A new system called Simplicam by Arcsoft promises to be a strong Dropcam competitor thanks to cheaper cloud storage subscriptions and facial recognition alerts. Simplicam has the same simple plug-and-play set-up and mobile app for movement alerts and live monitoring. Facial recognition just lets you know that there's someone in the house, not who they are, but in most cases that's enough.
If you snag the $199 version of Simplicam (compatible with both Android and iPhone), it includes a year of 1-day subscription service of the cloud storage service, Closeli, so you can go over footage from the last 24 hours. You can also subscribe to a $49 annual plan instead. By contrast, Dropcam charges you $99 a year, though you get a full week's worth of playback. In both cases, you can skip the playback function and just tune into the live feed with the camera alone.
As it stands, Simplicam is clearly the more attractive offer for those who only need a day's worth of footage to go over, even if the the promotion is only for a year's worth of service. That sounds like a healthy demographic, especially since many aren't entirely sold on recurring fees for this sort of service. One can only hope that Dropcam offers a similar bundled cloud service with their hardware in order to compete.
Anyone interested in giving Simplicam a shot can order one now. How many of you guys have a Dropcam? Anyone looking for an equally-functional alternative?
