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When you first unbox the tiny Aqara Camera Hub, you’re greeted by a tiny face with removable cat ears. It’s all very kawaii (Japanese slang for “cute”) if you’re into anime and the like, but the cute face inside belies the monster of a device.
That’s right many and you end up asking yourself, “Do I run it through HomeKit or their proprietary Aqara Home app, or a little bit of both?” It can be overwhelming. Good thing, the Apple Home and Aqara Home apps are well designed and easy to use. Let’s go!
Aqara Camera Hub G3: Price and Availability
The Aqara 2K Security Indoor Camera Hub G3 is available through Amazon for $109.99, but looking at price tracking history, the G3 was on sale for $80 in December and January.
Aqara Camera Hub G3: Specifications and Features
The Camera Hub G3 is a nearly five-inch-tall robot-shaped device that rotates 340 degrees horizontally, tilts 30 degrees up and 15 degrees down. It can do this automatically using AI-powered tracking or manually through the Aqara app, but without manual control in Apple’s Home app. Pair all this with a 110-degree field of view; you should be able to capture everything in almost any room.
The centerpiece of the unit, the 2K 2304x1296P high-definition camera, and its infrared LED night vision module wear a face that’s both cute and functional. When the G3 is “live” you can see the camera, but for privacy you can stop the live feed and the lens module rotates into the “head” housing to reveal another view, the eyelashes. Yes, you can tell the camera is “sleeping” because it shows the face.
If it still bothers you, you can save a preset point of view and send it there. To the left and right of the lens and LEDs are two microphones that allow you to have a two-way conversation, detect abnormal sounds, stream audio and record it. Audio recording is pretty good from the dual mic setup!
There’s also a microSD slot on the front that supports up to 128GB of storage. You can access it by turning off the live camera feed and rotating the cute eyelash cover into view. Below that is a status LED that glows red when active, along with subtle branding. On the back of the camera you’ll find a speaker and a USB-C port, which also supports video output directly from the unit via the UVC protocol, so if you connect the Camera Hub G3 to a computer, for example, it should automatically recognize it.
You can place the Camera Hub G3 on a flat surface, such as a bookcase, or attach it using the standard quarter-inch tripod threads on the bottom. It can be attached upside down and then the image can be adjusted in the Aqara Home app.
The Aqara Camera Hub G3 has a neural processing unit (NPU) that powers some AI functions that do not require an internet connection. The on-board Zigbee 3.0 smart home hub allows you to connect up to 128 Aqara devices to the G3, although you’ll need to include a repeater such as a wall switch or smart plug in your setup to reach that number.
The Camera Hub G3 supports both 2.4 and 5 GHz Wi-Fi connections and Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3). There is also IR blaster support for your home devices that still use this standard.
Aqara Camera Hub G3: Build and Appearance
The Aqara Camera Hub G3 looks like something you’d buy at a Sanrio (Hello Kitty) store, until you remove the pre-installed cat ear accessory cover. You can place the Camera Hub G3 on a flat surface, such as a bookcase, or attach it using the standard quarter-inch tripod threads on the bottom. It can be attached upside down and then the image can be adjusted in the Aqara Home app.
Although the Camera Hub G3 is mostly plastic, it feels well made and will last a long time indoors. The pan and tilt motor is quiet and the different lens hood faces, while new, add “fun” to “functionality”. It should look right at home with almost any decor, and you can remove the cat ears if they’re too flashy for your feng shui.
Aqara Camera Hub G3: Easy to use
The Aqara Camera Hub G3 does so much that it would take several pages of a deep, deep dive article to thoroughly cover them all, yet its features are clearly laid out in the Aqara app and easy to use. And since not all of these features are exposed in Apple Home, they’re even easier to use. This has been one of the hallmarks of all the Aqara cameras I’ve tested recently, ease of use. This G3 set up in less than ten minutes, and I thoroughly enjoyed the voice confirmations I received from the unit as I completed specific steps in the registration process.
I have a G3 connected to my 5ghz wifi network. Opening any app and connecting to its live feeds was a snap every time. I even opened Apple Home on my Apple Watch Series 9 and had conversations with my wife, which was pretty cool! No glitches, smooth sound and picture, all from my wrist.
Motion tracking is easy with the G3. You can set it to track people, dogs and cats, work with face or gesture detection, and there’s a cruise option that sets the camera to rotate and tilt to pre-defined positions over a period of time. Aqara’s face detection works by uploading images from your phone or taking a photo of someone’s face on the spot. Then you can set up automations like getting a notification when little Jamaal gets home from school. Gesture activation allows you to assign automation to five different hand gestures, but this disables the human and animal tracking features.
Speaking of tracking, I really thought the G3’s ability to keep up with the people it was tracking was admirable. If someone is running or moving fast, they can lose it. As the G3 tracks someone and pans and tilts to keep up, you’ll see the video pixelate a bit until the camera settles, and then the video clears up and becomes solid again.
For security reasons, using face detection in Aqara Home requires you to upload these images to Aqara’s cloud servers. Since the G3 has a built-in neural processing unit, I’d like to see images stored locally as well.
There are some other minor issues that I would like to improve. The grain that the camera records when it’s in motion isn’t ideal. I’d also like to see manual pan and tilt features as well as predefined position settings available in Apple’s Home app.
Aqara Camera Hub G3: Competition
There isn’t much competition at this price point with comparable features, as the G3 has a built-in Zigbee hub.
One alternative worth looking at is the Eufy E220. It has a larger field of view of 125 degrees and 8x digital zoom. The E220 is half the price, but it’s only 2.4GHz wifi, has no privacy mode, and doesn’t include a built-in hub to connect other IoT devices.
Aqara Camera Hub G3: Should you buy it?
You should buy it if..
- You like Aqara and want to connect more devices
- You want a pan and tilt HKSV camera with a robust feature set
- You want a camera with a physical privacy mode
You should not buy this if…
- You want a camera closer to $50
- You don’t need the hub feature
Aqara Camera Hub G3: Verdict
Aqara’s Camera Hub G3 is a cute camera with detachable cat ears and a powerhouse of features at a fair price. Aqara has some great IoT devices in its range of motion sensors, window/door sensors and automatic blinds, so having a built-in hub is a great feature.
With Matter support, HomeKit exposed alarm functionality, USB-C video output, local storage, and local AI processing, you’ve got a winning package that’s hard to beat in the pan-and-tilt indoor camera market. Aqara Camera Hub G3 is easy to recommend.
Fun and functional! Highly recommended for HomeKit
The Camera Hub G3 works with all digital assistants, supports HomeKit Secure Video, is a Zigbee hub, supports 2k video resolution, has a physical safety shutter, and is kawaii!