The notion of connected home cameras usually focus on the security benefits they provide. For the team at LifeSmart, its FRAME lifestyle camera is looking to buck that trend by making it the core of your connected home experience.
With FRAME, LifeSmart looked to design something that looked good but fit into a user’s life as more than a security camera. To do this, it developed a software platform that can be expanded on later on. So, while FRAME right now features night vision and motion detection capabilities, it will feature many more as time goes on using the same set of 1080p lens, mic, and speaker hardware. It also has features like Sticky Note, which lets users leave each voice messages, along with live streaming, and connects with 3rd party devices to control them. 360° manual rotation and 8GB of internal memory, with the added option of subscription-based cloud storage, round out the package. Each FRAME 360° goes for $139 and is expected to ship October 2016. Its flexible Indiegogo campaign is looking for $50,000 by September 19th, 2016 to see success.
While LifeSmart’s positioning with FRAME is reminiscent of what the Sense and MATRIX are doing with each of their own platforms, its execution doesn’t seem to back it up. LifeSmart talks about a completely software-based platform but sells add-ons like a motion sensor for other parts of the home and an environmental sensor instead of baking those capabilities into the software. The Sense offers a plethora of connectivity options for all kinds of smart home setups, while the MATRIX can be programmed to pretty much do anything its wide variety of built-in sensors, making them far superior centers of the connected home.