Today, I will be analysing YI 1080p full HD dome camera. YI 1080p dome camera is strictly meant for indoor applications. YI Dome camera can be used for keeping an eye on your pet dogs, kids, and every other things that are valuable to you.
It all boils down to installing security cameras whenever we think of having a safe and secure home or environment. Meanwhile, the advent of nannies maltreating infants has induced many parents to install nanny cams, to protect their children from any unforeseen situation. Such parents like to constantly watch the livestream of their homes upon receiving motion alerts whenever they are away.
Since each camera has its own application, it is better to go for the appropriate one that will suit your application.
Review of: Yi Dome Camera 1080p
Last update: 11.30.2018
An all-in-one stylish security camera with powerful design packed with tons of features. Very approachable, affordable, and reliable technology that makes it relevant on the market.
Great camera for a low price.
Usability
The setup is very easy.
Support
There are helpful guides in the Help Center that have been tailored to address many problems, or you can simply submit a request if you can’t find specific answer to your question. Unfortunately there isn’t any live support.
The stylish design
Great night vision
Good image resolution
2-way audio
360° Panoramic View
YI does not have live support
Dome camera does not support 5GHz spectrum
Dome camera only support 32GB external storage
Does not have optical zoom function
Summary: YI technology Inc. is very much technology oriented, the YI 1080p dome camera is a good exemple and let you keep an eye on what you love most easily.
Few words about YI Technology
YI Technology which is also known as Xiaoyi in Mainland China markets, is a company that manufactures consumer electronics, smart cameras, imaging, and computer vision technologies. Some of the company’s popular camera models include YI Action Camera, and the YI Halo.
YI Technology was founded in February 1, 2014 by Sean Da who still remains the chairman and CEO. YI has its headquarters in Shanghai, China.
Xiaomi invested in Yi Technology, the first generation of the home camera and action camera were all sold through Xiaomi channel, which is why the products were called Xiaomi-Yi. In 2015, YI Technology pulled out from Xiaomi business model.
The CEO said during an interview with DIYphotography, that the major difficulty they experienced when YI brands entered into the western market, was that people saw their brands as another Chinese knock-off. He said they are working to change that impression.
In 2018, YI Technology partnered with Google to produce the YI Horizon VR180, Google’s first VR180 marketplace camera.
YI was listed as one of the top ten in the 2019 Best Tech Startups in Bellevue, and YI is currently holding the fourth position in the table. According to The Tech Tribune, the requirements for the best tech startups include Revenue potential, Leadership team, Brand/product traction, and Competitive landscape, YI fulfilled all the requirements.
YI Technology has also received a number of notable awards in mainland China and abroad. Some awards include the 2017 Red Dot Award for Product design, PROMOVIEMAKER GEAR of the YEAR AWARDS 2017 in Action cam/VR/Specialty Camera category, 2017 NAB Awards of Excellence for the YI HALO VR camera, and the 2018 DISTREE EMEA Smart Tech Diamond Award. This clearly shows that YI Technology is doing pretty well in the industry.
Now let us see what YI 1080p dome camera which is already spreading like wildfire on the market has to offer.
Main Features of YI Dome Camera 1080p
If it’s the first time you’re considering buying a security camera system and you have no real idea which feature to prioritze, you can check our Buyer Guide and our guide about which features are important.
- 1080P Full HD Resolution
- Lens Distortion Correction
- Smart Motion Detection
- Pan-Tilt Control
- Two-way Audio
- 8 Preset Bookmarks
- Motion Tracking
- Advance SMD Infrared Lights
- Baby Cry Detection Function
- Local and Cloud Storage
Breakdown of the features / Overview of the product
YI dome camera is built with sophisticated technology. This robotic head camera delivers crisp images in 1080p resolution at 15 frames per second. YI 1080p dome camera is able to render twice the size of its predecessor – YI dome camera which has 720p resolution.
