I had been looking forward to the Nest Hello for some time. When this became available, I ordered directly from Coolblue. Below I will explain what I think of it.
I've been looking at smart doorbells for some time now. There is nothing more annoying than missing a Coolblue package because the postman has already left before I have walked down from the attic. But I also wanted to combine the doorbell with permanent video surveillance. As a result, most doorbells from other manufacturers fell off. Moreover, I am already comfortable in the Nest ecosystem. I already use a Thermostat (v3), various smoke detectors and a Nest Cam Outdoor. Like the other Nest products, I think the Hello looks nice, better than the products of the competition.
As clearly described by Coolblue (and Nest), you cannot just install the Nest. Most Dutch households have an 8V doorbell system and Nest needs 16V-24V AC. So that was first shopping around at various electronics stores. In my case I needed: a 24V bell transformer and a new bell that works on 24V.
You don't necessarily have to be a rocket scientist to connect a few things, but if you have paid a bit of attention at school, it is easy to follow. In my case I asked my father to help me, I was too busy with Pokémon at school. No messing around: it's a matter of connecting the bell transformer, replacing the bell, connecting wires correctly and connecting and mounting the Nest Hello.
The Nest app on the phone helps with this. Before you start, you scan the QR code on the back of the Nest Hello and you will see a step-by-step plan that you basically simply have to carry out. Can't really go wrong. At the end of this step-by-step plan, the newly connected Nest Hello will immediately be provided with configuration and you will soon see your first images.
Afterwards I installed the supplied 15 degree wedge. As a result, the frame fell away neatly, leaving me with more garden in view.
It remains to be seen how long Hello will hang without being stolen. With a paperclip or (supplied) 'sim card ejector' you can release the bell in no time.
The Nest Hello does exactly what I want it to do: I can look outside via the app and when someone rings the bell, I receive a notification on my phone within moments. You can then choose to speak (similar to an intercom) or have one of the pre-programmed default answers spoken. These were already available in Dutch.
The first use was a bit different than I was used to with the Nest Cam Outdoor. I couldn't start watching video right away (apparently the Nest Aware demo wasn't activated yet). The camera also reacted somewhat slowly when viewing live images or having the standard answers spoken. But after an hour it was much better. I suspect an over-the-air update was available. Unable to check. After this hour everything works 100% smoothly and satisfactorily.
The sound is also different. On the Nest Cam Outdoor I can listen and hear background noise (birds, giant airplanes at 300 meters altitude) but the Nest Hello seems to apply some kind of suppression so that you only hear sound from the microphone after the microphone is pushed open by loud noises . In practice this works fine: as soon as someone walks through the garden gate, that person generates so much noise that I can follow everything. I hardly hear birds, but those planes go well luckily.
Which is a pity at the moment: sound from the other party is recorded, but if you speak through the intercom yourself, this is not recorded due to the sound suppression. If you look back images you will only hear the opponent speak. I had read this before, not a big problem, but hope this will be fixed with an update.
The image is (especially when you select image quality 'High') very good. The 4:3 aspect ratio is also nice, so that people fit well into the picture. The fisheye effect is present, but people are easy to recognize. The infrared mode works fine at night.
Nest Hello also recognizes people if you use Nest Aware. You will then see push notifications on your phone in which the name of the person is mentioned. Not necessarily an added value on the phone (because a screenshot is shown immediately) but I can imagine that this comes into its own with a Google Speaker (no Google speaker in the house).
Funny: you can set quiet times where the physical bell in the house does not go off, but you only receive a notification via the Nest app. Handy with sleeping children. Less convenient: you can only switch it on/off or switch it on via a timer (30, 60 or 90 minutes). I would rather see a timetable here, maybe that will come with an update as well. Oh, and I noticed during testing that sometimes the setting is ignored and the bell rings anyway. Can't figure out why that is yet.
As far as I'm concerned, a couple of points should be picked up to make it a perfect product (sound of yourself must also be recorded when using the intercom, schedule for silence times instead of just a timer function). Nevertheless, I am extremely satisfied and I can't wait for all future Coolblue packages that I will no longer miss ;-)
