**The Arlo Essential Wireless Video Doorbell: A Competitor to Ring**

One of the most obvious competitors to Ring's wireless video doorbell is the Arlo Essential Wire-Free Video Doorbell. Both devices cost $200 and offer similar features, including three dollars per month for full smart features and cloud storage. However, there are some key differences between the two.

**Aspect Ratio: A Key Difference**

One of the most notable differences between the two devices is the aspect ratio. The Arlo Essential Wire-Free Video Doorbell has a 180-degree viewing angle horizontally and vertically, which means it can capture more of what's happening in front of the door, including packages left at the doorstep. On the other hand, Ring's 4 camera has a 160-degree angle lens, but only sees 84 degrees vertically, which cuts off the top and bottom of the image. This narrow viewing angle makes it difficult for users to see important details, such as packages left at the doorstep.

**The Importance of Aspect Ratio**

In an interview with CNET, I explained why aspect ratio is so important when it comes to video doorbells. "You want a video doorbell that shows you people who ring your doorbell, chat with them from your couch or away from home, and see packages that get delivered right at your doorstep," I said. The aspect ratio can make all the difference in this regard. For users, it's essential to be able to see everything that's happening in front of the door, not just the center of the frame.

**Ring's Privacy and Police Problems**

One of the biggest concerns with Ring's video doorbells is their impact on privacy and public safety. While the company claims to prioritize customer safety, there are several issues with their devices and business practices that raise red flags. For example, Ring's partnerships with police forces can facilitate racial profiling and other forms of bias. Additionally, the company has faced criticism for its lack of transparency about how it uses customer data and its role in enabling law enforcement surveillance.

**The Impact on Neighborhoods**

Ring's video doorbells have transformed neighborhoods into surveilled spaces, where residents are constantly monitored by cameras that can be accessed by police and other entities. This raises concerns about the erosion of privacy and the creation of a culture of suspicion and fear. While Ring claims to be working to prevent crime and make safer neighborhoods, its business practices have contributed to a more surveilled society.

**A Complicated Decision**

For many users, the decision to purchase a Ring video doorbell is complicated by these concerns about privacy and public safety. Even if they're not comfortable getting a Ring doorbell on their own porch, it's unlikely that they can avoid purchasing one from a neighbor or friend. This creates a Catch-22 situation, where individuals are caught between their desire for security and their concerns about the impact of surveillance technology on their communities.

**My Recommendation**

Given these concerns, I'm still hesitant to recommend Ring's video doorbell strongly. While it may be more effective at capturing certain details than its competitors, its limitations in terms of aspect ratio and business practices outweigh its advantages. In contrast, the Arlo Essential Wire-Free Video Doorbell offers a better viewing angle and a more transparent business model, making it a more attractive option for users who value their privacy and security.

