A few months ago we analyzed one of Annke's first domestic choices, a manufacturer of large-scale security cameras that had decided to get into the connected home business as well. In this case, the firm has decided to consolidate its success and offer a more complete alternative given the success of the previous version.
We analyze the new Annke Crater 2, a new economic option that improves on its previous version offering very similar features. We discover this home surveillance device for you, and we analyze all its features to see if it really is worth getting a device with these features.
Materials and design
The materials used, as expected from a device with these characteristics, are mainly plastic, whatever the color, however, this unit can be purchased in both a white and matte black version. At the design level, Annke has not changed at all compared to the previous version, made of matt white plastic, we have a cylindrical base crowned by the sensor, which is integrated into a sphere. This sphere will be the one that will move both vertically and horizontally with the intention of offering a full range of vision, that is, 350º horizontally and 60º vertically.
This device comes by default with a short 80 centimeter cable, although as an additional option we can select a cable of up to 3 meters, which seems inexplicable to me, since 80 centimeters are completely insufficient. As with the previous version, we have a microUSB port, inexplicable considering that being a revision of the previous model, they could have included a USB-C port.
Technical characteristics
The 3MP sensor offers a resolution of 2304 x 1296, that is, relatively panoramic or Wide Angle. This 1/3″ sensor is in the Progressive Scan CMOS format, which offers H264+ video compression with a standardized viewing angle of 70º.
Similarly, when we seek night vision we find 6 infrared that offer up to 8 meters in total black and white night vision.
As for power, it has an adapter 5V USB which is included in the package, something that is appreciated, which contrasts with the included microUSB port. This camera has a sensor that will allow us to capture content in Full HD (1080p) resolution up to 60FPS.
The captured content has H.264+ encoding, which means that the weight of the file will be 50% lighter thanks to its compression. In the same way, through the application we will be able to adjust the volume of the speaker.
La Annke Crater has WiFi connectivity for 2,4GHz networks only. To be fair, this is common in low-cost home automation products, so it shouldn't be a problem for most users considering getting one, considering that 2,4GHz WiFi is widespread. .
On the other hand, we have a microSD port that will allow us to integrate cards of this technology that are capable of storing up to 128GB of data in total. It should be noted that this Annke Crater 2, as with its previous version, is fully compatible with Amazon Alexa, so we will be able to manage it both through the Echo devices with a screen, and through the voice commands that we provide without any problem.
Editor's opinion
We can conclude that we are facing an extremely cheap device, you will be able to acquire it from 35 euros on Amazon, Although, we do not find too many options or functionalities that justify its acquisition compared to more well-known brands or with a slightly better integrated system at the software level, such as Xiaomi products or other low-cost brands.
Be that as it may, We are not facing a bad product, rather it is a device that it offers us precisely everything that it promised us, without any kind of fanfare.