The 112° wide-angle advanced glass lens combined with 345° horizontal and 115° vertical rotation create a complete 360° coverage.
Lens distortion correction that was missing in the 720p variant has now been added to YI 1080p dome camera. Lens distortion can be a big problem in capturing a good video frame, but YI Technology included LDC algorithm to take care of the mess whenever it occurs. LDC restores and straightens the edges to make wide-angle images more natural.
Conventional motion detection in video surveillance has been around for decades, and this has always been the standard for recording videos triggered by motion. This technology totally rely on changes in pixels. Often times, conventional motion detection algorithm is not accurate.
There are many times where swinging trees, heavy rain, insects, and little animals trigger motion, thereby giving false alert. YI included the next generation motion detection-Smart Motion Detection in YI dome to give a precise human motion detection.
Pan Tilt Control is always associated with an advanced CCTV camera, but I am not surprised to see Yi Technology using it on its dome camera. Using this function allows user to be able to extend their field of view by panning the camera horizontally, and tilting vertically.
Back and forth communication is made possible with two way audio, there is a built-in electret microphone that produces low latency and crystal clear audio to the smartphone app. You can enjoy hands free mode whenever you are in a conversation.
Motion tracking (not motion detection) is an amazing feature that allows user to watch the sequence of movement in YI dome. This is the feature other brands are lacking on their PTZ cameras, which makes YI dome camera to be trending on the market.
Whilst all cameras support motion detection, motion tracking is only supported on pan tilt motorized cameras. Motion tracking helps not only by detecting when an object enters its frame, but also by tracking the object as it moves across its field of view. When the object is out of its field of view, the camera then returns to the original position.
The comprehensive next level surface mount device (SMD) infrared lights embedded on YI dome camera will never tip off intruders, unlike the conventional infrared cameras. The infrared lights in YI dome camera are totally invisible to the human eyes at night therefore, you will never miss the important scenes during the night. The 8 built-in 940nm infrared lights capture brighter and clearer images in complete darkness up to 3 meters with zero glare.
Another great feature of YI dome camera is the 8 Preset Bookmarks, YI dome camera comes with 8 preset bookmarks. How does this works? Simply pan or tilt the camera to your preferred position and bookmark it, you can favorite maximum of 8 camera positions.
Preset bookmarks are useful whenever you want to manually view the bookmarked locations, or you want the camera to automatically patrol them at a given interval, this is called Auto-Cruise.
According to the CEO of YI Technology, “We are changing the impression”, and what impression would that be? As I have said earlier, the impression of users believing all made in China products are low quality. Even though YI dome camera is cheap, I can clearly say it is made to be high quality.
Baby Cry Detection Function, a yet another great feature, capable of making a good camera such as YI dome camera to cost a fortune but surprisingly, it is the most affordable PTZ camera I have ever come across on the market. YI dome camera will send baby cry detection alert to your smartphone when your baby starts crying.
With local and cloud storage, you can choose to record to a micro SD card or cloud. YI Technology also offers one month free trial of cloud storage for new users, this will enable them to have safe and protected videos. They also provide 7 days 6 seconds motion alert clips cloud storage for all their users for free.
Design of the Product and its Installation
YI dome camera is thoughtfully engineered and aesthetically appealing. It seems YI Technology made a thorough research before releasing the YI 1080p dome camera into the market, because the camera consists the major features needed in a good security camera.
The camera is a complete do it yourself, and does not take much time to install.
The installation process is not tedious, the PoE technology simplifies the running of separate power for each camera, and there is also no need of buying additional PoE switch. Everything needed for the installation is in the box.
Unbox the camera, insert your class 4 micro SD card of maximum of 32GB, and connect the USB cable to the USB power adapter.
Proceed to your app store and install YI home, open the app, select your region and hit continue. Login or simply register if you do not have YI account. There is also an option of using a Facebook account to sign in, this is good especially if you do not want to go through the stress of creating an account.
