Copyright thescarboroughnews
I'm not normally a fan of making predictions, but I've got a feeling there's going to be a bit of an arms race in 2026 when it comes to security camera tech. We're already seeing it in the resolution on offer, the AI features being packed in, and now Eufy has fired the starting gun and launched an incredibly clever camera that somewhat changes the game when it comes to home monitoring. It's the Eufycam S4, and it's a bit of a beast. There are three lenses, three spotlights, a solar panel attachment and the ability to link up to a hub to ensure you never have to pay a monthly fee. It's modular too, so once you've got your hub set up you can add four cameras, to cover an outside area well in excess of 400 square metres. Other headline stats include 4K footage, smart motion detection, two-way audio, and a security siren. These, however, are starting to feel more run-of-the-mill. It's the composition of the device that really impresses. Because it's designed around a dual-view setup, with an adjustable, fixed, 4K camera pointing at a set area, able to zoom in at a pretty impressive resolution, and then a pan and tilt dual 2K camera below it with an 8K zoom. Each of these two modules has a spotlight, they both switch to night-vision automatically, and the pan and tilt camera has automatic tracking and framing powered by an AI system. The solar panel needs just one hour of direct sunlight every day to keep everything running, and there's a microSD card slot on the camera itself to expand the already built-in 32GB storage up to 256GB. And that's if you don't connect it up to Eufy's superb HomeBase. The S380 is something Eufy users might already have underpinning their system, and it ties all the tech together, adds AI features, and stores up to 15TB of footage. It's the way the suite of cameras all work in harmony that's impressive. The Eufy app has always been among the best in the business at giving access to camera feeds and customisations, but when you access footage from the Eufycam S4, it's grouped together. So you can bundle footage from the pan and tilt camera with footage from the main fixed camera on to one screen. You can control the zoom functions, the spotlights, the two-way audio, and even set up preset positions. Especially through the HomeBase, the responses are nice and quick, and the footage is pretty crisp. My only criticism is that the dual view tends to soften the image somewhat, and it can get a bit blurry in night mode, and a bit soft in InfraRed mode, but thankfully there's still enough definition to pick out important details, thanks to the overall resolution. It could be argued that a combination of a high-resolution cameras mounted close to one another would offer a more polished recording, but then you wouldn't get the simple, fuss-free combined video feed you get with the Eufycam. And it has to be considered that the camera alone costs £249, while the HomeBase S380 adds another £147 to the price. Bundles are available, and these help keep the cost down somewhat. The design of this camera, though, the idea behind it, is the bit that moves the game on, and I hope to see more examples of this combined camera setup in the future. But as is often the case, Eufy got there first. It's a brilliant new innovation and it's bound to be a success. It deserves it.
