The Veo Pocket Traveler - When You Just Gotta' Take a Picture!

[Anthony Caruana]

Sometimes, I've just got to get something because it looks so cool. The Veo Pocket Traveler is a really cool looking device. This Compact Flash digital camera integrates beautifully with my iPAQ 2210. Its design is slick and it looks like it was made to match up with my iPAQ perfectly. But does it perform as well as it looks? Read on to find out.<br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/caruana-sep03-veocam-1.jpg" /> <br /><!><i>The Veo Pocket Traveler for Pocket PC is a Type 2 Compact flash camera. It allows you to take reasonable quality photographs quickly and easily from your Pocket PC. With a maximum resolution of 640 by 480 it's certainly not at the high end of the photograhic technology spectrum. However, it is handy for a quick snap and could be of great value for some remote workers. With my iPAQ 2210 I was able to quickly snap a photo, attach it to an email and send it to colleague in just a few seconds.</i><br /><br /><span><b>So, What's in Package?</b></span><br />When the camera arrived the first thing that impressed me was the slick little capsule that ships with it. This is a solid aluminium case with a impact absorbing rubber inlay. I'm pretty confident that the camera is well protected when not in use. It should look after the camera nicely when it is thrown into your accessory bag.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/caruana-sep03-veocam-2.jpg" /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/caruana-sep03-veocam-10.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figures 1a and 1b: The very cool Veo Pocket Traveler Capsule</i><br /><br /><span><b>The Tale of the Tape</b></span><br />So, what are the specs?<li>640x480 digital resolution <br /><li>Takes still photos and video clips <br /><li>Adjustable self timer<br /><li>Captures standard JPEG pictures <br /><li>Automatic exposure, white balance and color control <br /><li>CF Type 2 Expansion Slot <br /><li>Swivel lens with adjustable focus <br /><li>Weighs less than 1 ozAs well as the camera, the Veo Pocket Traveler comes with software for both your Pocket PC and desktop computer. The Pocket PC application lets you easily control the camera and allows you to adjust some of the camera's controls such as image brightness, light conditions, where the images are stored and image resolution.<br /><br />The desktop application, Veo Creative Studio, lets you create movies by stringing together avi files (either recorded by the Pocket Traveler or from other sources) as well as create e-cards, design web pages and transfer photos either to or from your PDA. It's a nice application and can be downloaded from the Veo web site (it's about 225 MB).<br /><br /><span><b>So, what About the Camera?</b></span><br />The camera itself seems pretty solid. The camera sits on a Type 2 CF interface and protrudes from my iPAQ 2210 by about 3 cm when inserted. So, it doesn't add much bulk to the iPAQ. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/caruana-sep03-veocam-12.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 2: The Veo Pocket Traveler in my iPAQ 2210</i><br /><br />When it's inserted the lens is pointing back towards you as you face the Pocekt PC's screen. However, the lens is on a pivot. This means you can use your Pocket PC screen as the view finder for taking photos or use the Pocket Traveler as a video conference camera.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/caruana-sep03-veocam-3.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 3a: The Veo Pocket Traveler with the lens in the "default" position</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/caruana-sep03-veocam-11.jpg" /> <br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/caruana-sep03-veocam-4.JPG" /><br /><i>Figures 3b and 3c: The Veo Pocket Traveler with the lens pivoted to the alternate position</i><br /><br /><span><b>What Buttons do I Push?</b></span><br />Using the Pocket Traveler is pretty simple. Once you put the camera into your Type 2 CF slot (it's a snug fit) all you need to do is launch the Photo Traveler software in the Programs folder on your Pocket PC. As soon as you start the software the camera is active.<br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/caruana-sep03-veocam-5.gif" /><br /><i>Figure 4: The Veo Pocket Traveler Pocket PC Software Interface</i><br /><br />The capture button takes the photo. There's even a "shutter" sound effect to complete the real camera effect!