Nice Camera's - Appalling Software

Hyde

New Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2020
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Location
Hampshire
Country
United Kingdom
Hi, bought two sets (front and rear for two cars) of these dash cams off the back of reviews saying how good they were, especially in low light conditions; and they are!

But the Android companion app and linkage with Alexa is a hotchpotch of ideas that either don't work as the titled feature would suggest or perform really badly.

1. The Auto Sync feature is anything but. Connects with the camera, yes. But auto sync most definitely not. You still have to manually select the videos you want downloaded to your phone.
2. The direct Wifi connection is anything but fast, it's painfully slow (I've seen up to 500 b/s) and only works when you're in close vicinity to the camera and it's powered. So all those video clips you want on your phone.... You have to sit in the car at the end of your journey to download at a snails pace. Why the 'Auto Sync' couldn't be doing this in the background as you drive is beyond me.
2a. So you're best to remove the SD card from the camera and stick it directly into a laptop and use the Nextbase PC app.
3. Alexa integration. Just what is the point? Why would I need to speak to my camera to ask it start / stop recording when the camera does this automatically when you turn the ignition on/off? Granted, it can do other things too, but so does Bixby / Siri / etc.
3a. And if Nextbase are promoting the use of another app, you might like to add a warning that by default the Alexa app will add items it thinks you want to purchase to your Amazon basket!!!
4. Camera sounds. What are they and what do they mean? My camera often plays sounds during startup, during and end of a journey, but what the heck they mean, God only knows. I know... You could put samples in the app so that folk could hear what the sound is that goes with a particular feature/notification. ;-)
4a. Assuming those sounds do mean something, why not actually add these as notifications to appear on your phone?

I've yet to setup the SOS feature, as based on the poor implementation of the above I'm currently loathed to set something up, that likely as not, will call the emergency services when no such action is required. But I could be doing Nextbase as disservice here?

So the only thing the app does with any sucess is update the firmware of the camera. But even that was painful the first time around with the camera often switching off before the process could complete.

Lastly, why would I need to lock a recording? Does the camera use so much space to record video that I'm likely to overwrite it on a journey? Appreciate that folk could be driving for 4+ hours at a time but would that fill a 32GB card in that time? I'm using 128GB cards in mine but appreciate the minimum spec is 32GB.
 
I have to say that I tend agree with most of the above. The camera is quite good, and the mounting system is equally as good, but sadly the software sucks....big time. I had mine for about three weeks and then returned it after several phones calls to Nextbase support whose opening line was always, "was SD card are you using?", plus a number of return visits to Halfords, enough was enough.

Such a shame really, as it could be so good if this was sorted
 
Having now looked at the SOS feature, I'm rather pi$$ed off that this is a subscription service after the first 12 months. So I'm not setting that up either.

Have also now reviewed a number of files, having extracted the SD card from the camera and placing it in my laptop and used the Nextbase PC software. That too has a bug in it! Minor I grant you, but using the cursor keys to navigate up and down the file list of opened videos also turns the volume up and down. Doh! Page Up/Down keys don't appear to suffer from the same issue.
 
Question - isn’t it easier to take the camera and plug into PC, instead of SD card? That is what I do, file transfer is quite quick that way
 
Last edited:
Sadly some brands have severe limitations of what memory card you can use, others not so much if at all ( aside the the technical stuff like a minimum write speed to be able to work )

A camera, dash or action are often very poor in mass storage mode, so you might get a read speed of 20 MB/s from a memory card you could read at 80 - 90 MB/s in a good card reader on a fast USB port.
A big problem not least if you plan on moving a lot of files, but if you just grab a single 3 minute file here and there its not that big of a problem.
And the isue are more or less the same When it come to transferring via WIFI if the camera have that.
 
Hi, bought two sets (front and rear for two cars) of these dash cams off the back of reviews saying how good they were, especially in low light conditions; and they are!

But the Android companion app and linkage with Alexa is a hotchpotch of ideas that either don't work as the titled feature would suggest or perform really badly.