On the third page, continue to slide to the left until you get to “Click to start”, then tap on it.
It is important to allow and set the app to use necessary permissions on your smartphone in order to make the app work flawlessly. Tap on the (+) sign at the top right corner to select YI 1080p dome camera as your device.
Connect your YI 1080p dome camera to the power outlet and wait until you hear “Waiting to connect” sound from the camera, tap on “I heard “Waiting to connect” and you will be redirected to the next page.
Enter your Wi-Fi password of the same network you are using for the setup, select the “Save password” box if you want your smartphone to remember your password every time you sign in.
Now tap on the “Connect to Wi-FI”.
After connecting to Wi-Fi, a QR code will be generated on the smartphone screen, place your smartphone screen directly in front of the camera lens in order for YI dome camera to scan. If the scanning is successful, you will hear “pairing is successful” sound from the camera. Click on save and start using your YI 1080p dome camera.
To customize your dome camera, simply tap on settings and start to edit.
User Experience and Performance
YI 1080p dome camera has easy steps to successful configuration. From the interview SCR team conducted with few users of this camera, I was blown away with their positive reactions, “the whole setup was a breeze” they said.
In the meantime, few users reported video lag but when investigated further, they were only using class 2 micro SD card instead of class 4 specified by YI Technology. The class 2 can only render writing speed of 2MB/s which is half of the class 4. Therefore, class 2 cannot handle higher resolution files.
The mobile app is also very easy to use with appealing user interface. The app is supported on iOS, Android and Windows platforms, there is also an application for MAC and Windows PC that can be downloaded from YI website.
Even though YI Technology does not have live support, users can easily submit a request on their website or browse the YI 1080p dome camera articles in the “Help Center” page for quick resolution.
What’s in the box?
The accessories to install YI 1080p dome camera are listed below.
- 1X YI 1080p Dome Camera
- 1X Quick Start Guide
- 1X YI Sticker
- 1X Cloud Flyer
- 1X Warranty Information For YI Products
- 2X Screws and Wall Anchors
- 1X USB Cable
- 1X USB Adapter
- 1X Mounting plate
The Advantages
- YI dome camera allows you to minimize the app on your smartphone thereby giving you opportunity to navigate others apps.
- Yi cloud storage plan supports up to 5 devices, this mean you can have up to 5 Yi dome 1080p cameras in your home and connect all of them to a single account at the price of one.
- Support Class 4 and above micro SD cards.
- 7 days of 6 seconds motion alerts saved in the Yi Cloud for free.
- The infrared lights are invisible to the human eyes, therefore it won’t tip-off intruders.
- There is one month free trial of cloud storage for new users.
- It can be equally mounted vertically on the wall or horizontally under the ceiling.
The Disadvantages
- YI dome camera does not support 5 GHz band.
- Does not support more than 32GB micro SD card
- YI dome camera does not use optical zoom except digital zoom which only has 4X zoom capacity, this is not a deal breaker.
- There is a discrepancy between the Android and iOS cloud storage plan pricing.
- Adding or removing micro SD card requires rebooting the camera
YI 1080p dome camera review on Fakespot
The positive reviews gathered on YI 1080p dome camera outweighed the negative ones, this shows that this camera is reliable, and the company can be equally trusted because they meant every bit of their words.
About the Warranty
YI 1080p dome camera comes with 30 day money back guarantee and 1 year limited warranty.
If in any way you are not satisfied with the product, you may return it in its original condition with the original packaging and all in-box components and accessories within thirty (30) days of the purchase and receive a full refund of the purchase price.
The limited warranty only covers the product and any in-box accessories, sold by authorized retailers or distributors. Read the warranty policy to know what is covered in the warranty.
The Final Verdict
When analysing a security camera, there are many features to lookout for in which YI 1080p dome camera has. It is a versatile home security camera that is suitable for your garage, living room, office or other indoor applications.