jeudi 14 juillet 2016

Avegant Glyph

The Avegant Glyph is a headset with a difference. It's not a virtual reality device, but it has the ability to let you watch 360-degree videos. It's primary purpose is a portable media player that can also transform into headphones meaning you can watch movies and even use it as an up close screen when playing games.

There aren't too many other wearable media devices out there - Royole X is the only set that comes to mind - so it's a niche market. After all, what's to stop someone from watching a movie on their tablet or experiencing 360 video with Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR?

Essential reading: HTC Vive vs Oculus Rift

That's the question I tried to figure out in spending time with the Glyph. The answer I discovered? The Avegant Glyph isn't a device that feels polished enough especially for a whopping $699, but the concept certainly shouldn't be brushed under the rug.

Avegant Glyph: Design and comfort

The Glyph's design is definitely eye catching, and bound to turn heads when wearing it outside the house due to the futuristic and weird-looking way you wear it. Basically, it looks like you're wearing Beats headphones the wrong way.

The box comes with a bunch of stuff that you're going to need. Aside from the headset, you get four interchangeable nose pieces, lens cover, carrying bag, HDMI cord, USB cord and guide.

The inter-pupillary distance (IPD) sliders found on top move the optics around so you can get a clear image while the nose piece can be moved up or down with a dial. The actual headset can also move to fit your head better. There are controls on the earphones that adjust sound.

You can wear the Glyph with an optional head strap as well - which I had to do because it didn't fit properly at first. Even after using the headstrap, it was still a pain to get it in a good spot, find the right nose piece and figure out the eye spacing. Let's just say adjustments weren't fun.

Apparently the optics are good enough to work without glasses, which I tried, but my eyes are too awful to use without the extra help. It did help a bit with the comfort level. However, after much experimentation, I finally found a nice spot where I could see without it being too uncomfortable.

That said, the Glyph was a little too heavy after an hour or so of Netflix. The nose piece didn't help as it felt like it pushing down on my nose, almost like a swimmer's nose clip.

Avegant Glyph: Performance

The Glyph experience is supposed to feel like you're in a movie theater, without the annoying people kicking your seat. It's a small field of view - only 40 degrees - so you don't entirely get the sense of being in a theater setting. There's also light bleed above and below your eyes, but that's part of the company's grand plan, allowing you to be more present when other people are around you. It's also easier to see stuff if you need to - like a phone call if you're plugged into your computer or console.

Speaking of, the Glyph can't fully function on its own. There's no onboard storage for its own user interface. Rather, it relies on you plugging into a phone, PC, laptop or console. In terms of the display itself, Avegant uses Retinal Imaging Technology and is 720p (or more specifically, 1280 x 720p per eye) and 2 million micro-mirrors. The micro-mirrors do all the processing so LCD screens aren't needed. Images will scale through whatever the Glyph is hooked up to.

In usage, everything was sharp and without lag plus bright - almost blindingly bright. There are three settings you can switch between but they're all still squint-worthy. The versatility with switching devices was also nice if I wanted from one device to another through HDMI and HDMI adaptors. However, the field of view is again, pretty small.

Add that to the fact that I wasn't able to use the Glyph for more than two hours at a time - as in I'd need breaks in between each usage because of comfort issues with the nose piece - I'd say it's not an experience everyone could enjoy. The intense brightness probably means late night usage wouldn't be good right before bed either.

Avegant Glyph: Features

The Glyph headset is meant to play all sorts of media and even function as a second screen if you feel inclined to use it for games or work thanks to the HDMI connectors.

It can also process 3D content in addition to the 360-degree videos with YouTube and Jaunt VR. However, that part of the headset isn't quite working yet. There's no head tracking to be found when viewing the videos so plugging in to watch 360 content won't do anything. Apparently an update is on the way since the hardware is already inside the Glyph, so I'll update once it hits. As it stands, good 'ol fashioned Netflix or Hulu (or whatever non-360 videos) it is.

