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TechHive Editors Choice At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Matter controller and bridge, with Thread and Zigbee radios 2K video resolution with a tall, 4:3 aspect ratio mmWave presence detection reduces false alerts Compatibile with Alexa, Google, SmartThings, IFTTT Supports Apple HomeKit Secure Video and RTSP Cons Motion-triggered video recordings limited to 12 seconds No HDR support, limiting performance in mixed or backlit conditions Weak weatherization rating: IPX3 Zigbee radio only supports Aqara’s Zigbee devices Our Verdict If you don’t already have a strong smart home hub, the Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410 can kill two birds with one stone. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410 Retailer Price $129.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Describing the Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410 as just another video doorbell is like dismissing the quirky VW ID. Buzz as a run-of-the-mill minivan. Sure, it will keep an eye on your front porch, but it can also control all the other smart devices in your home, thanks to the presence of Bluetooth, Thread, dual-band Wi-Fi, and Zigbee radios; Matter support; compatibility with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, IFTTT, and Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video; and a 24/7 recording option with RTSP support for hardcore users. One caveat: Its Zigbee support is limited to Aqara’s own Zigbee devices. It’s still a massive step up from the Aqara Smart Video Doorbell G4 that TechHive reviewed in the spring of 2024, addressing nearly every criticism leveled at that earlier product. And like that unit, this one comes with a remote AC-powered chime with local storage for the doorbell’s video clips, provided by a microSD card slot (card capacities up to 512GB are supported, but you’ll need to provide one). The chime can get quite loud: up to 95dB. The Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410’s most transformative feature is invisible: It’s a full-fledged smart home hub. Aqara wisely carried over that earlier doorbell camera’s facial recognition feature, while boosting its video resolution from 1080p to 2K (2048 x 1536 pixels) and adding millimeter wave (mmWave) motion detection. All that said, Aqara did make one significant change that will disappoint some buyers; one that might even prevent a few G4 owners from considering an upgrade. More on that in a bit. Design, durability, and weather resistance The Aqara G410 video doorbell doesn’t feature a sleek design, but the ringer button is easy for visitors to locate.Aqara The industrial design of Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410 very closely resembles that of the earlier G4 model, measuring 5.57 × 2.56 × 1.2 inches (HxWxD). It’s available in black or gray, both available on Amazon, but there’s also a Select model that’s available in black or white. It’s unclear if the Select model has any additional features beyond a three-month HomeGuardian trial, compared to the 1-month offer that comes with the base model. Like the G4, the G410 is rated IPX3 for protection from the elements. According to our IP code guide, that means Aqara makes no claims for protection against particulate matter ingress, but that the camera is protected against water sprayed at up to a 60-degree angle on either side of vertical. Given that mild IP code, I would recommend installing this doorbell under an eave or awning and not subjecting it to extremely wet climates. Installation and setup It took me less than 15 minutes to set up the Aqara G410, from unboxing to completion. The remote chime I mentioned earlier doubles as a Matter-certified smart home hub (it’s a Matter bridge and controller and a Thread border router). It bears repeating, however, that its Zigbee radio can only control Aqara’s own Zigbee products. But before you get to any of that, you’ll need to charge the doorbell’s battery by plugging the provided USB-C to USB-A cable into a AC adapter (one that you’ll need to provide). I’d previously installed the Aqara phone app during testing of the excellent Camera Hub G3, and that app controls setup for the G410 as well. There’s not much in the way of printed instructions, but once the app recognizes the G410, the in-app directions are clear, and it was easy to connect the doorbell to my Wi-Fi network. The doorbell comes with a small screwdriver to help with installation. You’ll need it to separate the backplate for adding the batteries or attaching the electrical wires for power.James Barber/Foundry The G410 can operate on battery power, but it can also take advantage of hardwired