Nest Labs has launched pre-orders for a new indoor security camera.

Called Nest Cam IQ, the camera supposedly offers a range of intelligent features. It knows when your child has arrived home safely, for instance, or that there’s a stranger in your home. It can differentiate between a person and your cat and can alert you accordingly. So, if it detects a person, it can send a person alert to your phone and will auto-zoom in on and track the person.

And if you subscribe to Nest Aware, you can get "personalised alerts" based on who is in the house - whether a family member or a dog sitter. That means it identifies if there’s a person within the camera’s field of vision and can send a special alert with a curated zoomed-in photo. Nest is pitching the new camera as a having a mixture of "intelligence with excellent image and sound quality".

It has face recognition learning technology, as well as ntelligent audio alerts, which will notify you about things that the camera can’t see, such as a person talking or dog barking. Only some of these features are free. If you subscribe to Nest Aware, Nest promises an extra layer of intelligence, including continuous cloud storage. You'll be able to access your 10- or 30-day video history.

The camera features a 4K image sensor (8 megapixels), 12x digital zoom, HDR imaging, and two 940nm infrared LEDs. It also offers Night Vision (without a red glow), as well as feature called HD Talk + Listen Audio. Nest claimed that the built-in speakers are 7x more powerful than the original Nest Cam, while the three-microphone array offers noise suppression and echo cancellation.

You can check the companion app to see what’s happening at any time and see a HD picture-in-picture experience, including a full 130-degree view of the room and close-up tracking. In terms of security, Nest Cam IQ encrypts your video on-device before streaming and storing video content, using 128-bit AES with TLS/SSL secure connection, Nest said. There's also two-step verification available.

The Nest Cam IQ has a white polycarbonate design with a swivel mount. It is available now for pre-order in the US at Nest's website for $299. It will be available soon for pre-order in UK for £299, with shipping expected by the end of June.