Review: Looxcie LX2 Camera
By Branko Miletic
Digital cameras these days are absolutely everywhere. Whether we are talking about mobile phones, point-and-shoot cameras, CCTV, pen cameras, Tablet cameras, in-toy cameras, ATM cameras, PC cameras, camcorders and the like, the age of individual privacy is well and truly over.
Think about it – there is so much digital imagery and associated technology, if there is not a picture of you somewhere in the world, you could very well be dead, invisible or totally uninteresting. Jokes aside, this plethora of pictures is now set to be magnified with the release of the Looxcie LX2 wearable go-anywhere camera.
Coming with an assortment of attachments for your ears, bikes, kids, pets and anything else that you want to strap it to, the Looxcie LX2 is also designed to be viewed on your iPhone and/or Android device via its Looxcie Live video streaming app.
So whether you like it or not, you will look like a Cyborg wearing a large Bluetooth earpiece – this device takes the phrase ‘wear and share’ into a whole new dimension. On top of that, one of the best attributes of the Looxcie is not only its 2GB memory chip but that you don’t need to worry about pointing the lens in the correct direction. If you are wearing it, then all you need to do is look in the desired filming direction.
For those that like to post videos of themselves online ‘doing stuff’, the Looxcie gives you so many social media site options that only those still using MySpace will feel left out.
Ok, so what did I find that was not so great about the Looxcie? Not a lot really – except for that constantly annoying bug bear when it comes to all small digital video recorders – the resolution.
Although the makers claim they have managed to get the battery life to a respectable 10 hours, on their spec sheet, they only mention four hour blocks of battery life. You also need to be aware also that if you do hit that 10 hour mark, the camera starts wiping out the oldest stuff and recording newer material over itself, so keeping time when using this device is important.
Whilst it works with computers running Mac OS X (10.5 or higher), Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7, the Looxcie LX2 can’t do manual focus as it uses autofocus, giving a resolution that is only 480-pixel quality and not the 720 pixels. Moreover, if we are talking about live streaming, the resolution drops even further to a rather sad 320 pixels.
I know this is a bit of a spoilt tech boy whinge, but I am pretty sure that the unit has been evolved from some military-grade Head Up Display (HUD) camera, which I will bet my bottom dollar can do at the very least 720 pixels, if not the full 1080p.
Too bad, as this kind of fun device is designed to help people prove they really did achieve that 180-degree backflip with a three-and-a-half somersault right-hand twist on their skateboard whilst also munching on a Big Mac in torrential rain in that dodgy part of Rio de Janiero last New Year’s eve.
And that would look fantastic in Full HD- especially considering the LX2 costs around the $200 mark, meaning cheap is not the word I would use to describe this product.
Pros: small, light, wearable with a 10-hour battery life
Cons: only records at 480 pixels and streams at 320 pixels
3 Shacks Out of 5
Brought to you by CyberShack.com.au
