Ring’s follow-up to its three-year-old Video Doorbell Pro will arrive with improved video quality and a killer feature: radar-powered motion sensors that can deliver a birds-eye view of the path that a detected person took in your front yard.
Slated to ship on March 31 for $250, the hardwired Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 upgrades its predecessor’s 1080p video quality with a 1536p video sensor, along with a 150-degree field of view in both horizontal and vertical orientations, allowing for a head-to-toe view of visitors on your doorstep. Also new is an array microphone for improved “HD Audio” voice chat.
Not bad, but by far the most interesting additions to the new Ring Video Doorbell 2 are its 3D Motion Detection and Bird’s-Eye View features, both of which are powered by radar rather than the usual infrared motion sensors.
Ring promises that 3D Motion Detection will deliver far more accurate motion alerts, allowing users to set a precise perimeter within which the camera will begin recording if it detects motion. As with existing Ring cameras and doorbells, you’ll also be able to set motion zones (such as directly in front of your door) that will trigger alerts whenever movement is detected, as well as privacy zones (such as a neighbor’s driveway) that the camera will ignore.
Ring
Ring’s new Bird’s-Eye View feature renders an aerial view of a visitor’s path, which appears in a picture-in-picture window while you’re viewing a live or recorded motion event.
Beyond standard motion alerts, the Ring Video Doorbell 2’s new 3D Motion Detection abilities will enable Bird’s Eye View, a feature that uses data from the camera’s radar to render an aerial view showing the path that a detected person took.
When you’re watching either a live or recorded motion event, Bird’s Eye View will appear in a picture-in-picture window, complete with yellow dots marking the person’s path and gray dots showing where the motion event first started.
Besides its 3D Motion Detection and Bird’s Eye View settings, the Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 will support Alexa Greetings, the new feature that (among other things) allows Alexa to greet visitors who push the doorbell button.
To use Alexa Greetings, you’ll need to subscribe to Ring’s paid Protect plan, which offers a 60-day video history for one camera, people detection, and “rich” mobile notifications for $3 a month, while the pricier “Plus” option ($10 per month) supports an unlimited number of Ring cameras and adds 24/7 professional monitoring of an installed Ring Alarm home security system.
If you’d rather not pony up for a Protect plan, you can always enable Quick Replies, a non-Alexa feature that lets you choose from six canned messages, such as “Please leave the package outside,” “Hi, we’ll be right there,” and “If you’d like to leave a message, you can do it now.”
We’ll have a full review of the Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 once we’ve checked out a review unit.