is a camera-centric brand I’d never heard of before they reached out to TechHive, and with a pitch that its doorbell product is “Better Than Ring,” we figured we’d put it to the test.
There is certainly nothing remarkable about the Aosu Video Doorbell Ultra’s hardware, but seldom has the design of a video doorbell excited anyone. It’s a typical, chunky black plastic monolith, ringed with a silvery plastic border. A large, illuminated “ring” button appears beneath a small camera lens, exactly where you would expect it. The device is rated as IP65 for weatherproofing. Our explanation of IP codes indicates that it can’t be incapacitated by dust (6) ingress and that its protected from water jets coming from any direction (5).
The Aosu Video Doorbell Ultra has some unexpected features–including radar-based motion detection–for its price.
A second component is required inside the house: A plug-in bridge with two stubby antennae on top. This device, on the large side, serves as a wireless bridge between the doorbell and your Wi-Fi network (it’s a dual-band device that can connect to either 2.4- or 5GHz networks). It’s also equipped with 8GB non-upgradeable memory for storing your video clips. This is the default setting, but you can also store recordings in the cloud if you sign up for a service plan, which I’ll get to in a bit.
The Aosu Video Doorbell Ultra comes with a dual-band wireless bridge with 8GB of onboard storage.
Christopher Null/Foundry
Installation and setup
Installing the Aosu Video Doorbell is very much like most other video doorbells. A small bracket—either straight-on or angled—attaches directly to the wall with included hardware. The camera then slips onto the bracket, adhering to it with a spring-loaded clip. To remove the camera, you need to insert a small pinhole reset tool (one is included) into a hole on the bottom of the device to release it from the spring-loaded lock. There is no screw or other locking system securing the camera to the bracket.
This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best video doorbells.
The camera includes a rechargeable battery (Aosu says it’s good for 4 to 6 months on a full charge) that recharges via a USB-C port beneath a rubber flap; a cable for this is not included. If you have low-voltage wiring in place, you can connect the doorbell to it and continuously trickle-charge the battery.
With both hardware devices in place, the user is in store for a somewhat lengthy setup process. You must first install the Aosu mobile app, then scan a QR code on the back of the doorbell. Sync buttons on both the bridge and doorbell must be hit in sequence, and then the doorbell rung to complete the process. Finally, a second QR code on your phone’s screen must be scanned with the doorbell camera. After configuring your Wi-Fi credentials and installing a firmware update, you’re finally up and running. None of this is difficult, but it is a bit tedious.
The Aosu Video Doorbell Ultra operates on battery power, but it can also be connected to your existing low-voltage wiring and doorbell transformer if you have it.
Christopher Null/Foundry
Aosu’s camera offers a maximum of 5 megapixels of resolution—2560 x 1920 pixels—and records at 15 frames per second. The lens is quite wide-angled, visibly distorting the image with its 166-degree field of view. Clips max out at one minute in length, but there does not seem to be any significant cooldown between clips. Should you wish to conserve storage space, you can set the doorbell to record only when the bell is rung, only when motion is detected, or only when people are moving in front of it.
Detection sensitivity, oddly, has just one setting—adjust automatically—which only allows the Aosu to adjust sensitivity “to improve the battery of the doorbell.” There’s no other information on how exactly this works, other than to limit the number of clips that are recorded. Detection zones can also be configured to block out motion in certain parts of the image. Finally, the camera includes an option for night vision, but only of the standard black-and-white infrared variety.
Day-to-day use
We were unpleasantly surprised to see pop-up ads in the AOSU app. Fortunately, they seemed to be a fleeting and non-reoccuring thing.
Christopher Null/Foundry
One of Aosu’s big selling points is that it has three types of motion detection: traditional PIR (passive infrared) motion detection; “human motion detection,” based on the shape of the human body; and radar motion detection. Radar isn’t unheard of in security cameras, but it’s not all that common, and it works quite well in Aosu’s implementation, picking up motion at a distance of up to 30 feet and quickly sending a push update to my phone when someone approached the door.
These notifications are highly configurable, too. They can be shut off during certain times of the day, and two different styles of alerts are offered, along with the choice between immediate notification or “intelligent” notification, which sends an alert only after recording has concluded.
The recorded clips look good. Colors are bright and, while the distortion is significant, it does allow for an extremely spacious look at your surroundings. The night vision could be brighter, but it’s reasonable enough for a device of this size and complexity.
The Aosu app has robust settings.
Christopher Null/Foundry
When the doorbell button is pressed, Aosu (by default) rings your phone much like when an incoming phone call is being received. Naturally, two-way audio (and one-way video) are supported during your calls, which were quick to load and free of stutter during my testing. Canned replies like “Hello, can I help you?” can be sent with a tap, and two voice-disguising modes are included, the always classic “uncle” and “clown.”
By default, clips are stored on the 8GB of storage built into the bridge. Aosue doesn’t use a microSD card for this storage, so you can’t remove or replace/upgrade it. Older clips get overwritten on a rolling basis after the storage fills up and new clips come in. Clips are stored in simple folders in the app, one for each day, each with a thumbnail and a tag indicating the type of movement: Ring, passing, staying, etc. Again, these are easy to flip through and are easy to download to your device when necessary. Aosu also works with video-based Alexa and Google Home devices, but is largely limited to showing a live video feed from the camera.
For “infinite space” you’ll need to upgrade to Aosu’s cloud storage system, which costs a spendy $9/month or $90/year. This provides 60 days of storage of all clips, plus some other extras, including an image attached to push notifications, the ability to watch clips at 2x or 4x speed, and facial recognition. Without the facial recognition feature, plan pricing drops to $7/month or $70/year. A 7-day trial is available for all plans. That said, you may not need any of that. After a week of testing, I still had 7GB of space left on the internal memory card.
Should you buy the Aosu Video Doorbell Ultra?
At $126, the Aosu video doorbell is more expensive than I’d expect from a lesser-known brand—it’s $26 higher than the brand-new Ring Battery Doorbell (TechHive’s review of that device is in the works). At that price, I wasn’t expecting to see ads pushed to me immediately after installing the hardware, including a pop-up ad, which I consider a real no-no on a product you’ve paid for. Fortunately, these have not reappeared after they were all dismissed.
Assuming that state of affair holds, I’m happy to recommend the Aosu Doorbell Ultra as a worthwhile pick in the budget-priced doorbell camera space.
Best Prices Today: Aosu Video Doorbell Ultra
Author: Christopher Null, Contributor, TechHive
Christopher Null is an award-winning technology journalist with more than 25 years of experience writing about and reviewing consumer and business tech products. Previously, he served as Executive Editor for PC Computing magazine and was the founder and Editor in Chief of Mobile magazine, the first print publication focused exclusively on mobile tech. In addition to covering a wide range of smart home gear for TechHive, he is a frequent contributor to Wired, This Old House, and AAA’s Via Magazine.