Battery life is a moveable feast with video doorbells, depending so very much on how many times the doorbell is pressed and, more importantly, how often the motion detector activates and for what duration it records video. You can mitigate this by tweaking the motion detector sensitivity (there are three levels) or simply switching it off, which is useful if the user lives somewhere with constant, and close, foot traffic.
In a week of intense use and with the motion sensitivity set to the maximum, the battery dropped to 87%, which suggests that at worst the Hemma will need to be charged once every six weeks to two months. I suspect that may stretch to around three months with less intense use and the motion detection reined in or turned off.
That’s not as good as the Ring Battery doorbell I tested recently but still perfectly acceptable and, more to the point, long enough for it not to become a chore for a relative or carer to drop by to remove the unit and recharge it, assuming that’s a task beyond the owner.
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Doro Hemma Doorbell review: What could it do better?
The only performance issue I encountered with the Doro Hemma was with the speed of alerts to my phone from detected motion. These took a sluggish 10 seconds to arrive – via Wi-Fi, over a cellular connection it took a second or so longer — and the detector doesn’t reset for a further 70 seconds. Unlike the Ring app, the Doro system does not give you an option to change this reset time. And it means that for more than a minute after each event, the doorbell will simply not react to motion.
Other reaction times were also a little on the slow side, but I wouldn’t describe them as deal-breaking and most of the important reaction times – such as the time it takes to alert you on your phone from a bell press – were broadly comparable to the Nest doorbell.
When it comes to managing recordings, your options are limited. You can only vary the minimum length between 15, 30 or 60 seconds and download videos to your phone. If you want to clear videos, you have to take the card out and delete them manually or re-format the card using the app. With branded 256GB microSD cards costing around £20, worrying about storage is arguably moot but I’d still have liked the option to delete individual recordings through the app.
Also missing is any kind of zoned motion detection or privacy system. You can’t prevent the doorbell detecting motion or recording video on a neighbour’s garden path, for instance.
