Nest Hello video doorbell packs some heat

Smart home devices were added to the teardown service in 2015 at ABI Research when smart home products starting demanding attention.  Video doorbells are the latest craze in the smart home market because they offer a new level of home security.  Amazon’s recent acquisition of Ring and Google’s 2016 acquisition of Nest ramped up the race for consumers to know who’s knocking.  Here are some of the details surrounding the Nest Hello. 

Connectivity

The Nest Hello main connectivity is supplied by Cypress through a component (CYW4354 previously known as BCM4354) it acquired as part of their acquisition of Broadcom’s connectivity solutions in mid-2016.  The connectivity chip includes WiFi, BT, and FM although the FM is not used in this application.   But don’t discount FM yet, it would be nice to play background music for the person waiting at the door.  The main chip is supported by three front-ends (LNAs and switches) from Skyworks (Sky85608, sky85203, and sky66107).

Sensors

There are three sensors in the Nest Hello.  A camera imager provided by Sony (IMX123LQT) that supports both visible light and IR light, a Goertek mems microphone, and a light sensor.   Nest does make use of the IR and RGB capability of the imager by providing both a day and night camera operation.  RGB mode is used during the day and IR at night.  During night mode (determined by the light sensor), an actuator on the lens inserts an IR filter between the lens and the sensor and IR lEDs on flood the area with IR light.

Audio and Power management

The main portion of the audio section is an audio hub from Cirrus Logic (CS47L24).  The audio hub includes an audio codec, dual core DSP, audio switch, and audio amp.  The power management in the Nest Hello is very discreet including regulators, drivers and amps from TI and Maxim, a bank of buck converters from MPS.

Deep inside the Nest Hello is a heater.  That’s right, a heater.   Since the Nest Hello is an outdoor device that is to be used in many climates, Nest decided to improve the normal operating temperature range by including a heater made of a flex circuit.

Application processor

Ambarella supplies the video processor for the system (S2L63).  The S2L63 hosts an ARM Cortex-A9 core processor and a 1080p ISP.   The processor memory is provided by a single chip solution from Kingston.  The chip provides both RAM and eMMc Flash memory.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Teardowns (https://teardowniq.com).