power (from a 12V-24V AC or DC transformer) if you’re replacing an existing wired doorbell, or if you want to pull wire to a newly installed transformer. Your existing chime, however, will not work with the new doorbell. Nearly every video doorbell I’ve tested has been too wide to fit in the narrow gap between my home’s doorframe and brick façade, so I opted for a wireless installation. I installed six AA batteries into the unit and stuck it to the wall next to my front door, using the angled shim to give a better view of someone standing on my porch. While I’m sure the doorbell’s adhesive option would work well on glass or tile, or wood, fiber-cement, vinyl, or similar types of siding, it’s not appropriate for brick. I had to reattach the unit with some industrial strength mounting tape after a week because doorbell’s adhesive failed and it fell off the wall. That’s not meant as criticism of the G410, it’s just an advisory to anyone who wants to install the doorbell on masonry: Be prepared for the messy task of drilling holes and hammering lead anchors into them. I installed Aqara’s hub/chime unit in my kitchen, about 20 yards from the doorbell, which is much further than Aqara’s recommendation of a distance less than 5 meters (about 16 feet). Aqara also recommends the chime be no further than 20 meters (about 66 feet) from your Wi-Fi router. When I first installed the doorbell and chime, I got a weak signal warning in the app. After I moved a vintage metal stand mixer in the kitchen out of the line of sight between the doorbell and chime, however, the signal strength jumped to five bars out of six. Sharper, smarter, and taller video James Barber/Foundry As I’ve already mentioned, the G410’s camera is a significant upgrade over the one in the earlier G4. In addition to boosting its resolution from 1080p to 2K, the new camera also has a taller aspect ratio (4:3 vs. 16:9), which captures visitors from head to toe, along with any packages left on the porch near your door—provided you install the camera in the right place. When I first tested the unit with the ringer button at the same height as the home’s original doorbell, I couldn’t see anything on the ground. I got much better results after lowering it by a few inches. Exceptionally tall visitors will need to bend slightly to ring the bell at that height, but that shouldn’t be a major inconvenience for them. The video quality is strikingly improved, especially in daylight. Its 176-degree diagonal field of view and f/1.8 aperture lens deliver a crisp, bright image, with better dynamic range. It’s still not HDR, but it’s more than good enough for its task. In low light, the improvement over the G4 is less dramatic but still noticeable, with less murkiness and more detail around faces. The results are more than adequate for recognizing visitors and monitoring deliveries. Vastly improved motion detection What’s missing from this kit? A USB-A power adapter for the chime. You’ll need to provide your own.James Barber/Foundry Aqara added a millimeter-wave (mmWave) presence sensor, a substantial upgrade from the G4’s PIR (passive infrared) motion sensor, which could miss people who stood still. Shadows and pets could also trigger that sensor. Unlike PIR, mmWave technology can detect a human presence based on micro-movements, even if someone is standing quietly on your porch. This feature drastically reduced false positives while making notifications faster and more relevant. Passing cars and sidewalk pedestrians don’t trigger irrelevant alerts on my iPhone or Apple Watch, something that has been an ongoing issue with my Ring Doorbell Pro. Motion-triggered recordings are still limited to 12 seconds when you use the free cloud storage plan or local microSD storage. If you want longer clips, you must use Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video or set up 24/7 local recording, although the latter requires you to hardwire the doorbell to a power source. On a positive note, Aqara has made the triggers much smarter. On-device facial recognition can now tie directly into automations, not only in Aqara’s app but across Matter-compatible ecosystems, including Home Assistant. You can trigger a compatible smart deadbolt on your door to unlock when the camera recognizes a family member, for instance. You can also program the doorbell to turn on your smart porch light when anyone approaches the door at night. Aqara lets you transform alerts into actions. A complete Matter hub Aqara’s most transformative change is invisible. The G410 is now a full-fledged smart home hub, with a built-in Matter bridge and controller, Zigbee hub (once again, one that’s limited to Aqara’s own Zigbee devices), a Thread border router, and a