**Conclusion**

The battle between Ring's wireless video doorbell and the Arlo Essential Wire-Free Video Doorbell is a complex one. While both devices have their advantages and disadvantages, the key differences lie in terms of aspect ratio, pricing, and business practices. For users, it's essential to carefully consider these factors when making a decision about which device to purchase. With its better viewing angle and more transparent approach, the Arlo Essential Wire-Free Video Doorbell is worth considering for those who value their privacy and security.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enat this point ring's got more video doorbells than my uncle denny's got fingers yes the ring 4 is the company's 10th video doorbell and we're gonna review it right now ring is a super popular company with a lot of political baggage and that kind of makes it a pain in the ass to tease apart so first we're going to start off by talking about what you're getting with the ring for then we're going to talk about how it stacks up against the competition then finally we're going to talk about if it's cool features are enough to overcome a messy history with privacy and police partnerships if you're just looking at hardware it's a wireless 200 video doorbell with a bunch of cool little perks it's got 1080p resolution two-way talk rich notifications and a removable battery and charger in short it's what you'd expect at this point the two standout features are quick replies and the full color pre-roll quick replies let you select from a list of pre-programmed responses that play when somebody rings the doorbell think for no contact deliveries or if you're just trying to avoid someone dave sorry we're not interested hi please wait it may take me a moment to answer please leave the package outside if you'd like to leave a message you can do it now what package dave i work here open the door i do wish that i could record my own personal quick replies for more specific situations like telling my neighbor to scram but for now the feature is cool as is the full color pre-roll is a nice little security feature if the camera picks up a disturbance it doesn't just start recording it also retrieves the moments before the event so that you get the full sequence on camera that can be really helpful and it's on fewer video doorbells than you'd expect okay the ring 4 is a solid gadget but how does it compare to the competition well let's look at the most obvious competitor the arlo essential wire free video doorbell this is the wireless version of our favorite video doorbell they're both 200 bucks they both cost three bucks per month for their full smart features and cloud storage they're both wireless and offer pretty smart notifications although ring can't tell the difference between packages and people like arlo's cams can there's one more big thing that arlo has over ring the aspect ratio no no stay with me listen the aspect ratio actually really matters and i can show you why okay why do you want a video doorbell seriously it's not a trick question it's so you can see people who ring your doorbell chat with them from your couch or maybe while you're away from home maybe so you can see packages that get delivered right but here's the thing most video doorbells rings newest one included have this wide angle lens that shows you all this stuff to the sides but cuts off the top and bottom of the image and if a delivery person drops a package right by your doorstep your doorbell probably won't even see it here's why while the ring 4 boasts a 160 degree angle lens it only sees 84 degrees vertically compare that to an arlo video doorbell which has a 180 degree viewing angle horizontally and vertically and suddenly you realize the difference you can see all the most important stuff which is mostly above and below the doorbell not to the sides i honestly don't get why ring doesn't offer this feature well i take that back because they actually do have a one-to-one aspect ratio on their pro 2 from earlier this year but that cost 250 bucks i mean come on i can get that same feature for less than half the price from arlo's video doorbell come on ring why i genuinely don't understand speaking of things that are hard to understand i guess now's as good a time as i need to talk about rings privacy and police problems i just wish there was some convenient way to catch you up in i don't know 100 seconds or less previously on rings privacy problems just admit it ring you're transforming neighborhoods into surveilled spaces you're degrading privacy for our whole society now we're just working tirelessly to stop criminals and thieves and make safer neighborhoods for our families to live in but there's not even real evidence that your doorbells are reducing crime rates well if you actually just pop on over to our website you can see real clips of ring video doorbells stopping porch pirates in their steps okay fine but what about when you were getting police to help sell your products and then you give them access to a better surveillance apparatus is that it we don't do that anymore and even when we did it was more so an ask than really a requirement damn it ring you're enabling police overreach and you know it hey we take the privacy and security of our customers very seriously i'll take you seriously take a walk detective tell it to me straight ring you know the neighbors app is facilitating racial profiling we both read the articles we removed the suspicious activity tag from the app and added some no racism rules but what do you want us to do stop partnering with police forces and helping customers share footage of public spaces online bingo okay in all seriousness though ring really does have a problem video doorbells transform public space into recorded space and ring goes a step further by giving police an apparatus by which to access those recordings given the last year of well-documented police abuse it makes buying into the ring ecosystem kind of a complicated question and it's made more complicated because even if you aren't comfortable getting ring doorbell on your own porch that won't stop your neighbor from making the decision to get a ring doorbell and that kind of makes the decision on behalf of you and your whole neighborhood ring hasn't solved its police problems because facilitating the sharing of footage with police is still an integral part of its business frankly it's a selling point it's impossible to separate the ring for from the company that made it and for that reason i'm still hesitant to recommend it too strongly my biggest problem is that really narrow 84 degree viewing angle that cuts off packages left at your doorstep especially when you compare it to the competition for me the aspect ratio is pretty important and rings political baggage tips me even more confidently in that direction thanks for watching if you enjoyed the video make sure to like and subscribe to cnet if you're one of the commenters who asked me very nicely to trim my beard last time congrats it's gone along with my dream of becoming a narcotics