Analyst(s): Olivier Blanchard
Publication Date: August 26, 2024
The News: Ring is introducing Ring Battery Doorbell, the next generation of Ring’s doorbell with added features, including Head-to-Toe HD video, a push-pin mount design for easy DIY installation, and up to 23% longer battery life than the previous model (based on commonly used settings).
Ring’s New Battery Doorbell Strikes Balance Between Budget and Premium Features
Analyst Take: Battery Doorbell is the latest generation of Ring’s best-selling doorbell, Ring Video Doorbell. This latest new generation comes with various upgrades, including up to 23% longer battery life. Note that Battery Doorbell is likely to appeal to customers who do not own their homes (renters) or want the flexibility to install additional Ring Video Doorbells to their home’s access points with minimal installation costs and/or hassles. The $99 price point announced by Ring certainly points to the need to make the product as economically appealing as possible for consumers on a budget.
Battery Doorbell has also been redesigned with an all-new push-pin mount so that it can be installed (and removed) easily by users. The main advantage I see here is that when the unit needs to be recharged, customers can easily release the doorbell from the mount by inserting a new push-pin tool and reattaching it by simply pushing it back in. The other, of course, is that it is easy, quick, and cheap to install, with minimal impact to the structure it is installed on (an advantage for rental properties).
Although aggressively priced, Ring is also finally bringing Head-to-Toe video to entry-level doorbells with this release. Battery Doorbell will feature a 150-degree by 150-degree field of view (a 66% taller view compared to Ring Video Doorbell – 2nd Gen), typically reserved for more premium options. The HD quality video with expanded field of view will allow users to see a person head-to-toe, giving them a complete picture of what is happening at their door. This feature builds on Ring’s security-focused value proposition and brings an added layer of peace of mind for users.
Battery Doorbell’s motion detection feature comes with customizable motion zones, real-time alerts (called Live View), and the ability to talk to anyone on the other end of the doorbell anytime with Two-Way Talk.
An optional Ring Protect subscription also gives customers access to Smart Alerts, which notifies them with rich notifications and a pop-up photo preview on their device when a person or a package is at their door. The service also stores the camera’s captured footage in the cloud for up to 180 days—a helpful feature for customers and law enforcement in the event of litigation or of a criminal complaint.
Thanks in part to Ring being part of Amazon’s broader ecosystem of products and services, users can also connect Battery Doorbell to compatible Alexa-enabled devices, expanding their screen and audio options for convenience and safety.
It bears reiterating that Battery Doorbell was designed to prioritize both user privacy and user security—a critical design-thinking feature of the product and the Ring family as a whole. (You may recall that Ring was the first company in the home security industry to require two-step verification for all customers, and the first major home security company to launch video end-to-end encryption as an advanced encryption option for customers.) Battery Doorbell builds on this design imperative by offering both customizable privacy settings and “privacy zones” to allow users to designate areas they want to block from being monitored and recorded.
Battery Doorbell is available for preorder on Ring.com and Amazon.com for $99.99 and will start shipping to customers on September 4. Read the full press release on the company’s website.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
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Author Information
Olivier Blanchard is Research Director, Intelligent Devices. He covers edge semiconductors and intelligent AI-capable devices for Futurum. In addition to having co-authored several books about digital transformation and AI with Futurum Group CEO Daniel Newman, Blanchard brings considerable experience demystifying new and emerging technologies, advising clients on how best to future-proof their organizations, and helping maximize the positive impacts of technology disruption while mitigating their potentially negative effects. Follow his extended analysis on X and LinkedIn.
