The blink mini compact indoor camera is an appealing idea, a wireless camera that can be placed anywhere in your home and controlled remotely from your smart phone. Having previously used Dropcam for our own needs I was keen to see how it compared.
TheBlink Mini comes packaged in a small box which contains the camera itself, wires, mounting pad and various screws and parts for wall mounting. As it is wireless there are no extra cables to worry about as the camera unit is powered by a simple USB cable that can be plugged either into an adaptor or directly to your phone when you want to use it.
Setting up the Blink Mini
The initial set up was extremely easy as I simply plugged it into my computer, used their provided software to scan the QR code on the back of the camera, installed the drivers and opened a browser window. I then logged in with my password I had set up previously and was greeted with a live view from my room straight away.
One of the things I really liked about this device is that there are no extra apps to install, you simply type in the web address using a regular browser on your phone or computer and you instantly have access to a live view of the camera. This is completely free if you install their provided software on your computer, but if you don’t want to do that you can simply download the app for Android or iPhone directly from Google Play or Apple store which will also give you a live view and the ability to control it from your phone.
Using the Blink Mini Compact Indoor Camera
There are some great ideas included with this camera such as the ability to pair it with other cameras and control them together, this can be done manually or automated so that they stay in sync. You can also choose to have a wide angle lens which is great for seeing the entire room or you can get a more traditional view with a telephoto lens which lets you zoom into an area of interest and focus on it more clearly. I tested the wide angle view which uses a 130 degree lens unlike the telephoto’s 80 degree lens and found it gives great coverage of the room without you having to move the camera around too much.
High Quality Video
The quality of the video was far better than I expected, there were no lag issues or lag between me pressing buttons on my phone and seeing an effect in real time. As well as having the installed software there are also a lot of useful features within the iOS app and even more through the browser interface, you can change settings on the camera such as brightness or contrast to adjust the picture quality if needed.
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