A RING rival has unveiled a new gadget that unlocks the front door with a wave of a hand – plus a clever trick to stop “porch pirates”.
The “palm recognition” device, launched this week by smart tech company Eufy, works by detecting the unique pattern of blood vessels in your hand.
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Eufy was one of the first companies to use this kind of technology – which has been hailed by experts as a safer alternative to fingerprint or facial recognition as it uses more data points.
The brand-new FamiLock S3 Max stores the data within the gadget – so it can’t be liable to security breaches.
And there’s no need to worry about any skin conditions, sweat or dirt on your hand – as the technology will still be strong enough to detect whether it’s yours.
The device also contains its own wide-angle 2K video camera that, much like a Ring doorbell, gives you the ability to see what’s happening at your front door 24/7.
With 140-degree field of vision vertically and horizontally – matched only by the more expensive products in the Ring range – it allows a full view of visitors and packages.
Meanwhile, you’ll receive a phone alert when someone rings the doorbell – or when someone is loitering in the doorway, thanks to clever AI detection software.
Video footage can be saved to the cloud or the device itself with a paid-for subscription.
The gadget is on sale on Amazon and Eufy for around £300.
This is a similar price point to the Philips 5000 Series Video Palm Recognition Smart Lock, which has the same hand-wave feature.
Unlike the FamiLock, Philips’ version also works with Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands.
However, it doesn’t have the Ring-inspired video feature that many are looking for in modern doorbells.
A number of other gadgets have also hit the market recently to help customers enhance their home security.
Ring doorbell owners spotted a handy accessory, the Gestech Ring Doorbell Rain Cover, that keeps rain off the lens, making it easier to see at all times of day.
The gadget attaches to a wide range of Ring doorbells – and costs just £13 on Amazon.
One shopper gushed: “This little gadget is just what I needed to prevent the wall light above it from shining on my doorbell.
“I can now get a very clear image at night.”
Another gadget, the Riovo Angle Mount, lets you tilt the doorbell to give you a wider range of vision.
The £11 product is reversible, meaning you can have it tilt to the left or the right depending on what you need.
Meanwhile, Ring revealed exactly how high up you should attach your camera-toting doorbell in an official warning to millions of users.
“One of the biggest mistakes people make is mounting their Ring Video Doorbell too high in the belief that they need to do this in order to catch people’s faces,” the company explained.
“Viewing faces is not a problem if the Ring Video Doorbell is mounted at the correct height of approximately 1.2 metres above the ground.”
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