dual-band Wi-Fi adapter. That means the G410 can do much more than just show you who’s at the door, it can be your smart home’s brain. RTSP and HomeKit Secure Video support Backside views of the  Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410 and chime.James Barber/Foundry Apple users will be interested to know that the Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410 supports Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video (HKSV), which stores encrypted security camera recordings in their iCloud accounts. Be aware, however, that this requires a paid iCloud subscription with at least 50GB of storage (you’ll need a plan that provides 200GB for up to five cameras, and 2TB for an unlimited number of cameras). Also, the resolution of video recordings stored in your iCloud will be limited to 1200p (a somewhat curious claim, as all the available information on HKSV that I can find indicates Apple limits such video resolution to 1080p). Not to make a mountain out of a mole hill, but Aqara’s statement that HomeKit Secure Video recordings will be limited to resolution 1200p seems to contradict Apple’s reporting that resolution will be limited to 1080p. Michael Brown/Foundry Whatever the case may be, other hardcore home surveillance system fans will be interested in knowing that the camera hub also supports RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol). That gives you the ability to store its video recordings—including 24/7 recording—on a networked video recorder (NVR), a network-attached storage device (NAS), or with third-party smart home platforms such as Blue Iris and Home Assistant. While RTSP itself doesn’t impose a resolution limit, your network limitations might impose a practical limit. And in this case, using RTSP depends on the doorbell camera’s being hardwired to a power source. The feature is not available when it’s running on battery power. Speaking of battery power, Aqara says the G410 should run on battery power for up to five months, based on 10 activations per day. More frequent visitors and/or inclement weather will reduce that time. For me, the battery level as reported by the app still reads 100 percent after several weeks of use. More cloud options, and the return of the subscription Finally, here’s the caveat I mentioned earlier that might prevent Aqara G4 Smart Wireless Video Doorbell owners from upgrading: The G410 doesn’t include the G4’s offer of a rolling seven days of video storage in Aqara’s cloud for free. What you get instead is one day of rolling storage for 6 months, unless you sign up for Aqara’s HomeGuardian subscription service to get up to 90 days of encrypted storage in the cloud. That subscription costs $5/month ($50/year) for a single Aqara camera, and $10/month ($100/year) for an unlimited number of Aqara cameras. It’s a notable shift, but it’s one that’s in line with what most of the competition is doing. Should you buy the Aqara Doorbell Camera Hub G410? With its Doorbell Camera Hub G410, Aqara delivers almost everything Aqara Smart Video Doorbell G4 users have been asking for: Sharper video, smarter presence detection, and better integration with other platforms, including Matter. Add in all the new smart home features, HomeKit Secure Video and RTSP support, and you have an easy TechHive Editors’ Choice winner. That said, the G410 is not perfect. Its stock video clips are short, its weatherization features leave a bit to be desired, and Aqara has moved away from its offer of 7 days of free cloud storage to nudge you toward paying for a subscription. But if you’re looking for a doorbell that can also serve as a hub for your entire smart home, it deserves serious consideration. This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best video doorbells. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Good build quality Fine gaming performance Lots of ports (including Ethernet) Cons Too expensive for the specs Dim display No biometrics for Windows Hello No NPU for AI features Our Verdict The Alienware 16 Aurora is the lowest-end model in Alienware’s laptop lineup. With a lower-end display and a slower CPU, the price just feels too high for this experience. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Alienware 16 Aurora Retailer Price $1,329.