This next-generation dash cam is unexpectedly sexy
The iQ is a rarity within the gadget world: a dash cam that doesn’t look embarrassing.
Used to file driving conduct inside and out of doors a automotive, the dash cams we’re used to seeing in Uber and Lyft rides are, usually talking, boxy. The truth is, they’re typically hidden behind — or constructed into — the rear-view mirror. Out of sight, out of thoughts… till that you must assessment the footage, that is.
Dash cam maker Nextbase has gone in a distinct route by introducing a revamped aesthetic for the fashionable digital camera constructed for the automotive, they usually’ve crammed it with next-generation options to match the look. On the CES tech conference Tuesday, Nextbase unleashed its up to date creation filled with related options to these discovered within the extra traditional-looking Owlcam or SmarterAI cam.
A greater-looking automotive accent.
Credit score: Nextbase
With a brand new, extra vertical and rounded design (earlier cams from the corporate have that extra conventional, boxy look ), the iQ additionally has three cameras in-built, together with a 4K decision forward-facing digital camera, and two lower-resolution cabin and rear-view cameras.
The newest model of Nextbase’s digital camera, the Series 2, was solely forward-facing, and had a totally totally different visible profile. In comparison with the Sequence 2, the brand new digital camera has been flipped vertically and rounded out with the standard show eliminated. It nonetheless hangs from the entrance windshield, however with a much less obtrusive mount.
The iQ is greater than only a digital camera. As Nextbase’s head of promoting and gross sales Richard Browning stated in a name final month, the AI overlays are supposed to make the iQ future-proof. It displays different vehicles on the street to trace their trajectories and speeds, that are displayed on an accompanying cellphone app. Audio alerts will go off in case your iQ thinks you are going to hit somebody.
Additionally with the smartphone app you possibly can management the digital camera in actual time, and get notifications if something occurs to your automotive when you’re away. You may also get a snapshot from the scene.
This means that you can benefit from what Browning calls “spatial consciousness” across the automotive, so it will possibly ship an audible alert to drivers about vehicles and pedestrians in your blind spot or whereas rushing forward. Whereas parked, the digital camera stays “conscious,” sending alerts that present the identical sense of safety as Tesla’s Sentry Mode, however with out the Tesla.
Browning likened the iQ to “low-tech automobile safety.” It’s for when vehicles are parked, for street rage incidents, or for different conditions that flip unsafe.
The brand new iQ is anticipated to be launched in September with pricing info popping out later this 12 months. Probably the most feature-filled dash cam out there now is $400, so anticipate one thing nearer to that for this new — in some way sexy — replace.