<br /><br />You can adjust plenty of settings through the software as well such as image brightness, lighting conditions and image resolution. The software also lets you choose between still pictures and video capture. Video capture (in avi format) is limited to a resolution of 320 by 240.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/caruana-sep03-veocam-6.gif" /> <br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/caruana-sep03-veocam-7.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 5a and 5b: Pocket Traveler Software Settings</i><br /><br />You can focus on near and distant objects by turing the focus ring around the camera lens. This is easy to do but not very precise. This means it might take a few attempts to get your shots just right.<br /><br /><span><b>But are the Pictures Any Good?</b></span><br />Well, this is the big question with any camera. The Pocket Traveler takes reasonable photos given its limitations. Given that it has no flash it does a fair job if you use the controls that the Pocket PC software provides. Couple this with some decent image editing software on your PC and you can get some reasonable snaps. But I wouldn't use this as my main camera. Rather, I think I'll get the most use from this camera when I'm at work and need to take a quick snap.<br /><br /><b><span>The Desktop Software</span></b><br />The Veo Pocket Traveler ships with some nice utility software for the desktop. The Creative Studio - Veo Traveler suite lets you combine video clips into a movie a swell as providing you with a photo gallery, greeting card creator, homepage creator and a utility for sychronising photos from your Pocket PC to your PC.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/caruana-sep03-veocam-8.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 6: Pocket Traveler Desktop Software</i><br /><br /><b><span>For the Developers</span></b><br />Veo have made available through their web site an <a href="http://www.veo.com/downloads/developers.asp"> SDK for the Pocket Traveler</a>. This would allow developers to use the camera within their applications. This could have great potential in some sales force automation applications and for remote sevice people.<br /><br /><b><span>What about an SD Model?</span></b><br />Well, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that there is an SDIO model avaialble. :D The bad news is that it's only for the Palm OS :( . However, Veo are working on an SDIO model for the Pocket PC :D <br /><br /><b><span>Gotchas</span></b><br />Overall, the Veo Pocket Traveler for the Pocket PC s a pretty reasonable unit. However, there are some limitations with the device.<ul><li>Picture quality is pretty limited. This is not the device to buy if you are after high resolutoin, high quality pictures<li>The software allows you to set the target directory for photos. However, this setting is not persistent when you shut the application down<li>The lack of an internal flash, while keeping the size of the unit compact, make a real difference to image quality<li>The focus ring lacks any indication of how far around you need to turn it for objects at different distances<li>I'm not sure how robust the swivel is. I plan to treat mine very gently.</ul><span><b>Where To Buy</b></span><br />You can purchase The Veo Pocket Traveler from Mobile Planet <a href="http://www.mobileplanet.com/private/pocketpcthoughts/product.asp?dept%5Fid=3718&pf%5Fid=MP760099&listing=1">for $99.99 USD</a>. [Affiliate]<br /><br /><b><span>Specifications</span></b><br />The Veo Pocket Traveler for the Pocket PC is listed as having the following device compatibility<ul><li>iPAQ 36xx, 37xx, 38xx, 39xx (with CF card extension pack)<li>iPAQ h2215 (Requires latest Windows Mobile 2003 software for Pocket PCs (Pocket PC 2003) driver from the Veo webpage. <li>HP5550, HP5150 and HP3970<li>Toshiba e570, e740 <li>Dell Axim X5</ul> The desktop component has the following minimum requirements <ul><li>Microsoft® 98/ME/2000/XP with Pentium® 166 MHz (or higher) <li>200 MB Available Hard Disk Space <li>32 MB RAM or Better <li>Pocket PC Handheld with ActiveSync Cradle <li>800 x 600 Display with 16-Bit Color <li>4x CD-ROM or better </ul><b><span>Conclusions</span></b><br />I like the Veo Pocket Traveler. It looks good and does what it is designed to do very easily. Although the image quality does not make this suitable to be my main camera, it is good enough for a quick snap. Is it worth the $100 USD? Well, I'm not sure I'd drop that much folding stuff on it. But, now that I have it I'd recommend it.<br /><br /><i>Author's Note: I received my Veo Pocket Traveler free of charge as part of a promotion HP were running in Australia with the launch of the iPAQ 2210</i>