1. The Auto Sync feature is anything but. Connects with the camera, yes. But auto sync most definitely not. You still have to manually select the videos you want downloaded to your phone.
2. The direct Wifi connection is anything but fast, it's painfully slow (I've seen up to 500 b/s) and only works when you're in close vicinity to the camera and it's powered. So all those video clips you want on your phone.... You have to sit in the car at the end of your journey to download at a snails pace. Why the 'Auto Sync' couldn't be doing this in the background as you drive is beyond me.
2a. So you're best to remove the SD card from the camera and stick it directly into a laptop and use the Nextbase PC app.
3. Alexa integration. Just what is the point? Why would I need to speak to my camera to ask it start / stop recording when the camera does this automatically when you turn the ignition on/off? Granted, it can do other things too, but so does Bixby / Siri / etc.
3a. And if Nextbase are promoting the use of another app, you might like to add a warning that by default the Alexa app will add items it thinks you want to purchase to your Amazon basket!!!
4. Camera sounds. What are they and what do they mean? My camera often plays sounds during startup, during and end of a journey, but what the heck they mean, God only knows. I know... You could put samples in the app so that folk could hear what the sound is that goes with a particular feature/notification. ;-)
4a. Assuming those sounds do mean something, why not actually add these as notifications to appear on your phone?

I've yet to setup the SOS feature, as based on the poor implementation of the above I'm currently loathed to set something up, that likely as not, will call the emergency services when no such action is required. But I could be doing Nextbase as disservice here?

So the only thing the app does with any sucess is update the firmware of the camera. But even that was painful the first time around with the camera often switching off before the process could complete.

Lastly, why would I need to lock a recording? Does the camera use so much space to record video that I'm likely to overwrite it on a journey? Appreciate that folk could be driving for 4+ hours at a time but would that fill a 32GB card in that time? I'm using 128GB cards in mine but appreciate the minimum spec is 32GB.
Hi Hyde,

Thanks for your comments. i'd like to address some of the items you've brought up:

1) Auto Sync- The Auto Sync feature syncs the footage that's recorded on your Dash Cam to your phone.
'You can easily view the videos quickly whilst having the full high quality available to download if you need to zoom in on number plate detail. '.
The Autosync does not download the footage to your phone to save both your phone's battery and memory space.The Dash Cam automatically syncs the footage onto the Dash Cam tab of the app when connected.

2) The Camera must be turned on to download. This is so that the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are turned on. You need to be within the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi vicinity of the Dash Cam, hence the close proximity. You will not be able to connect to the Dash Cam whilst it is not powered.

3) The Alexa feature is an optional feature for customers who do not have Bixby or Siri and wish to control the Dash Cam hands free.

3a) What items have been added please? I will pass this information onto the Team to report.

4) Please see the full manual for the 522GW for the information regarding the audible tones.
The main tones are: Start Up, Start Recording, Stop Recording and Turn Off.

SOS) Our ESOS feature is a thoroughly tested and regularly used design. There is no chance of it sending an Emergency SOS message without your knowledge as when it is triggered, there's a VERY loud alarm form the Camera and a red flashing screen with a large countdown visible. If you are unresponsive for 2 and a half minutes, then the ESOS is sent to the correct service. I can guarantee that if you are responsive, you will NOT miss the alarms from the Dash Cam that it's going to send the ESOS, and so the ESOS can not be sent accidentally.

Firmware update) I'd recommend making sure the Camera has a power supply when updating Firmware to prevent the battery from dying.

Protected Files) Depending on whether you're using dual files, a rear cam and what size SD card you're using, among other things, the storage capacity of files changes. We often have customers who drive long distances, or want the added safety of protecting a file to avoid it from being overwritten or accidentally manually deleted. The Protected Files feature adds another layer of protection in the case of an incident.

If there's anything else I can explain, or can do to help, please don't hesitate to get in contact.

Regards,
Millie- Nextbase
 
Hi
Nice of you to save my battery and storage without asking if that's what I actually want ;) I'd suggest changing the feature name from Auto Sync to Auto Connect as it clearly doesn't Auto Sync.

'You can easily view the videos quickly whilst having the full high quality available to download if you need to zoom in on number plate detail. '.

The WiFi connection is painfully slow, measured in bits per second not even Bytes per second let alone Mb per second. Playback stutters and stalls too.
 
Okay, I've got so fed up with the camera playing tunes that I've no idea what they represent that I've reset the camera and re-paired with the Android app. But I can only get a Bluetooth connection. The Wi-Fi connection just sits there spinning.

