pocketnow Reviews Spectec's SD Camera

[Janak Parekh]

http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?...=reviews&id=387

"SD cameras provide convenience and extremely small form factors at the cost of lower resolutions and less capabilities than full-sized digital cameras. As with this camera from Spectec, SD cameras lack a flash due to their size constraints. Because of this indoor pictures can be difficult to take except in the most brightly lit rooms. I was impressed with the quality of the outdoor pictures I took, however, where the camera had an adequate amount of light to work with. I'll show you what I was able to accomplish both indoor and out with the Spectec SD camera and you can decide for yourself whether or not an SD camera can be useful for you."



This is one of very few cameras, apart from HP's own Photosmart, that's currently available in SDIO form for Pocket PCs. If you're looking to buy one, you should certainly take a look at this thorough review.

[Janak Parekh]

http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?...=reviews&id=387

"SD cameras provide convenience and extremely small form factors at the cost of lower resolutions and less capabilities than full-sized digital cameras. As with this camera from Spectec, SD cameras lack a flash due to their size constraints. Because of this indoor pictures can be difficult to take except in the most brightly lit rooms. I was impressed with the quality of the outdoor pictures I took, however, where the camera had an adequate amount of light to work with. I'll show you what I was able to accomplish both indoor and out with the Spectec SD camera and you can decide for yourself whether or not an SD camera can be useful for you."



This is one of very few cameras, apart from HP's own Photosmart, that's currently available in SDIO form for Pocket PCs. If you're looking to buy one, you should certainly take a look at this thorough review.

[sheik]

I honestly can't see much point to this device, not just for me personally but for anyone.
My phone, (which my provider paid me to take, it isn't an expensive model), takes equivalent photos which can be bluetoothed to my PPC in seconds. Plenty of other phones have a higher res and some even have flashes.
Assuming you don't have a camera phone, I'm fairly sure a cheap camera would suit most people better than this device.

If the size is important, then "credit-card" cameras can be bought for comparable money and they will have better image quality too.
If the ability to transfer the pictures to the PDA is important (for e-mailing perhaps) then an MMC or SD card camera would be ideal. These will without exception provide far better resolution and quality and can be tiny for a bit more money.
Or, if you want to compare similar prices, then how about this cheap SD/MMC camera with video, flash support and 2MP resolution.

I'm not trying to be negative for the sake of it, I just really can't see why anyone would use one of these in preference to a camera.

/\dam

[sheik]

OK, thinking about it, perhaps I'm being *slightly* too harsh.
My phone doesn't do video I suppose, although many do nowadays.

Also, at least you get some bundled image software too. Assuming it lets you crop and resize images (I couldn't tell from the review) then that would be quite useful.

/\dam

[devhen]

Actually, sheik, the software that comes with the Spectec SD Camra does not allow you to crop or otherwise edit your photos. However, there are programs out there like Pocket Artist which do a great job of this on the Pocket PC. In fact, the default Images application which comes built into Windows Mobile 2003 includes editing abilities such as rotating, cropping, and adjustable brightness and contrast.