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The Alienware 16 Aurora is a budget-focused 16-inch gaming laptop. At $1,499, however, the price is just too high: This machine makes many compromises, from the CPU to the display and the surprising lack of any NPU at all. This price is creeping towards the mid-range mark, and you can spend less to get better hardware from a competitor. It’s unfortunate: I reviewed this machine alongside the Alienware 16X Aurora, and that particular mid-range laptop is a great value for the hardware. If you’re looking at this Alienware laptop, I recommend looking at the 16X Aurora instead. Alienware 16 Aurora: Specs The Alienware 16 Aurora is a 16-inch laptop with an Intel Core 7 240H CPU — or an Intel Core 9 270H chip if you spring for the top-end model. However, our review unit had the Core 7 chip. Somewhat confusingly, while these are Intel Core (Series 2) processors, they’re based on the older Raptor Lake architecture. It doesn’t have an NPU, so you won’t get Copilot+ PC features on this machine. Our review unit was a $1,499 model that came with an Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU, but this machine is also available with RTX 3050, 4050, and 5070 graphics. The RTX 5070 option in particular doesn’t make much sense, as it makes the machine nearly as expensive as Dell’s higher-end Alienware 16X Aurora, which offers an all-around better experience. Our review unit also had 32GB of DDR5 RAM, which is the most RAM this machine is available with — Alienware also offers variants with less RAM. The base model starts at $1,149 on Dell’s website at the time of the review, but it includes an older RTX 4050 GPU and only 16 GB of RAM. Model number: AC16250 CPU: Intel Core 7 240H Memory: 32 GB DDR5 RAM Graphics/GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 NPU: None Display: 2560×1600 IPS display with 120Hz refresh rate Storage: 1 TB PCIe Gen4 SSD Webcam: 720p camera Connectivity: 2x USB Type-C (USB 3.2 Gen 2), 2x USB Type-A (USB 3.1 Gen 2), 1x HDMI 2.1 out, 1x Ethernet (RJ-45), 1x combo audio jack, 1x power in Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: None Battery capacity: 94 Watt-hours Dimensions: 14.05 x 10.45 x 0.89 inches Weight: 5.49 pounds MSRP: $1,499 as tested Naturally, the Alienware 16 Aurora delivered reasonable performance at moderate settings in these games. Alienware 16 Aurora: Design and build quality IDG / Chris Hoffman The Alienware 16 Aurora looks like a black laptop from some angles, but the dark blue of its “Interstellar Indigo” color is visible from certain angles. This laptop has a reflective Alienware logo on its lid, but aside from that it could just be a professional workstation laptop. Alienware hasn’t emphasized the traditional gamer aesthetic in this design. This machine has an anodized aluminum lid, but the rest of the body is plastic — for more metal, you’ll have to spend extra on a higher-end gaming laptop. But plastic is fine, and the laptop looks good and feels solid, although it is a little prone to picking up fingerprints. The hinge is easy to open with a single hand and feels solid, and it doesn’t move around as you type or game on the laptop. It’s a well-put-together machine. Alienware 16 Aurora: Keyboard and trackpad IDG / Chris Hoffman The Alienware 16 Aurora has a full-size chiclet-style keyboard complete with a number pad at the right. The 1.4mm of key travel results in a nice typing experience. It’s reasonably snappy and not mushy as it is on many lower-end laptops. This is a solid keyboard. Dell included a backlight on the keyboard, but it doesn’t have customizable colors — you can use white light, but that’s it. The trackpad here works fine. It’s a reasonably sized trackpad — many laptops have much larger ones, but the size is fine with me. The click-down action feels fine. A nice glass trackpad feels smoother — this is clearly a plastic surface — but it’s still smooth and responsive. Alienware 16 Aurora: Display and speakers IDG / Chris Hoffman The Alienware 16 Aurora has a 16-inch 2560×1600 resolution IPS display with a 120Hz refresh rate and up to 300 nits of brightness. It’s a fine display with a solid resolution and a decent refresh rate, but I wish it was brighter. Whenever I use a gaming laptop with a display that caps out at 300 nits, I always want more brightness. It doesn’t wow, though — the colors aren’t nearly as impressive they can be on a higher-end display in more expensive gaming laptops. It’s reasonable for a budget laptop, but it feels low-end for a $1,499 laptop. This isn’t a touch screen, and it’s not an OLED display either — it has an anti-glare coating that works well, so it’s not a glossy, reflective display. Higher brightness settings are often necessary to overpower glare on glossy displays, but that isn’t the case here. I test every laptop’s speakers by playing Steely Dan’s Aja and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky. The sound quality during Aja was decent, although a little flat — there wasn’t the kind of crisp instrument separation you hear on high-end speakers. Daft Punk’s Get Lucky had a fun sound, even though there wasn’t a ton of underlying