Intel's Snappy New Video Cam

Share and Share Alike

Intel's wizard-driven Create & Share software suite lets you easily accomplish a variety of tasks with both existing and newly captured images and videos. This new version of Intel's software taps Microsoft's NetMeeting for placing video phone calls. With the software you can capture stills and videos, and e-mail them to friends; you can also edit, organize, and store thumbnails of the images. A built-in video editor lets you create more-ambitious projects, such as movies with basic special effects. The handy autosnapshot feature is useful for generating snapshots at specific intervals, or when the camera senses motion. The easy-to-use software facilitates other creative projects--including creating Web pages--and incorporates PC Camera Games, powered by Reality Fusion.

Intel also bundles MGI's PhotoSuite III SE. While you can use PhotoSuite with any digital input device, this version is customized with buttons that link directly to the camera and to Intel's Create & Share Gallery, the directory where images captured with the camera are stored by default.

Easy as it is to use, however, the Pocket PC Camera was lacking in terms of the image quality of both snapshots and video. The camera's maximum resolution of 640 by 480 has obvious limitations; still photos looked pixelated and weren't uniformly sharp. Plus, the contrast and brightness were often off--even when images were shot in sunny conditions. The camera couldn't gracefully handle the high contrast of shadows and light, and it lacks a flash for low-light conditions. When capturing video, the camera experienced similar image issues, and was particularly inept when capturing video of objects in motion.

If you want a video camera that can provide extra flexibility under certain shooting conditions, the Pocket PC Camera is a good deal. But don't count on this unit if you want to archive or print the photos you snap--for that, you're better off with a higher-quality, 1-megapixel digital camera, which you can find for less than $250.