Owlcam’s new owner CallPass says it's not bricking smart dashcams

guest · Aug 6, 2020

Owlcam’s new owner says it's not bricking smart dashcams
But CallPass is still dealing with some serious growing pains
August 6, 2020
https://www.engadget.com/owlcam-dashboard-camera-callpass-bricking-185353534.html

Callpass, the new company behind the connected dashboard camera Owlcam, wants to make one thing clear: It's not bricking devices.

For the past few months, some users have complained about their Owlcams going dark and not turning on. Many drew a connection to Callpass’s new LTE service plan, which, at $215 a year, is more than twice the price of the camera’s original mobile fee.

“No units are ‘bricked,’” CallPass President Jason Ashton wrote in an email to Engadget. "[...] CallPass has not forcibly deactivated any units -- they have no ability to do so.”
He went on to say that the company can force a remote reset of a camera, which wipes the data for service calls or ownership transfer, but that’s as far as it can go.
Click to expand...

OwlCam launched in 2018 as a smarter, LTE-connected spin on a dashboard camera. It was spearheaded by Andy Hodge, who served as Apple’s iPod product lead for over a decade.
But there were clearly issues to overcome.

The OwlCam was pricy at $349 with a year of LTE service, and the company planned to charge around $10 a month for connectivity afterwards.
Click to expand...

Owlcam’s story isn’t over yet. Unlike most failed IoT devices, it has a second shot at life. Unfortunately, that just involves some extra monthly costs, and new headaches, for existing customers.
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Owlcam’s new owner CallPass says it's not bricking smart dashcams

guest Guest

Log in or Sign up

Owlcam’s new owner CallPass says it's not bricking smart dashcams

guest Guest

Useful Searches