NEXICAM EXPANSION PACK

I have been asked to have a look at the Nexian NexiCam Expansion pack for the Ipaq 3100 through 3900 series of Pocket PC's. If you are not familiar with the product it uses the expansion sleeve capabilities of the Ipaq to turn your device into a 800 x 600 VGA camera. Now with the convergence of multiple device types currently being all the rage in the PPC industry, it will be interesting to see how well the NexiCam camera handles this chore as an expansion option. So how well did it perform? Read on to find out.

The Design      

The first thing that I noticed as I slipped the expansion sleeve on the Ipaq, is that they have done a great job on the design of the camera. From the front, it is hard to tell it is an expansion option and not an actual camera. Also, it uses the record button on the Ipaq as the shutter to take your pictures, which is almost exactly where a shutter button would reside if it were a real camera. The design is such that when you are using the unit, you really feel like you have a camera in your hand. Some other notable design pluses are the inclusion of a compact flash memory slot, as well as a swivel option for the lens that allows you to easily adjust the lens angle for taking pictures. All in all, the design of the product is outstanding.

The Software

        In order to turn your Ipaq into a digital camera, you are going to have to load the NexiCam software onto your device. Now installation of the software is quite simple. Once through the installation process, you turn on your Ipaq to select the NexiCam program, and the screen of your device switches to landscape mode. You are presented with a very user friendly interface, which provides not only the view through the lens of the camera, but all the necessary settings and adjustments in order to help you take your pictures. Some of the available options are as follows:

The Pictures

       Now that we have all the other stuff out of the way, it's time to take some pictures. Now I should mention that prior to the review, I was provided with a disclaimer warning that the purpose of the camera was not to take high quality digital pictures, but to add an imaging function to the Ipaq that will suffice in certain situations such as real estate agents, store merchandisers, insurance adjusters, surveyors, etc, etc.  I will let you take a look at the pictures below that were taken with the camera to decide if the picture quality is right for you. Personally, I think it does a fairly good job dependant on what your needs are. The one issue I do have though, is the statements that are made on the packaging in regards to the product and the picture quality it provides. It seems everyone is willing to accept that the picture quality of the camera is average at best, except when they are talking to the end consumer. A direct quote off the blister pack package the NexiCam is shipped in as follows.

" Designed for Superior Picture Quality with high resolution (800 x 600 SVGA colour)"  

       Call me crazy but the sentence above does not sound like we are preparing the customer to accept a picture quality that is sub par and useful only in certain situations. All that being said, it is a packaging issue only, and if you are comfortable with the pictures this camera provides, it is really irrelevant.

Below are some pictures taken with the NexiCam expansion pack. Click on the thumbnails for full size image.

(Rating System 0-5 with 0 being worst, 5 being best)

Overall Rating-  (4.0)