Olive & Dove RemoBell Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

The Olive & Dove Remobell runs on 6 AA batteries.

Olive & Dove

If you’re intimidated by the prospect of installing a doorbell, you aren’t alone. Fortunately, startup Olive & Dove wants to help. Its $199 smart doorbell, RemoBell, relies exclusively on AA batteries. That means you can’t even hard-wire this thing if you wanted to — with RemoBell, it’s AAs or bust.

Check out its specs:

• Requires 6 AA batteries
• Wi-Fi-enabled
• 720p HD video resolution
• Infrared night vision
• Heat-sensing motion detector
• Push alerts
• Two-way audio
• 120-degree field of view

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19 outdoor cameras that take home security seriously

Other smart doorbells:

• SkyBell downsizes the smart doorbell with Trim Plus
• Yale’s new doorbell lets you see who’s at the door
• This smart doorbell doesn’t have a security camera
• Knock, knock: August’s Doorbell Cam helps you see who’s there
• SkyBell’s HD door buzzer steals the show
• Is Ring a better smart buzzer for your buck?
• Pro version of the Ring Video Doorbell swaps flexibility for refinement
• Doorbird brings facial recognition to your front door

RemoBell isn’t the first door buzzer to work over battery power, but it is the first HD video-streaming smart model I know of that opted for AAs over a rechargeable battery.

Olive & Dove says RemoBell should run for up to 4 months before needing a new set of batteries. While the reliance on batteries could be annoying if you don’t always have a stash of them on hand, it’s definitely faster than waiting for a rechargeable battery to charge fully. It also helps that AAs are easy to find, compared to Netgear’s indoor-outdoor Arlo camera, which relies on expensive and hard-to-find CR123 batteries.

I do question the 4-month battery life, particularly if the camera is located in a busy area, but RemoBell’s “heat-sensing” motion sensor is supposed to help limit alerts to people only. I’ve reached out to Olive & Dove for a review unit and hope to test out this functionality soon. The startup doesn’t mention any specific smart home integrations with RemoBell, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re added soon — a blog post on their site discusses the importance of the smart home and home security.

Olive & Dove hasn’t yet announced international availability, but the price converts to roughly £160 and AU$265 at the current exchange rate.

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