The Philips Welcome Eye Look is the brand’s first security camera. A very aesthetic product for a connected surveillance camera which is above all intended to be an ally for the security of your home. We tested it to see if a peered camera can also provide effective surveillance.
Philips continues its offensive on the connected camera market. After a very convincing outdoor product, the Philips WelcomeEye View, Advensis (Philips license holder) is launching the Philips WelcomeEye Look. An indoor model with an attractive design promising 1080p recording, combined with 360° motorized optics. In addition, it offers motion detection and tracking. An attractive product on paper, but now let’s see how it behaves in the face of intrusion attempts.
This test was carried out using a product loaned by the manufacturer.
Design and features: a nice design
In the world of connected surveillance cameras, Philips is a new entrant and surely the one that takes the most care with the design of its products. Their outdoor camera was very successful and we were curious to discover the look of their first indoor camera. Needless to say, we are not disappointed.
If the shape is quite classic, a tubular base ending in a dome, the manufacturer takes care of the details. A delicately rounded upper part which ends with a band covered in a quality gray fabric. The whole thing rests on a plastic base which hides the horizontal motorization.
The dome displays an area with a crossed out eye, synonymous with private mode to prevent sound and video recording. Compared to the competition, this camera displays contained measurements with 8 cm in diameter and 13.5 cm in height, a little above average. An elegant and discreet product, which should easily find its place in your interior.
Installation and configuration: Matter the difficulties
The camera will easily find its place on a shelf or bookcase as long as you have enough height to accommodate its 13.5 cm height. Note that the USB-C power cable is a good two meters long, but you can always invest in a longer cable if you feel the need. The WelcomeEye Look also has a mounting plate to install it on the ceiling.
Philips surveillance cameras, as well as the brand’s video doorbells, are controlled via the Philips WelcomeEye application.
Adding a product is done in just a few taps, and it starts by specifying whether it is a new camera or an existing one connected to the internet. Next, you will need to choose the camera from the list of Philips WelcomeEye products offered by the application.
All you have to do is enter your network’s Wi-Fi password. Good thing, the installation process works perfectly with a 5 GHz network and not just 2.4 GHz as is too often the case. Your last action will be to set a password for the camera.
The application displays a clean design with a home page that lists the installed Philips products, which includes the brand’s video doorbells and cameras. To control the WelcomeEye Look, tap the corresponding tile.
The tab at the bottom of the screen named Historical lists all alerts. An icon allows you to determine whether the alert is due to movement or a human silhouette. Recordings are stored on the 8GB memory card that comes with the camera, which is rare enough to be praised and almost applauded. You can of course download them to your smartphone. Good point, it is possible to refine the display of alerts by camera name, type of event (Motion detector, human silhouette detector, etc.) and, of course, in chronological order.
Return to the app’s home page and select the WelcomeEye Look. We have the upper part of the display occupied by the video stream. Right below are five icons, and by default we start on the left one. It allows you to control the rotation of the camera manually and Philips has improved the interface with arrows that are easier to master than the previous version of the application.
The reactions to our orders are almost immediate and quite precise. The following icons allow you to mute the sound coming from the camera, activate or deactivate voice communication, start a video recording or take a capture of the live stream. The big central eye at the bottom of the screen activates private mode.
The menu of Settings gives access to sharing the camera with other members of your household and above all to additional camera settings.
You can fine-tune the sensitivity level of motion and human silhouette detection. Take the time to test them, especially if you have pets or children, to refine the camera’s reactions. This will save you from unwanted notifications.
An alarm can be triggered when detected automatically or by you manually via the app.
In use: as effective as it is beautiful
Below in a backlit and low light situation, the 2 MP sensor does very well. Of course, as is often the case with surveillance cameras, very bright areas are burned and unreadable. Apart from this case, we have a somewhat sad colorimetry, but a very good level of detail.
We are quite amazed by the level of detail. Thus, a face begins to be recognizable from nine meters and five meters. Below, face recognition is even better, but we notice a little too much smoothing in the image, which affects precision.
The night vision is also of good quality, with very good rendering, rich in details and beautiful contrasts.
Night vision only allows you to guess the face from three meters away, with the best result at one meter. We still find this slightly excessive smoothing which erases the details a little.
Intrusion detection
Behind a French window, the camera detected us two times out of three and about one time out of three at night. Violent noises do not make her react particularly. But as soon as we enter the room, we are detected.
We would like to take this opportunity to remind you to properly calibrate the motion detection, especially if you have children or animals. Silhouette detection is not yet fully developed. The integrated alarm does the job, but it is not very powerful: count on 80 to 85 dB at one meter and 60 to 68 dB at two meters. Too tight to really scare professional burglars or alert your neighbors, unless you live in apartments with thin partitions. Motion tracking is effective, but not enough to track fast movements.
Price and availability of the Philips WelcomeEye Look
The Philips WelcomeEye Look is available at the price of 129.90 euros on the manufacturer’s website and from partner resellers such as Amazon.