If you don't already have a strong smart home hub, the Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410 can kill two birds with one stone. Describing the Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410 as just another video doorbell is like dismissing the quirky VW ID. Sure, it will keep an eye on your front porch, but it can also control all the other smart devices in your home, thanks to the presence of Bluetooth, Thread, dual-band Wi-Fi, and Zigbee radios; Matter support; compatibility with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, IFTTT, and Apple's HomeKit Secure Video; and a 24/7 recording option with RTSP support for hardcore users. One caveat: Its Zigbee support is limited to Aqara's own Zigbee devices. It's still a massive step up from the Aqara Smart Video Doorbell G4 that TechHive reviewed in the spring of 2024, addressing nearly every criticism leveled at that earlier product.

The Aqara Camera Protect Kit Y100 is one of the easiest to install and set up tech products I've tested, and it does an outstanding job of monitoring a relatively small space. But steer clear if you're looking for a professional monitoring option, as that's not on offer. But before I get too deep into this review, be aware that Aqara does not offer any professional monitoring service, where someone in a central office monitors your security system and can dispatch first responders in the event of a break-in, fire, or medical emergency. While such plans are always paid subscriptions, its absence here will be a deal-breaker for some (Aqara does manufacture a Zigbee smart smoke detector if self-monitoring is all you're looking for). The Matter-compatible Aqara Camera Hub G3 includes a Zigbee radio and a dual-band Wi-Fi adapter.

The new Matter standard is getting better at helping Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings play nice with each other, but it often does so at the expense of finer-grained features. Some Matter-enabled smart lights, for example, can be turned on or off via Matter or change their color, but Matter controllers might not be able to access their lighting scenes or advanced animation modes. Likewise, smart home manufacturer Aqara found some of its hardware functionality hamstrung by Matter's limitations, such as the lack of Matter support for facial recognition (which might arrive once Matter finally works with security cameras), or for the fall-detection capabilities of its motion sensors. One option would be to wait for the Matter specification to catch up and add that functionality--which could take a while, given the slow pace of Matter specification updates. Instead, Aqara built its own workaround, which involves taking various Aqara scenes and "signals" and turning them into virtual sensors that Matter understands.

The Aqara G5 Pro Wi-Fi delivers impressive security and connectivity features, making it ideal for tech-savvy users looking to seamlessly extend their smart-home ecosystem outdoors. The G5 Pro is Aqara's newest outdoor security camera, designed to protect your home while extending your smart-home network outdoors. It pulls double duty, providing real-time monitoring and connecting your Aqara and many third-party smart devices in one integrated hub. Sitting at the higher end of Aqara's camera lineup, the G5 Pro emphasizes ease of use, solid image quality, and smooth integration with popular smart-home ecosystems. We review the Aqara G5 Pro Wi-Fi here; a power-over-ethernet (PoE) version is also available for about 20 more.

An outdoor security camera that not only keeps watch over your backyard spaces, but also bathes them in Matter and Zigbee connectivity. That's the idea behind Aqara's Camera Hub G5 Pro, a weatherized 4MP security cam with a smart home hub that bridges Zigbee devices and acts a Thread border router for Matter products. Matter, of course, is the new hotness in smart home, promising to bridge the gaps between Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and the other big smart-home protocols. Thanks to Thread, Matter devices can create self-healing networks that can extend throughout the home, but reaching outside your house can still be a tricky task. A big selling point of the Camera Hub G5 Pro is that it can add a Matter hub (including Matter controller and Thread border router functionality) outside, perfect for boosting connectivity for outdoor Matter devices that might otherwise be straining the limits of your home Matter network.