bass. Alienware 16 Aurora: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The Alienware 16 Aurora has a 720p webcam. The image is pretty grainy and washed out, and that’s no surprise — 720p webcams are low end, and Dell is cutting a corner here to keep the laptop’s price down. It will work if you need to have a video meeting and don’t need a high-resolution image, but that’s about it. And, because there’s no NPU in this machine, you don’t have access to Windows Studio Effects webcam effects on this machine. The dual-array microphone in this machine produces rather muffled audio — this machine wasn’t built with video conferencing in mind, although it offers the basics if you need them. The Alienware 16 Aurora doesn’t have any biometric hardware, so you can’t sign into Windows with your face or a fingerprint. A $1,499 laptop should have biometric support, whether that’s a fingerprint reader or facial recognition. That’s too big a corner to cut at this price point. Alienware 16 Aurora: Connectivity IDG / Chris Hoffman The Alienware 16 Aurora has a great selection of connectivity — it even has an Ethernet port! On the left, you’ll find a USB Type-A port, a combo audio jack, and an Ethernet (RJ-45) jack. On the back, this machine has a second USB Type-A port, two USB Type-C ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a power-in port. It’s a great selection of ports, and the only thing missing might be an SD card reader, if you’re looking for that. Aside from that, it’s well laid out — especially with most of the ports being in the back, where it’s easy to plug the power cable and other accessories in so they stay out of your way. This machine has Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 hardware, so it’s as future proof as can be with the latest standards. Alienware 16 Aurora: Performance The Alienware 16 Aurora’s cooling system works well. Playing the latest big games like Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 and Doom: The Dark Ages, the fans stayed on the quiet side for a 16-inch gaming laptop — especially a more budget-focused laptop, as quieter fans tend to be reserved for higher-end gaming laptops and less-expensive laptops often go for the “jet engine” sound profile. This laptop blows most of the hot air out of the back, and the keyboard only gets mildly warm. Some hot air comes out of the sides — in a perfect build, it would all go out of the back and away from your mouse hand — but it’s not too bad. Naturally, the Alienware 16 Aurora delivered reasonable performance at moderate settings in these games. As always, though we ran this machine through our standard benchmarks to see how it performs in more detail. IDG / Chris Hoffman First, we run PCMark 10 to get an idea of overall system performance. With a PCMark 10 overall score of 7,068, this machine comes in noticeably behind the pricier Alienware 16X Aurora. The Intel Core 7 Meteor Lake CPU here can’t keep pace with the higher-end Intel Core Ultra 9 and AMD Ryzen AI 9 chips in the higher-end laptops we’re comparing it to. It’s a lower-end gaming CPU. IDG / Chris Hoffman Next, we run Cinebench R20. This is a heavily multithreaded benchmark that focuses on overall CPU performance. It’s a quick benchmark, so cooling under extended workloads isn’t a factor. But, since it’s heavily multithreaded, CPUs with more cores have a huge advantage. With a Cinebench R20 multi-threaded score of 6,284, this machine once again comes in behind other laptops. That’s in large part because the Intel Core 7 240H CPU here has 10 cores, while the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX has 24 cores. Most applications don’t benefit from multithreading this much, however, so this isn’t representative of the difference in real-world gaming performance. IDG / Chris Hoffman We also run an encode with Handbrake. This is another heavily multithreaded benchmark, but it runs over an extended period. This demands the laptop’s cooling kick in, and many laptops will throttle and slow down under load. The Alienware 16 Aurora took 900 seconds on average to complete the encode. That’s 15 minutes, and it’s significantly slower than other laptops — again, this CPU just doesn’t have as many cores as I’d like to see. IDG / Chris Hoffman Next, we run a graphical benchmark. We run 3Dmark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU performance, on all the laptops we review. With a 3Dmark Time Spy score of 10,263, the Alienware 16 Aurora came in behind other laptops once again — that’s due to the Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU here. This chart helps illustrate how important the choice of GPU is and how much faster higher-end GPUs can be. After that, we run the benchmarks built