Any ideas?

[edit]...
And the only way I can get to stop attempting a wi-fi connection is to go into the app settings and force a stop, clear cache and data and start the re-pairing process all over again. such a badly written app!
 
Last edited:
This won't help you, but I have no end of problems with the wi-fi connection too. It works when you first pair, but then it is very hit and miss. I'll end up plugging the camera into my PC if I do end up needing to copy files.
 
I have on two recent attempts had the Android app report that it needs my help and displays a password for the W-Fi Direct connection. But entering that password (with the characters on view so I know I'm typing it correctly) doesn't help :mad:

[edit] To expand on the above...
The button displayed in the Android app to copy the password to the clipboard doesn't work. So I made a manual note of the pw then entered above in Direct W-Fi section of my Android 10 device settings under W-Fi connections that listed a Nextbase device, mainly because the buttons displayed in Android app also don't work in that open Wi-FI setttings button does nothing. I also noted the MAC address from using the PC Nextbase app. So I set the Direct W-Fi connection to use the device MAC addr rather than random MAC addresses that the connection tab was set to. Still no joy :mad: :mad:

[edit 2] For the most part the dash cam doesn't appear as a device under Direct Wi-Fi and the android app just sits there endlessly attempting a connection. If you turn the dash cam off you get a message on the Android app that says "Connection Details. This page contains the connection details." Nothing else is shown other than an OK button. Click that and you get "Connection Failed. The connection to the dash cam has failed. Please connect to the wi-fi network manually." Then there's a "Connect Manually" button, but clicking that just takes you back to the "Connection Details" page and you just cycle between these two screens. Has anyone at Nextbase actually tested this stuff?

[edit 3] Is there a way to force the dash cam into direct wi-fi mode from the dash cam itself? It simply doesn't show up as a device to connect to anymore on my phone.
 
Last edited:
Don't tell me that the reason it wouldn't make a direct WiFi connection is because my phone was connected to my home WiFi at the same time!?!?

I've arrived early for an appointment some miles from the house and the Android app has now made a direct WiFi connection. Good grief!

[edit] Yup, that's the issue, for me at least. Can't establish a Direct WiFi connection whilst my phone is connected to the home network. So now I can't even download the footage whilst sat on the drive at the end of my journey! Sheesh!!! I have to remove the SD card or the whole camera. Unbelievable!! I have other devices in my home that employ Direct WiFi, they don't have this issue. Major bug there Nextbase. Please resolve ASAP!
 
Last edited:
Okay, I've got so fed up with the camera playing tunes that I've no idea what they represent that I've reset the camera and re-paired with the Android app. But I can only get a Bluetooth connection. The Wi-Fi connection just sits there spinning.

Any ideas?

[edit]...
And the only way I can get to stop attempting a wi-fi connection is to go into the app settings and force a stop, clear cache and data and start the re-pairing process all over again. such a badly written app!
Hi Hyde,

The audio tones I've explained above and they're within the manual: P.24.
'Alerts Turn On/Off the ascending/descending beeps that sound when a recording starts/stops, the alarm that sounds when battery is low or there is an SD Card error, and the chime that sounds when a file is protected. Options: On and Off Default: Off'

However you can also just disable them in the Dash Cam's settings.
1)Turn the Dash Cam on
2) Stop it recording
3) Click the Settings icon
4) Go into Setup
5) Scroll across to Alerts
6) Disable the alerts.

Regards,
Millie- Nextbase
 
So, why doesn't the camera connect to the app when my phone is logged into my home wi-fi please?
 
Because it's a limiting feature of smartphones..
Just go in to your wifi on your phone and pick the dashcam when you get in the car, home network disconnects, and car connection enables.
It's not complicated, and as you have seen, when the home network is disconnected the cam connects.
Not even close to being the same as a home network.
And this is where 5G and LTE etc come into show, when you can then connect to the cam via hotspot/wifi, or whatever you want to call it, and have 5G/LTE for network access on your phone.
 
It's a direct wifi connection and should work when also connected to the home wifi. Having it connect after I drive away is pointless. It's a specific file I want off the camera. I won't be doing that whilst I'm driving!

So it's a limiting feature of this camera software/hardware! Other devices in my home that use direct wifi connect just fine.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top