This thread is about my thoughts on Tapo app 3.0 and some of the Tapo cameras that I have
I've been using TP-Link Tapo products for about 2 years, well they became one of the necessary things in order to make my house smart.
So first, I will show some issues that I have discovered when using the new Tapo app 3.0:
To be honest, the new app User Interface is modern, and more easy to use. But the app itself has some problems.
1. The notifications status in the camera settings is not working fine
This thing happens on all of my camera, so I think the error is in the app.
- When I move into the camera settings page, scroll down to the "Notifications", it says the notifications are "Off" (although I have turned it on)
- Then I press in the notifications, yes, it shows the notifications are On
- And I press return, the notifications turned back to on.
*All the steps are shown in the pictures below.
This bug might cause some confusion to the users.
2. PTZ Preset Points can be pressed just one time, if you want to press it, you need to press on an other preset point then press back.
The previous Tapo app doesn't have this issue.
- When I press a preset point for the camera to pan & tilt to its location (the second one which is blue-outlined in the first picture)
- Then I manually press the right arrow (which makes the camera to pan right)
- And now, I want the camera to return to the second preset point, I press it, then it doesn't work.
- I have to select the first preset point
- Next, I select the second preset point, it returns normally.
This is annoying, I have make 1 extra action for my cam to return back to the preset point.
3. App performance
I kinda feel that the new app is more laggy and make my phone hotter than the old one, especially, the playback. It makes my phone freeze.
4. My suggestion
One of the thing that plays an vital role, the Dark Mode. It helps to save the battery for the devices that have OLED display.
Furthermore, when I check on the camera detection at late night, when the app opened up, it's like I got a flash bang from the screen, because the app still only has light mode.
OK, that's it. Now lets move into my experiences about the Tapo Cameras
Tapo C210 v1 1.3.1
I used this camera for 10 months, it works perfectly without any false detections or the false device offline status
The alarm comes from the speaker is loud, but the 2 way talking is not too loud.
Except the 2 way talking loudness, there's absolutely nothing to complain about it.
Also, this camera saved my family from the thief.
Tapo C310 v1 1.3.2
I placed this camera on the roof facing down, so it usually gives false detections. One thing I disappointed about that is the human detection, it doesn't detect human vertically, although the body shape is clear.
BUT, this camera is durable, only IP66 but it also survived after being struck by lightning bolt (I placed it next to the lightning rod)
Night vision is OK.
Tapo C310 v2 1.3.5
I have two of this, works perfectly.
I updated it from 1.3.3 to 1.3.5, sadly, my automation doesn't work the way I want. I made an automation which will turn on the Tapo light bulb when the C310 v2 1.3.5 detects human, in the old firmware, it only turns on as well as the notifications. But in the new one, it always turns on without the notification.
Tapo C500 v1 1.0.4
This camera has better night vision than the C310, the image is not clearer than the C310 although both of them are set at 1080P.
The speaker is TOO SMALL, the default alarm sound is not loud enough, thanks to the custom sound feature, I set it to another siren that has higher tone.
The human detection is more accurate than the C310 and C210.
Also, this camera lacks of some motion detection like Line Crossing and Intrusion.
So all things above is my thought about Tapo Camera and Tapo app, I hope that Tapo will improve to be better and take the first place in Smart Home brand.