Intel's Snappy New Video Cam

The Pocket PC Camera pulls double duty as a videoconferencing and snapshot camera.

If you're using a videoconferencing camera for its primary purpose--whether for an important business consultation or for a call to Mom back East--you don't need to take the camera beyond the reach of its cable. But wouldn't it be nice to be able to capture still images and short videos with the same camera, without having to stay within 3 feet of your PC? Now you can, with Intel's newest addition to the world of untethered videoconference cameras.

Like others in the field, including Creative's VideoBlaster WebCam Go, Agfa's ePhoto CL18, and Ezonics' EZDual Cam (each priced at $150), Intel's $149 Pocket PC Camera tries to be a little bit of everything to everyone. However, it succeeds best as a videoconferencing device.

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

When we installed Intel's compact Universal Serial Bus camera, we could immediately see that the company has streamlined its installation routine since the heyday of its previous model, the Intel Pro PC Camera. With the Pocket PC Camera, we simply loaded the software from the CD-ROM and then plugged the USB cable into the device and into our PC, and we were off and running. The earlier model, by comparison, had a multistep installation routine that wasn't as clearly delineated.

We used the new camera in two modes: as a videoconferencing camera sitting atop our monitor in its sturdy cradle, and as a still camera that we took along while walking around in the sunny city environs. Our tests consisted of taking some snaps at the camera's high-quality resolution (640 by 480, adequate if you plan to post images on the Web); capturing 10-second, 30-frames-per-second AVI video clips (without sound); and placing a video phone call (also at 30 fps) to another user. The camera worked ably during our video call; on our walkabout, however, it proved to have limitations.

The compact camera resembles a baseline, starter digital camera. The unit offers bare-bones controls, with a button to capture images, a dial to adjust the focus, a viewfinder, and a simple LCD screen with icons representing five menu modes of operation. Luckily, the one area Intel didn't hold back on was the camera's memory: The camera comes with 8MB built in, twice the memory of Creative's WebCam Go and roomy enough to capture about six 10-second video clips.