into some games. First, we use the benchmark in Shadow of the Tomb Raider to test all the gaming laptops we review. It’s an older game, but it’s a great way to compare GPU performance across different PCs. IDG / Chris Hoffman With an average FPS of 132, the Alienware 16 Aurora delivered fine performance. It was behind other laptops with faster GPUs, but not by much. This older game is seeing diminishing returns from higher-end GPUs. Finally, we run the benchmark in Metro Exodus. This is a more demanding game, and we set the benchmark to 1080p resolution at the Extreme detail setting. IDG / Chris Hoffman With an average FPS of 43 in this high-end Metro Exodus benchmark, the Alienware 16 Aurora offered reasonably playable performance even at these brutal graphical settings. It’s a good example of the solid performance you can get without splurging on a top-tier CPU or GPU these days. Of course, it comes in behind more expensive laptops with higher-end GPUs. Overall, the Alienware 16 Aurora delivered playable performance, but it’s held back by the components compared to higher-end, more expensive gaming laptops. Alienware 16 Aurora: Battery life The Alienware 16 Aurora we received had a large 94 Watt-hour battery, although Dell’s spec sheet said it had a 60 Watt-hour battery — expect that smaller battery on lower-end variants and this larger battery on higher-end ones. It delivered surprisingly good battery life away from an outlet for a gaming laptop, likely thanks to its lower-end CPU. IDG / Chris Hoffman To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on repeat on Windows 11 with airplane mode activated and the keyboard backlight turned off until the laptop suspends itself. We set the screen to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmarks. This is a best-case scenario for any laptop since local video playback is so efficient, and real battery life in day-to-day use is always going to be less than this. The Alienware 16 Aurora lasted 603 minutes on average — that’s just over 10 hours. For a gaming laptop that isn’t particularly focused on battery life, this is quite good! Alienware 16 Aurora: Conclusion The Alienware 16 Aurora doesn’t impress, which is a shame because I reviewed it alongside the Alienware 16X Aurora, and that laptop did impress with the value it delivered. The core problem here is the price — $1,499 is just too high for an experience like this one. It’s a budget experience at a mid-tier price. If this machine had a faster CPU or a more impressive display — ideally both — it would be easy to recommend. For now, you’re probably better off looking somewhere else for a budget gaming laptop — unless Dell is having a big sale on this model. I would recommend you look at the Alienware 16X Aurora if you’re looking for an Alienware laptop, however — that’s much better value for money. Or, if you’re looking for a budget gaming laptop, check out PCWorld’s best gaming laptops list for better values. Read...

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It might seem that “ChatGPT” is all you ever hear about when discussing AI chatbots, also known as LLMs. As it turns out, that’s reflected in the real world, too. Statcounter, which tracks the market share of operating systems, browsers, social media sites, and more, has begun tracking the number of sessions by users who visit artificial intelligence sites like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude AI, Microsoft Copilot, and more. The winner, not surprisingly, is ChatGPT, by an enormous margin: over 80 percent and climbing, which coincides with our own chatbot tests. Statcounter began tracking the statistics in March, and they’ve roughly remained the same since then: ChatGPT absolutely dominates, with a cluster of smaller AI chatbots below. So far, the only major change seems to have been Perplexity AI, which captured 16 percent of U.S. users in March, but has dropped to about 6 percent since then. Microsoft’s Copilot has risen, beginning at under 1 percent and now capturing about 10 percent of the market. For the U.S,, the Statcounter numbers break down as follows: in July, 80.22 percent of U.S. chatbot sessions went to ChatGPT, 9.51 percent to Copilot, 5.61 percent for Perplexity, 2.67 percent to Google Gemini, and 1.56 percent to Claude, with Deepseek capturing just 0.43 percent. Statcounter Though those numbers reflect the market share for U.S. users, the picture doesn’t differ that much when viewed from a worldwide perspective. There, ChatGPT’s market share rises to 82.69 percent, followed by Perplexity at 8.06 percent and Copilot (4.56 percent). Gemini (2.2 percent) and Deepseek (1.59 percent) captured the remainder of the sessions Statcounter tracked, with