Smart home gear is supposed to make life easier, but let’s be honest, it often turns into a mess of apps, hubs, and ecosystems that don’t always play nice. Aqara is trying to fix some of that with its new Camera Hub G350 and Doorbell Camera G400, and on paper, at least, the pitch is pretty compelling.
The headline feature here is the G350 being labeled as the first Matter-certified camera. That sounds like a big deal, and maybe it is, but Matter still feels like it is finding its footing. In theory, this means the camera should work more seamlessly across platforms like Apple Home, Alexa, and Google Home. In reality, early adopters might still hit some bumps. That is just the nature of smart home standards right now.
Still, the hardware itself looks solid. The G350 is not just a basic indoor camera. It packs a dual-lens system with a 4K wide-angle camera and a 2.5K telephoto lens. You get up to 9x hybrid zoom, plus full pan and tilt for 360-degree coverage. It is the kind of setup that can actually replace multiple cameras if it works as advertised.
Aqara is also leaning into on-device intelligence, which I always like to see. The camera can track people and pets automatically, and it can detect events without constantly relying on the cloud. That matters, because not everyone is thrilled about sending video of their home to remote servers all day long.
Privacy, at least on the surface, is taken seriously here. There is local storage, encrypted cloud options if you want them, and even a physical shutter that covers the lens when the camera is off. I wish more companies would do that. Software promises are nice, but a physical barrier is hard to argue with.
The Doorbell Camera G400 goes in a slightly different direction, and honestly, I appreciate it. This is a wired doorbell, which means no batteries to deal with. If you have ever owned a battery-powered doorbell, you already know how annoying that can get. The option for Power over Ethernet is a nice touch too, giving you a more stable connection if you are willing to run the cable.
Video quality is 2K, with a wide 165-degree field of view and a head-to-toe aspect ratio. That should help with seeing packages on the ground, which is kind of the whole point these days. Like the G350, it mixes local and cloud AI. Basic detection works offline, while cloud features add things like recognizing faces, packages, and vehicles.
Compatibility is where Aqara is really trying to win people over. The G400 works with Apple Home, Alexa, Google Home, and SmartThings, and it even supports RTSP for things like Home Assistant. That is great if you like to tinker, but it also raises the usual question. Do you actually want this many systems talking to each other, or are you just creating more points of failure?
That is really what this comes down to. Aqara is clearly trying to build something flexible and not lock you into a single ecosystem. I respect that. At the same time, the smart home world is still a bit chaotic, and adding more moving parts does not always make things simpler.
The Camera Hub G350 is available now in the United States for $139.99 on Amazon. The Doorbell Camera G400 is also available now for $99.99 on Amazon.
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