Aqara G2 indoor camera for Apple Homekit at Xiaomi tariff

April 11, 2019

Aqara G2 indoor price camera Review opinion for Apple Homekit at Xiaomi rate, 1080p HD video, human form detection, night vision…

Date of last modification: Nov 13, 2019

Aqara G2 indoor camera for Apple HomeKit at Xiaomi tariff

Aqara, as you already know if you are a regular reader of this blog, is the range of HomeKit compatible products from Apple developed and manufactured by the Chinese group Xiaomi. Today you can get quality products two to five times cheaper than those presented on the Apple Store.

To complete its offer for the smart health connected health home, here is the new Aqara G2 smart camera, obviously compatible with the entire Aqara ecosystem.

Aqara G2 indoor design and functionality

A very small camera, 8.2 cm high and 5.6 cm wide for 112 grams, which will easily hide in your interior. With its accessories, you can put it down on a piece of furniture, fix it on the wall. And even on the ceiling with its program that manages the reverse image.

Main characteristics :

  • HD video quality in 1080p with 2 million pixels at 20 fps.

  • Night vision up to 8 meters thanks to its 8 infrared lamps.

  • 140 ° life angle.

  • Storage of images on an SD card (32 GB max), via a NAS, or in the Cloud.

  • It has motion detection.

  • Two-way audio, allows you to hear and speak from a distance.

  • Zigbee 3.0.

R technologyimage recognition allows you to quickly detect movements and identify human forms, to avoid sending you false alerts because of the cat.

I particularly appreciate the possibility of being able to finally store data locally on the SD card or an external hard drive.

An original function allows you to use the camera to record a video message of 15 seconds, just press the button placed on the top for 3 seconds while facing the camera.

Aqara G2 installation

The installation of the device is really very simple, but if you are new to the products of the Xiaomi ecosystem, you will need the Mi health home application (recently renamed “Xiaomi health home”).

  1. Mi health home app health home page

  2. Select your device

  3. Reset if necessary, then follow on-screen instructions

  4. From the Mi app health home screen, click the ‘+’ icon to add the camera.

  5. Select the Aqara G2 from the list of devices offered (if you don’t see it, simply type “camera hub G2”)

  6. If necessary, reset the camera using the sim pin, but if this is the first time you are installing it, this may not be necessary. Wait for the voice prompt (in Chinese) and click next.

  7. You will then see a screen with a QR code on your phone screen.

  8. Place it in front of the camera lens to begin installation. You will hear another voice prompt and the camera will begin the installation.

  9. Once the installation is complete, you need to give the camera a name. Also decide in which room you will place the camera.

  10. If the installation is successful, the camera will launch automatically and you will see a live stream from where the camera is pointed.

Note that despite its name, you cannot add the camera with the Aqara application.

Aqara G2 camera features

To start with the basics, there are five icons at the bottom of the live streaming screen.

  • The Eye icon allows you to put the device to sleep (sleep mode), which is ideal for those with privacy concerns.

  • the Phone icon allows you to speak to the person (s) listening to the camera and to have a two-way conversation.

  • the Circle allows you to start manual recording.

  • the Crop icon allows you to take a quick snapshot of the live view.

  • the Up arrow icon allows you to arm or disarm the built-in alarm.

In the upper part of the screen, you can see ‘F… D’. If you press this button, you will get streaming options in Full HD (1080p), HD (720p) or SD (480p). Next to it is a speaker icon, which lets you hear audio from the camera location (it is muted by default).

If you put your phone in landscape mode, the camera automatically switches to full screen mode.

Once you have installed an SD card, you have access to a timeline function. This timeline appears in the lower third of the screen and allows you to scroll back and forth to find a record at a specific time and day. If the camera is set to record only when it detects motion (or abnormal sound detection events), these appear in the timeline as blue sections, allowing you to quickly switch to the time / corresponding date.

Connectivity and compatibility

According to our information, this new Aqara camera should be released in the coming months, but will not be HomeKit compatible at launch. But it is expected that it will become very quickly (the time to have Apple validations).

Special feature, it also acts as a Zigbee hub (v3) for Aqara’s own Zigbee sensors. If you already have a hub, it will serve as a relay to increase the coverage of your local network.

The Aqara G2 camera is obviously compatible to integrate in different scenarios with the products in the range: bulbs, motion and vibration detectors, door sensors, locks and the curtain motor.

Price and availability

The price in China is equivalent to € 35. IN France you will find the Xiaomi Aqara G2 available on Amazon at 52 € Or on € 45 GearBest. By far the cheapest HomeKit camera on the market. Even if the price increases with the import costs and the margins of distributors in France.

Contents of the Aqara G2 box

  • 1 x camera,

  • 1 x power adapter,

  • 1 x USB power cable,

  • 1 x accessory kit.

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First Opinion Aqara G2 indoor

Once again Xiaomi surprises us with a stuffed product of technology at a low price. Its Aqara G2 indoor surveillance camera is no exception.

Hopefully a quick update for integration with Apple HomeKit.

Its only fault is an audible alarm clearly below the current standard of 100 dB.