Claude bringing up the rear at 0.91 percent. To be fair, however, it’s not clear how Statcounter arrives at its numbers for tracking AI chatbots. In terms of sample size, Statcounter’s global statistics are based on an analysis of more than 5 billion page views on more than 1.5 million websites per month, the company says. Cookies on those 1.5 million sites can track which devices access them, what operating system they use, and so on. For estimating search engine results, Statcounter says that it uses those tracking cookies to determine if a user arrived from Google, Bing, or somewhere else. Still, one of the challenges with AI chatbots is that they’re not sending users anywhere else, which is worrying to content creators with the rise of features like Google’s AI Mode and AI-powered search. Statcounter representatives did not immediately answer a request for comment. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Petite, unobtrusive hardware Wi-Fi connectivity and interconnected features work well Very affordable Cons Doesn’t detect the presence of carbon monoxide No battery backup on the hub; any power outage means no push notifications We encountered a minor operational problem during testing Our Verdict This three-alarm smoke detection system offers seamless, long-range interconnectivity and Wi-Fi support, giving you extra layers of fire security. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: X-Sense XS01-M Interconnected Smart Smoke Alarm (model FS31) Retailer Price $109.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The trouble with smoke alarms is that one alone usually doesn’t provide enough protection, even in smaller homes. An alarm that goes off in one room might not be heard in the rest of the house, obviating the entire point of the technology. Interconnected smoke alarms offer a solution: If one goes off, they all go off. But the technology either means having dedicated wiring installed or standardizing on a wireless interconnectivity platform and hoping your mesh of alarms are all in range of one another. Specifications The new XS01-M Interconnected Smart Smoke Alarm smoke alarm system (X-Sense model number FS31) gives the wireless interconnect concept an upgrade by putting a base station in the middle of the mesh. That station doesn’t just coordinate the satellite smoke alarms (it should be noted that these alarms will not detect harmful accumulations of carbon monoxide), it also connects to your home Wi-Fi network (2.4GHz only) and relays information to the X-Sense app on your smart phone. The X-Sense FS31 system worked exactly as promised, despite a wealth of interfering walls, floors, doors, electrical wiring, plumbing, and metal electronics between its three satellites. The satellites are modified versions the X-Sense XS01-WT smoke alarm I reviewed in the spring of 2021, bearing the model number XS01-M. They look identical to the standalone XS01-WT, with the only real difference being the addition of an internal 915MHz radio that’s used for inter-alarm communications. Three satellites come with the base station in the box (a 5-station model is also available for $140). A maximum of 24 satellites can be supported on one network, with add-on detectors priced at $30 each ($20 each at Amazon at press time). The unobtrusive hub of the X-Sense XS01-M Interconnected Smart Smoke Alarm system.Christopher Null/Foundry The base station, smaller than you might think at just 3.5 inches square, is powered by a USB-C connection. Note that it doesn’t carry a battery backup, so if the power goes out, your mobile notifications will go dark; consider plugging the hub into an uninterruptible power supply just in case. Each satellite is powered by an included (and replaceable) 3V lithium cell. The preinstalled batteries promise a 5-year operating life, and the alarm itself boasts a 10-year operating life before it must be retired. Installation and setup Setup is a multi-step affair, and the process is not immediately obvious, as the X-Sense app instructs you to scan a QR code on the back of the manual to begin registration. But that didn’t work for me, and eventually I stumbled my way through the app to find a screen for adding the smoke alarms directly, based on their model number. Again, the app doesn’t indicate how to add the base station but attempting to add an alarm prompts you to first onboard the base station by scanning a QR code on its underside. Once the base station has been added to the app, you can proceed to add the alarms, one at a time, by activating their respective batteries and pressing a pairing button on the side of each device. I encountered no trouble with this part of the process. Performance You can add up to 21 additional