Tuesday, 27 February 2024

Tapo camera range the tip of TP-Link’s smart home iceberg

Keen to make its smart home technology a household name, TP-Link’s Tapo sub-brand recently showed off its camera range alongside a raft of other interconnected devices at MWC 2024.

Perhaps better known for its networking gear, like the recent Wi-Fi 7 routers, TP-Link has been making a big push into the broader smart home ecosystem in recent years. Under the Tapo banner, there’s a range of home security cameras, video doorbells, smart plugs and lights designed for centralised control.

Some of the devices, like the Tapo C325WB outdoor security camera, are out now, while there are more models on the way soon. On the horizon is the Tapo C425, a battery-powered camera suited to both indoor and outdoor use. It’s advertised to last 300 days in between charges or powered by a solar panel for uninterrupted use.

Elsewhere in the home, there’s the Tapo P110M smart Wi-Fi plug. Why a smart Wi-Fi plug, you ask? For starters, it measures the energy use of anything plugged into it, providing a handy estimate of the appliances that contribute to your power bill.

Plus, it talks to Matter-enabled devices, letting you control tech remotely using an app or via voice controls. We recently tested the Tapo P300 smart power strip that performs a similar function, sans the energy monitoring, which is a nice addition.

Smart lighting also falls under the Tapo banner, with the L535E launching late last year. Another Wi-Fi-enabled device, it also supports remote controlling in addition to energy monitoring. It’s this latter feature that increasingly more tech brands are focusing on. We all want to spend less on electricity, so arming ourselves with information is the first natural step.

TP-Link and Tapo go far beyond router and camera devices

Alongside the current and future smart technology on display at MWC 2024, TP-Link further built upon its enterprise-focused Omada Wi-Fi 7 networking technology.

An interesting focus for the brand at the trade show was its Aginet solutions aimed at better connecting service providers and customers. Many internet service providers (ISPs) offer a modem or router and can provide support if something goes wrong at the user’s end.

TP-Link Tapo MWC 2024
Image: supplied.

Among the announcements was mention of the HB810 mesh Wi-Fi 7 router. At first glance, other than the Aginet label, it looks identical to the Deco BE85 range in terms of specs, speed, and bandwidth.

However, one key difference is that the HB810 supports remote management via a technology called TP-Link Agient Unified Cloud (TAUC). In other words, ISP customer support can identify and solve networking issues quickly. Remote management isn’t a new concept, but this looks like a streamlined and more powerful diagnostic tool than older methods.

Between smarter Wi-Fi solutions and an expanding smart home ecosystem, TP-Link and Tapo certainly have plenty on the horizon.

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