detective discovering corruption in my department getting shot in the parking lot being saved by an amish community going and living with that amish community being accepted as part of that amish community and then finally leaving a changed man to go and uncover that corruption for the rest of the worldat this point ring's got more video doorbells than my uncle denny's got fingers yes the ring 4 is the company's 10th video doorbell and we're gonna review it right now ring is a super popular company with a lot of political baggage and that kind of makes it a pain in the ass to tease apart so first we're going to start off by talking about what you're getting with the ring for then we're going to talk about how it stacks up against the competition then finally we're going to talk about if it's cool features are enough to overcome a messy history with privacy and police partnerships if you're just looking at hardware it's a wireless 200 video doorbell with a bunch of cool little perks it's got 1080p resolution two-way talk rich notifications and a removable battery and charger in short it's what you'd expect at this point the two standout features are quick replies and the full color pre-roll quick replies let you select from a list of pre-programmed responses that play when somebody rings the doorbell think for no contact deliveries or if you're just trying to avoid someone dave sorry we're not interested hi please wait it may take me a moment to answer please leave the package outside if you'd like to leave a message you can do it now what package dave i work here open the door i do wish that i could record my own personal quick replies for more specific situations like telling my neighbor to scram but for now the feature is cool as is the full color pre-roll is a nice little security feature if the camera picks up a disturbance it doesn't just start recording it also retrieves the moments before the event so that you get the full sequence on camera that can be really helpful and it's on fewer video doorbells than you'd expect okay the ring 4 is a solid gadget but how does it compare to the competition well let's look at the most obvious competitor the arlo essential wire free video doorbell this is the wireless version of our favorite video doorbell they're both 200 bucks they both cost three bucks per month for their full smart features and cloud storage they're both wireless and offer pretty smart notifications although ring can't tell the difference between packages and people like arlo's cams can there's one more big thing that arlo has over ring the aspect ratio no no stay with me listen the aspect ratio actually really matters and i can show you why okay why do you want a video doorbell seriously it's not a trick question it's so you can see people who ring your doorbell chat with them from your couch or maybe while you're away from home maybe so you can see packages that get delivered right but here's the thing most video doorbells rings newest one included have this wide angle lens that shows you all this stuff to the sides but cuts off the top and bottom of the image and if a delivery person drops a package right by your doorstep your doorbell probably won't even see it here's why while the ring 4 boasts a 160 degree angle lens it only sees 84 degrees vertically compare that to an arlo video doorbell which has a 180 degree viewing angle horizontally and vertically and suddenly you realize the difference you can see all the most important stuff which is mostly above and below the doorbell not to the sides i honestly don't get why ring doesn't offer this feature well i take that back because they actually do have a one-to-one aspect ratio on their pro 2 from earlier this year but that cost 250 bucks i mean come on i can get that same feature for less than half the price from arlo's video doorbell come on ring why i genuinely don't understand speaking of things that are hard to understand i guess now's as good a time as i need to talk about rings privacy and police problems i just wish there was some convenient way to catch you up in i don't know 100 seconds or less previously on rings privacy problems just admit it ring you're transforming neighborhoods into surveilled spaces you're degrading privacy for our whole society now we're just working tirelessly to stop criminals and thieves and make safer neighborhoods for our families to live in but there's not even real evidence that your doorbells are reducing crime rates well if you actually just pop on over to our website you can see real clips of ring video doorbells stopping porch pirates in their steps okay fine but what about when you were getting police to help sell your products and then you give them access to a better surveillance apparatus is that it we don't do that anymore and even when we did it was more so an ask than really a requirement damn it ring you're enabling police overreach and you know it hey we take the privacy and security of our customers very seriously i'll take you seriously take a walk detective tell it to me straight ring you know the neighbors app is facilitating racial profiling we both read the articles we removed the suspicious activity tag from the app and added some no racism rules but what do you want us to do stop partnering with police forces and helping customers share footage of public spaces online bingo okay in all seriousness though ring really does have a problem video doorbells transform public space into recorded space and ring goes a step further by giving police an apparatus by which to access those recordings given the last year of well-documented police abuse it makes buying into the ring ecosystem kind of a complicated question and it's made more complicated because even if you aren't comfortable getting ring doorbell on your own porch that won't stop your neighbor from making the decision to get a ring doorbell and that kind of makes the decision on behalf of you and your whole neighborhood ring hasn't solved its police problems because facilitating the sharing of footage with police is still an integral part of its business frankly it's a selling point it's impossible to separate the ring for from the company that made it and for that reason i'm still hesitant to recommend it too strongly my biggest problem is that really narrow 84 degree viewing angle that cuts off packages left at your doorstep especially when you compare it to the competition for me the aspect ratio is pretty important and rings political baggage tips me even more confidently in that direction thanks for watching if you enjoyed the video make sure to like and subscribe to cnet if you're one of the commenters who asked me very nicely to trim my beard last time congrats it's gone along with my dream of becoming a narcotics detective discovering corruption in my department getting shot in the parking lot being saved by an amish community going and living with that amish community being accepted as part of that amish community and then finally leaving a changed man to go and uncover that corruption for the rest of the world\n"