Eight years ago, I reviewed the Ring Video Doorbell. This was such a new product category at the time that I wrote, “knowing who’s standing at your door when you are or aren’t at home is a pretty handy superpower.” Honestly, I still think that’s true.
The all-new Ring Battery Doorbell Plus is the brand’s most significant update to its battery doorbell lineup yet, and one of the features being touted is battery life that can last up to three times longer than that first-gen Ring Video Doorbell I reviewed, but that’s just the start.
The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus is the brand’s first battery doorbell to offer a 150º by 150º field of view or a 1:1 aspect ratio. Now, you can get a head-to-toe view of anyone or anything at or near your front door. Whether it’s someone standing there or a package that’s just been left, you’ll get the highest resolution of any Ring battery doorbell (so far) with a crisp, clear 1536 pixels and color night vision.
The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus has a quick-release, rechargeable battery pack.
All of the features that we’ve come to expect from Ring video doorbells are still offered, including:
- Advanced Motion Detection, which lets you specify the areas where your device detects motion using Privacy Zones, so you get only the Motion Alerts you care about
- Quick Replies, which allows you to choose preset responses for visitors when you’re not available to answer the door
- Live View and Two-Way Talk so you can speak to people at your door in real-time
And, of course, the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus is compatible with Alexa, so on top of smartphone and computer access, you can also use your Echo or Fire TV device to see, hear, and speak to visitors.
Other improvements over the original Ring Video Doorbell include People Only Mode, Motion Zones settings, and features like Advanced Motion Detection; these help to conserve the doorbell’s battery by only detecting events that you want to be informed about.
When you get a Ring Battery Doorbell Plus, you’ll have the option to subscribe to Ring Protect, which offers additional features like Rich Notifications, so you can see exactly what triggered a received alert through a pop-up photo preview notification on your smartphone.
People Only Mode will notify you when a person causes a motion alert, and with Package Alerts, you can create specific zones, like your front porch or walkway, that will send you an alert when a package is detected.
