Someone call for beta testers!?
Brick the device?
Iâm not going to lie, this is exactly what I would expect to happen the first time I saw what this product looked like. You have a solid white slab with a huge contrasting black section. People are not going to studying your doorbell as they are walking up, they glance over and think they see what they are supposed to press and then look back and press it.
You know whatâs never happened a single time with my Nest Hello? This. The camera lense is the exact same color as the rest of the body so it is hidden instead of sticking out, then a Led circle around the actual button you press lights up so it is extremely obvious where to press.
A simple skin would solve all these issues. Here is a quick and dirty render of what a black skin/sticker would look like:
Wyze or anyone with a Cricut/vinyl cutter could easily make this.
Kinda snazzy lookingâŚmight be a marketable item for someone.
Thatâs a great simple solution. make it mostly black. The protruding lens is still a problem, but that design helps a lot.
What they really need to do is not only make everything but the button the same color (black), but also make it all the level with no protruding lens. With the extra space, add an SD card, add memory or processor or something to process edge/local Person Detection, RTSP, etc. Thereâs TONS of space that could house the circuitry needed to make this an amazing device. Heck, add a battery for all the people that want that, but not make it battery dependent (for all the people who want a fully wired device. They could add in circuitry to have it allow people to use the legacy chime (add a battery and capacitor that could charge from a trickle charge while the button isnât pressed. There is so much they can do in that extra space to level it all out to not have a protruding lens and still make it tons better (come on, at least an SD card at the minimum!).
Regardless, I may consider making mine mostly black now. I wish there was an easy solution that didnât fade or start to wear off (marker fades outside, electrical tape starts to stretch or come off, I havenât tried other methods, but might look into them now).
@carverofchoice are you also having the âpeople jab the lensâ issue? Because in all fairness very few doorbell users have actually reported it as a problem here. (As Iâve said ad nauseum it is an obvious failing to me but perhaps itâs not that bad in the real world?)
Agreed that the black skin concept would help a little.
I suspect itâs not a huge issue. The images of the doorbell donât really show the lit button and flashing as you approach to draw attention. Everyone Iâve seen use it has hit the button not the lens. Now if there was no lit indicator, I think youâd be much more drawn to the lens visually but even then it doesnât really âlookâ like a button in life.
I havenât taken the time to install mine yet. My installation will be slightly more complicated than normal. The current wiring limits the location which would prevent the screen door opening, so Iâll have to extend the wiring through a weird aluminum siding decor, but wonât get a lot of opportunity for adjusting, so need to get it right the first timeâŚall that has made me procrastinateâŚ
I will check in on it as soon as I do set it up though.
Honestly, for me, the value will be the detection, instead of the button. I have Cam Plus ready for it, so I will have it give me alerts for person and package detection whenever they come up my sidewalks. Still, it will be interesting to see othersâ reactions.
Personally, when I walk up to a house with a video doorbell, I usually hold my hand over the lens to block it I have done that to my brotherâs RING VDB every time I go to his house for yearsâŚbefore I owned my own cameras or looked at VDBâs, I semi-thought it would block them seeing who was at the door, not realizing they probably already saw a snapshot of me walking up to the door and that it was actually fairly pointless to cover it.
Works like a charm! Below was tagged person & package âŚ
p.s. they need to work on the sound, sounds like aliens are landing
Right on the wetâŚ
Bingo! I wasnât fast enough to catch it before he placed it, but got the alert pretty quick âŚ
Thatâs what the ski mask is for.
As a prepandemic germaphobe I would hit doorbells with elbows and such anyway. Easy access to the visitor is paramount. Otherwise theyâll just knock, telephone, or walk away.
not a big issue, but room for improvement. iâve had it installed since 2/1 and the only person who has hit the bell button and not the lens is me. even my friends hit the lens when i asked them unprompted to try it out.
maybe the cold northeast makes people less patient to study it and figure out what to press, but I have literally not had one single person hit the bell.
love this idea actually. i have some black vinyl adhesive I may just mock this up!
hysterical!
Thatâs a really good point, with such wide focus on everything being âtouchlessâ lately and an increased number of germaphobes (or maybe âgerm-awareâ is more accurate), I wouldnât be surprised if âbuttonsâ become rather obsolete in the coming years. Everyone will just expect that a house automatically detects a person and alerts the owners and people will just walk up and stand there until someone responds, otherwise walk away if there is no response. I predict things will go that route in the not too distant futureâŚyou know, like Star Trek apartments and all that. No touching necessary. Maybe it will stop mattering if there is a button as people begin to avoid touching them at all. Of course, thatâs not going to happen for several years, so this lens button is still an issue right now.
I think part of the problem is my door is in direct sunlight, especially during normal delivery times. The lights on the doorbell are pretty washed out. I am willing to bet people donât even notice the light during the day. At night the blue light is very visible (have not had night time visitors yet).
edit: although the example I posted above was a cloudy overcast day so I canât give him the benefit of washed out in sun possibility
'Cause who would have ever expected a doorbell might be viewed in daylight⌠A little LED ring, really?
Again, there really hasnât been much corroboration of your experience but it sure âfeels rightâ to me (as someone who declined to buy one for that reason).
My heart sank when I saw the final design. Iâd had reservations when I saw the first renders, but Iâd fully expected theyâd fix such an obvious design flaw before finalizing the design. This is a HORRIBLE user interface. How could anyone think that a flat surface with a bell symbol is an intuitive âpress-meâ doorbell button?
Iâm going to reserve judgment until I get them and can see what they really look like. But my current plan is to return them.
If I do keep any of them, Iâll be putting a âPress Hereâ label over the bell icon (and silently cursing the person on the design team who thought a flat surface was an intuitive button every time I look at it).
I like this idea! Makes the area people need to press the most obvious and somewhat hides the camera. Use a UV resistant plastic for the skin and I might buy a few. (If I decide to keep mine, Iâll try to find some other durable method to duplicate that color scheme.)
Wyze: This is a cheap way for you to mitigate the problem! Change the color of the the main body of the doorbell and make the âbuttonâ the stand-out color.