You
might
think
twice
before
buying
a
Wyze
camera.
The
company’s
security
practices
are
questionable
enough
that
I
personally
boycotted
them
in
2022,
and
since
then,
they’ve
twice
briefly
let
strangers
peek
into
another
Wyze
owner’s
home.
In
fact,
The
New
York
Times
and
CNET
don’t
recommend
Wyze
cameras
anymore,
and
we
haven’t
done
so
for
a
while.
But
some
Verge
readers
have
told
us
that
if
you’re
pointing
them
outside
of
your
home
and
recording
to
a
local
SD
card,
there’s
no
better
bang
for
your
buck.
So,
we
figure
some
will
appreciate
Wyze’s
announcement
today
of
the
Wyze
Cam
v4,
on
sale
now.
The
$36
camera
is
getting
a
big
spec
bump
over
the
v3:
it
now
captures
2.5K
(2560
x
1440)
video
with
what
Wyze
is
sometimes
calling
HDR
and
sometimes
calling
“wide
dynamic
range,”
up
from
1080p
previously.
It’s
got
onboard
AI
processing
for
faster
notifications
and
basic
AI
person
detection
that
doesn’t
rely
on
your
camera
sending
images
to
the
cloud.
It
can
also
use
that
local
AI
person
detection
to
auto-zoom
in
and
follow
people,
and
it
adds
a
motion-activated
spotlight
and
motion-activated
voice
warnings.
While
many
of
those
features
also
arrived
with
the
$49.99
Wyze
Cam
v3
Pro
in
2022
and
are
mostly
getting
more
affordable,
the
v3
Pro
didn’t
have
Wi-Fi
6.
Here,
you
get
“an
extra
20
meters
of
range,
better
handling
of
congestion,
and
a
higher
connection
speed.”
It
still
only
supports
2.4GHz
networks,
though.
Here’s
the
list
of
improvements
Wyze
head
of
marketing
Kyle
Christensen
sent
our
way:
Wyze
also
says
there’s
“louder
and
clearer
audio,”
and
its
mic
can
pick
up
sound
further
away.
Christensen
didn’t
respond
to
a
question
about
whether
the
Wyze
Cam
v4
can
be
used
entirely
without
Wyze’s
worrying
cloud
but
confirmed
that,
like
previous
Wyze
Cams,
it
can
optionally
do
continuous
recording
to
a
microSD
card,
no
subscription
required.
The
v4
supports
up
to
a
512GB
card
now,
up
from
256GB
previously.
(Originally posted by Sean Hollister)
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