[dean_shan]

How well does this work when doing a video conference?

Also what camera (on the pda screen) is that is the picture on Figure 2?

Side Note- 600th post! Yahoo!

[DerekTheGeek]

Sorry if this shows my ignorance but is it a 300k pixel camera? I know its 640x480 but no mention of pixel res. Thanks!

- Derek

[hdsalinas]

Anthony,

Could you post some pictures taken with this camera?

BTW, The skin they used for their application on the PPC sucks! I hate when developers try to give their a program´s interface a rounded "custom" look. They usually use every photoshop effect and a bunch of gradients. It just looks dumb. They should stick with designs that compliment the OS and look like part of it, not clash with it. :roll:

[Jason Dunn]

Sorry if this shows my ignorance but is it a 300k pixel camera? I know its 640x480 but no mention of pixel res. Thanks!

640 x 480 resolution = 307,200 pixels = 0.3 megapixels

[Scott R]

Your review left out something mildly important: Sample pictures. I suspect that this camera uses the same optics/firmware/etc. that their SD camera does, which would mean that the photos are pretty awful.

Also, I'm not sure what to make of this comment:
Is it worth the $100 USD? Well, I'm not sure I'd drop that much folding stuff on it. But, now that I have it I'd recommend it.Does that mean you recommend it if you can get one for free? ;)

Scott

[Pat Logsdon]

I have one of these, and it's ok. It takes average pictures, as long as there's a decent amount of ambient light. I got it so I don't have to lug around an extra camera when I go geocaching.

It works well for what it is - just don't expect too much, and you won't be disappointed. :wink:

[DimensionZero]

Sorry to go o/t a little but I had to find out what GeoCaching was and IT LOOKS LIKE FUN!!!

I can't wait to get my PDA and GPS now!!

[Pat Logsdon]

Sorry to go o/t a little but I had to find out what GeoCaching was and IT LOOKS LIKE FUN!!!

I can't wait to get my PDA and GPS now!!
It IS fun, and a great use of the technology. :rock on dude!:

I'm going on vacation this Friday for 2 weeks, and I've got a list of 46 geocache locations. I've mapped all of the coordinates on the topographical maps from Maptech (using their Outdoor Navigator product).

I then created a PPC-friendly HTML page with a description of each cache, the necessary hints in white text (in case I need them), and a satellite photo at maximum zoom of the exact location of the cache. I don't consider this cheating, by the way, since we still have to get TO the cache itself. :)

I've got all of the maps and the html page with all of the text and satellite photos stored on a 256mb SD card.

We like to take a picture of the cache and us at the cache for upload to the geocaching.com site, so that's what we'll use the Veo camera for, and just store the images on the same SD card.

For those of you who haven't heard of geocaching, check out geocaching.com (http://geocaching.com). Enter your zip code and see what's hidden in your area!

[Alicatt]

How does this cam compare with the likes of the Pertec SVGA Compact camera?
seen here http://www.totalpda.co.uk/productview.asp?section=31&id=4308

[Anthony Caruana]

How well does this work when doing a video conference?

Also what camera (on the pda screen) is that is the picture on Figure 2?


I tried to get this camera to work with Microsoft Portrait but was not successful. In Portrait, there is a list of supported cameras but this one was not amongst them. IF the camera was supported I suspect that its quality would be about the level of the cheapest webcams around. It certainly would be good enough for a quick conference but not at the level of a dedicated VC system like a Polycom or similar.

The camera on the picture in question is a Canon Powershot A70. It was used to do the pictures in this review. Sadly, it's not mine :-( It belongs to a colleague.

[Anthony Caruana]

Sorry if this shows my ignorance but is it a 300k pixel camera? I know its 640x480 but no mention of pixel res. Thanks!

- Derek

Yep - this is a 300K camera. Sorry for not being more specific in the specs.

[Anthony Caruana]

How does this cam compare with the likes of the Pertec SVGA Compact camera?
seen here http://www.totalpda.co.uk/productview.asp?section=31&id=4308

I was trying to get a Pretec camera for comparison but did not get any response from Pretec when I asked them for a sample camera to review. BTW Pretec have both 300K and 1.3 MP models available.

Perhaps someone else out there has the Pretec camera and would like to comment.

[Anthony Caruana]

Could you post some pictures taken with this camera?

I'll add a post shortly with some sample pictures.

BTW, The skin they used for their application on the PPC sucks! I hate when developers try to give their a program´s interface a rounded "custom" look.

Yeah that was my first reaction but it really didn't bother me or affect my use. The UI could have been improved by making the viewing window larger instead of having the rounded look. However, I didn't think it was a big deal so I didn't comment on it in my review.

