This September month should see some new things out from Foscam. The most obvious is the FI8918W, a natural evolution of the good old FI8908W.
The picture and description from foscam.com don't give much clue about the changes but, thanks to the information from foscam.us on their pre-order page, it looks like Foscam has been listening to users suggestions:
The enhanced features of the FI8918W over the FI8908W include:
The IR lights can be turned off manually from the software
Great idea, so many users requested this !
Audio quality is improved, there will be no noise when speaking into the camera
You will also find many complains about this in my blog.
WPA2 Encryption Supported
Nothing new really, let's just hope it now work with the router in non-broadcast mode!
Added an audio input jack which can be used with an external microphone
The dual audio function is not a workable feature on the FI8908W because of the poor sound quality. So with the ability to connect an external microphone and an external speaker, this is maybe going to change.
By the way, the green I/O connector (RS485) is gone to make space for these connectors. So, no more interfacing with alarm systems or automation modules.
Relocated the network light to the back of the camera. Add a power indicator lamp
Seems like a good idea but I predict that the next most popular question will soon be "how to turn off the power indicator?". Well as both LEDs will be located at the back, beside the RJ45 connector, this shouldn't be a big issue anyway.
The price tag is believed to remain in the same area as for its predecessor.
It's still a CMOS sensor, so there shouldn't be a dramatic improvement of the picture quality and the colour rendering, but the only way to find out will be to buy one ;-)
Another long awaited new camera (by me at least), the FI8906W (higher range, much higher budget) is announced for November according to the latest information from Foscam, but it's been delayed for a year already so we'll see...