If you spend a lot of time looking at your regular doorbell and berating it for its lack of smarts, then Amazon’s new Ring doorbell might just be the upgrade you need. The company has just announced a new model of its video doorbell that costs a piffling $60 / £49 / $AU119. Amazon says Ring Video Doorbell Wired will be available in the UK in May and in the US and Australia on the Feb 24 and 25 respectively.
Why the UK delay? Well, Ring tells us that's because of voltage differences that mean more development for the device in Europe where our wired doorbells operate on lower voltages.
As a rule we feel pretty good about Amazon's Ring doorbells, they're some of the best out there, but check our guide to best video doorbells first to make sure you're getting one that meets your needs.
In case it's not super-obvious from the name, you will need to power this from a mains supply, and this is where things get tricky. On the official site it says it will need to be supplied with between 8-24 volts DC and it can draw 12 Watts and 0.5 amps. The site also says, “Only official Ring DC supplies should be used to power this device. Use of any other DC supply will cause damage.” Erm, okay then, that seems a bit silly. Bear this in mind, but it might just be over cautious guidance to stop people plugging them in to 240 volts.
The good thing about the new Ring Video Doorbell Wired is that it seems to have a pretty complete set of features. Video streaming is still 1080p, so there’s been no attempt to use a cheaper camera than the big models. You’ll get the two-way talk for chatting to door callers without catching their viruses and tie-ins with video-based Alexa devices.
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If you want to save videos captured by the Ring Video Doorbell Wired for up to 30 days you’ll need a Ring Protect Plan. These cost $3 / £2.50 /$AU4 per month or $30 / £24.99 / $AU40 per year, which offers a small saving over monthly payments. You can also opt for the plus service, which covers all Ring devices you may have, it costs $100 / £80 / $AU150 per year or $10 / £8 / $AU15 monthly. The plus service also offers 10% discounts on Ring hardware and an extended warranty.
If you can’t wait until May to get a smart doorbell, you can still opt for the battery powered model - which suits those not wanting to wire theirs in. Prices for that are below.
Note: this story has been updated to correct Australian pricing which wasn't available when we published the story. We also received further comment on the delayed UK/EU launch which has now been included.