[Anthony Caruana]

Anthony,

Could you post some pictures taken with this camera?

Here are some samples

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=160173#160173

Regards
Anthony

[Jeff Rutledge]

Those aren't bad at all. If your purpose is to convey visual information (and not to take a quality photo for the album), then this would certainly fit the bill!

[JustinGTP]

Considering that would have cost you 99USD, when you look at the Flycam from LifeView (http://www.lifeview.com.tw/eng/pro_ia_cam_cf.html) , it makes you wonder if the Veo cam is worth it. The FlyCam comes with

1. 1.3 Mega Pixel
2. up to 1024x768
3. 30fps,
4. a Flash

and all for 29.95 USD more!

-Justin.

[AhuhX]

HP Australia gives one of these away with every 2210 sold for free.

Why they felt like they needed to give something away to sell 2210's in Australia is a complete mystery, but who are we to complain.

I have one, and think its nice trinket, but prefer my real digital camera or the one on my T610 simply because I'm more likey to actually have it on me.

[dean_shan]

The camera on the picture in question is a Canon Powershot A70. It was used to do the pictures in this review. Sadly, it's not mine :-( It belongs to a colleague.

I really like Cannon cameras. I have the powershot s200. I want there pro one that is like the 35mill Rebels but digital.

[jeffmd]

I own the a40 and love it to death.

as for this camera, the pictures were pretty impressive. a bit fuzzy but good color!

[Stephen Beesley]

Considering that would have cost you 99USD, when you look at the Flycam from LifeView (http://www.lifeview.com.tw/eng/pro_ia_cam_cf.html) , it makes you wonder if the Veo cam is worth it. The FlyCam comes with

1. 1.3 Mega Pixel
2. up to 1024x768
3. 30fps,
4. a Flash

and all for 29.95 USD more!

-Justin.


And the flycam is CF I for those of us stuck without a CF II slot!

Goldtee

[Stephen Beesley]

HP Australia gives one of these away with every 2210 sold for free.

Why they felt like they needed to give something away to sell 2210's in Australia is a complete mystery, but who are we to complain.

I have one, and think its nice trinket, but prefer my real digital camera or the one on my T610 simply because I'm more likey to actually have it on me.

They are? I cannot see any reference to that on the HP Australia web site or at their online store.

I have actually been thinking of using the favourable currency exchange rates at the moment (€ to Au$) to pick up a PPC in Oz.

Goldtee

[Hx4700]

Couldn't start a new topic under Hardware, so I'll add it here.
Has anyone seen a driver for the old HP camera to be used on other PPCs???
Thanks,
Ron....

[Kaber]

I have this camera, and I use it a lot. It is good for taking snaps of things like documents. Here's some examples from the phone book. White Pages (http://mysite.verizon.net/res02afy/p0006.jpg) and Yellow Pages (http://mysite.verizon.net/res02afy/p0005.jpg). You really have to use that focus ring a bit to get used to it. And the pics were taken with the lens swiveled into the forward position and the ipaq upside down with the screen facing me.

The video it takes isn't the best especially if you are holding it unsupported or there is a lot of action. It comes out rather shakey and stuttery, but the audio records well enough. Maybe I'll edit in a link to a video later. The .avi's it makes will play in WMP on a PC, but you need the Veo software to watch them on the PPC.

I've gotten my $100 worth out of it. I recommend it to anyone who has a need for a simple and ready CF photo solution on thier PPC.

UPDATE***

Here's some video I took at the ComicCon in San Diego this year.

Dr. Doom (http://mysite.verizon.net/res02afy/m0005.avi)
Random Geeks circling some Star Wars merch (http://mysite.verizon.net/res02afy/m0006.avi)

You will notice the Auto-White Balance shifts quite a few times in the second video.

[Anthony Caruana]

They are? I cannot see any reference to that on the HP Australia web site or at their online store.

I have actually been thinking of using the favourable currency exchange rates at the moment (€ to Au$) to pick up a PPC in Oz.


I believe that the freebie was limited to the first 1000 sold in Oz. However, some retailers like www.calculatorking.com.au may still have some.

[Mexico]

I'm very tempted to buying one of these, but I'm wondering about the HP cameras about to be released. Does anybody know anything solid on these new HP cameras? Release date? Sample images?

Thanks a bunch!!!

Manuel