X-Sense XS01-M smoke alarms to the FS31 system, but be aware these do not detect the presence of harmful levels of carbon monoxxide.Christopher Null/Foundry The X-Sense FS31’s big selling point is of course the alarms’ interconnectivity, so I tested the devices by placing them in the furthest corners of my house, and then using the X-Sense app’s test feature to trigger an alarm that should, in theory, cause all of them to sound off. Sure enough, the system worked exactly as promised, despite a wealth of interfering walls, floors, doors, electrical wiring, plumbing, and metal electronics between the three satellites. X-Sense claims a 500-meter (1,640 feet) maximum range in open air, and though my home is not nearly that large, the system appeared more than capable at blanketing my entire house with coverage. The sirens are very loud and piercing, and three different siren styles are available, so you can customize different alarms with different sounds if desired. The volume of the alarm on the base station can be set, but all siren alarms remain at maximum volume regardless. Each satellite alarm can also be configured to send a variety of different notifications to your phone, including when alarms are triggered or end; when a device is silenced, tested, or malfunctions; low battery notifications; and offline notifications. Push notifications were successfully sent to both my phone and my email inbox. The X-Sense app gives you an at-a-glance look at all your alarms’ status and displays push notifications if the system goes into an alarm state.Christopher Null/Foundry I also tested the alarms with simulated smoke and found they alerted quickly when exposed to the hazard and stopped sounding promptly when the smoke cleared, with push notifications (and an email) being pushed out in seconds. Finally, I also tested the alarms with the base station disconnected. When one alarm was exposed to smoke, each of the other alarms still activated, even without the central hub to coordinate them. The only difference being that push and email notifications were not sent (with the app showing all devices offline). The absence of battery backup on the hub seems like a missed opportunity. The X-Sense app gives you moderate flexibility in how the system works, including the option to silence an alarm by pressing a button on the base station. (With this option off, an alarm can only be silenced by the app or by disconnecting the power plug.) These options are all very straightforward and self-explanatory. I had no trouble with X-Sense’s system until at one point, one of the satellite alarms dropped offline without warning, disconnecting from the network. X-Sense offers no real troubleshooting options for this event—suggesting only that you should just move the alarm closer to the base station—but even when I put them a few feet apart, the alarm stayed offline, despite force-quitting the app and power-cycling both the alarm and the base station. The only fix I was ever able to find was deleting the troubled alarm from the app and re-adding it through the onboarding process. It has remained connected ever since. For the price of a subscription, you can connect the X-Sense system to a third-party professional monitoring service that will dispatch your local fire department should smoke be detected.Christopher Null/Foundry In the U.S., X-Sense offers a subscription service called the Protect+ Premium (that’s the company’s footnote marker at the end of “Protect”, although there’s no footnote on the page I’ve linked to). The service will automatically dispatch first responders if one of its alarms is triggered. The service, administered by the third-party monitoring company Noonlight, takes steps to avoid sending a fire truck based on a false alarm, starting with a written message. If there’s no response within 20 seconds, a phone call is initiated. If there’s no answer to that call within 60 seconds, a fire truck is dispatched. Protect+ Premium costs $5/month or $50/year. There’s also a $3/month, $30/year Protect+ Basic plan, which requires you to request a fire-engine dispatch by pressing a button in the app when one of the smoke alarms sounds off. Neither plan is something I’d invest in, but you might feel otherwise. Should you buy an X-Sense XS01-M Interconnected Smart Smoke Alarm Despite the lone operational hiccup, the X-Sense FS31 system worked well in my testing, the various hardware components are petite and unobtrusive, and the price—on sale at Amazon for just $70 as of this writing—is wholly reasonable. You’ll need some other means of warning residents of the presence of carbon monoxide in your home, but this interconnected smoke alarm system is a strong fire-safety tool. Read...