- Video & Voice Quality
- Design
- Ease of Use
- Features
Summary
Petcube reinvented their flagship product with Petcube Play; 1080P HD vision, outstanding design and color options, and available Petcube Care. This little device is an absolute A+.
Petcube Play Review
Petcube has long been a favorite of ours ever since we reviewed the original Petcube Camera. A simplistic (and tiny!) design, yet innovative and original features make Petcube an industry favorite. After an unbelievably successful Kickstarter campaign, Petcube announced two new additions to the pet camera family: Petcube Play and Petcube Bites. We got our hands on the newly launched Petcube Play to put it to the test and ultimately compare it to both the original Petcube camera and other pet cameras on the market. Let’s dive into the design, features, and performance of Petcube Play.
Unboxing
If you’ve read any of our other reviews you probably know we’re a sucker for great product packaging. Petcube truly nailed the packaging and it almost gives off an Apple-esque vibe. After lifting the black packaging sleeve, a brown box highlights the features and design of what you will find inside. Lifting the top half of the brown box reveals the Petcube Play securely wrapped in a bed of foam. Inside the box you will find the Petcube Play itself, power charger and USB cable, user manual, and 3 Petcube stickers.
Design
If you never saw a Petcube in person (the original or Petcube Play), you are going to be absolutely shocked by the size. Most product images online make you believe it’s a relatively large cube, similar in size to other pet cameras such as Furbo or Pawbo. Well, take a quick look at this image where we compared Petcube Play’s size.
Yep, Petcube Play measures at 3”x3”x3”, making it the smallest pet camera on the market. However, “size doesn’t matter,” as proven by Petcube Play’s amazing performance, which we’ll get into more further below in the review.
Talking strictly aesthetics, Petcube Play has the most impressive, clean, and sophisticated look. Hands down. Petcube is also the first pet camera to come in a variety of colors, all of which are impressive: Carbon Black, Matte Silver, and Rose Gold. We personally reviewed the Petcube Play in Carbon Black and absolutely love it.
The front of the camera contains the 1080P HD camera lens in addition to a “red glow” which is houses the laser pointer game. Moving to the back of the cube you will find the micro USB charging port, and the bottom of the cube has a mounting location (for the frisky pets). That’s about it! Again, Petcube Play is unbelievable simple yet impressively sophisticated. Simplicity serves as an easy setup and use, something that is often lacking in new tech gadgets.
Features
Video and Sound Quality
Petcube Play rocks an impressive 1080p HD camera with a 138 degree wide angle lens, a major improvement from the original Petcube Camera. Even better, Petcube Play includes night vision for low light and no light conditions. Night vision is a feature that many people want; yet very few pet cameras contain it. We are impressed with both daytime and nighttime video quality, as shown in the screen shots below. To take it even further, the camera has a 3x digital zoom which impressively did not blur the quality as much as we anticipated. Sound quality matches other pet cameras available; besides a slight lag, sound comes through clear.
Interactive Laser Toy
While some lag is expected, Petcube Play laser game works surprisingly well given the ability to play with your pets from the other side of the world. It seems to be brighter than Pawbo’s laser toy, which helps when playing during the daytime. The included laser is certified safe for humans and pets; however, it’s important to note that the camera does come with a sticker on the back warning of laser radiation if directly exposed to the eyes. I don’t think any of you will do this, but I’ll say it anyway: don’t stare into the laser!
Smartphone App
Petcube’s app for Android and iOS is one of the best out there, especially because of the social aspects. Even if you do not own a Petcube camera, you can still download the Petcube app and view/speak/play with pets from all over the world. There are many shelters out there who use Petcube cameras, so you can actually view their cameras and play with the cats and dogs. You can join in on the fun if you own a Petcube camera by making yours public or by sharing it with specific people/family members.
In addition, it wouldn’t be a pet camera without notifications – Petcube Play has both sound AND motion alerts. Even better, you can modify the camera notification that alerts your pets when you begin interacting with them, one is specific to cats and the other to dogs.
Petcube Care
Petcube Care is Petcube’s new cloud recording service that will actually record video and sound clips for the previous 10 or 30 days, depending on your plan. Not only is this beneficial to know what your pets are doing when you are not around, but this also serves as an amazing security camera for inside your home. If a burglar were to steal the camera, footage would still be available online for you to use.
Final Thoughts of Petcube Play
Overall, Petcube perfected their flagship product by introducing Petcube Play. The design, ease of use, and performance of this pet camera stands above the rest. For such a small device (half the size of other pet cameras), it sure packs in a lot of impressive features. We absolutely recommend the Petcube Play, as demonstrated with our 5 out of 5 star review. Match this with their soon-to-be-released Petcube Bites and your pets will love you forever!