Using the Glyph for gaming was similar to having a mobile phone strapped to my face, like Google Cardboard, because of the small FOV. Of course, the image quality was better and there's a larger selection of games to choose from but I don't think I'd use the Glyph often for gaming.

There was some getting used to in terms of work related activities - some of this review was typed in Glyph mode - and it's almost like an AR headset where you can see what's around you as well. But rather than a see through visor, it's just open space above and below your eyes.

Headphones are another route you can take with the Glyph. There's a magnetic cover provided that you can put over the lenses so it can sit on your head properly. Sound is fantastic when watching movies, and it's no different listening to music. All it takes is a stereo mini plug and you're set. The Glyph was actually also more comfortable as headphones for me.

While the Glyph's head tracking isn't exactly up and running, it does work with drones like the DJI Inspire 1. For drone enthusiasts, this could be a potential goldmine considering there aren't a lot of devices that work well as a visual aid.

Avegant Glyph

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Avegant Glyph: Battery life

The Glyph is able to run four hours on a 2060mAH battery. It also blinks a warning once it gets closer to the running out of juice and will also flash a warning on the display.

It doesn't sound like a lot of time, but when considering its uses, you can watch several episodes of a TV show or even two movies before it has to be recharged. That's pretty good if you're on a short flight or lounging around at home. Recharging at a completely dead state takes around three hours which sounds annoying - however you can still use it when it's plugged in. Convenient.

Thankfully, there's no proprietary charge cord. A simple microUSB that Android phones use will do the trick though the Glyph comes with its ownThe Avegant Glyph is a headset with a difference. It's not a virtual reality device, but it has the ability to let you watch 360-degree videos. It's primary purpose is a portable media player that can also transform into headphones meaning you can watch movies and even use it as an up close screen when playing games.

Essential reading: HTC Vive vs Oculus Rift

Avegant Glyph: Design and comfort

The box comes with a bunch of stuff that you're going to need. Aside from the headset, you get four interchangeable nose pieces, lens cover, carrying bag, HDMI cord, USB cord and guide.

That said, the Glyph was a little too heavy after an hour or so of Netflix. The nose piece didn't help as it felt like it pushing down on my nose, almost like a swimmer's nose clip.

Avegant Glyph: Performance

Avegant Glyph: Features

The Glyph headset is meant to play all sorts of media and even function as a second screen if you feel inclined to use it for games or work thanks to the HDMI connectors.

Avegant Glyph

Wareable may get a commission

Buy Now

Amazon

Avegant Glyph: Battery life

The Glyph is able to run four hours on a 2060mAH battery. It also blinks a warning once it gets closer to the running out of juice and will also flash a warning on the display.

Thankfully, there's no proprietary charge cord. A simple microUSB that Android phones use will do the trick though the Glyph comes with its own

mercredi 13 juillet 2016

gear S2

When it comes to Samsung smartwatches, our Gear S2 review breaks new ground. Never before have we been able to describe a Samsung smartwatch as desirable, intuitive or – most importantly of all – compatible.

With its Swatch-like looks and ability to play nicely with rival Android smartphones, Samsung has performed a spectacular U-turn. The result is a bold wearable that gets as much right as its predecessors got wrong. Read on to find out why Samsung is back in the game.

Samsung Gear S2: Design

It's impressive how many bases Samsung has covered in just two designs: the standard Gear S2 and the upscaled Gear S2 Classic. It should be noted that the stainless steel and plastic editions look like watches and feel well made – and if you've ever worn a previous Samsung smartwatch, you'll know that is big news.

If we'd had a choice of which Gear S2 to review, we'd have plumped for the Classic. The ridged bezel, leather strap and smaller body combine for a premium feel, and it can be easily fitted with third party straps. It's $50 more expensive, but feels lovely.

We also haven't had a chance to test the Gear S2 with 3G and GPS – the obvious choice to compare to the Sony SmartWatch 3 or Moto 360 Sport if you want a smartwatch for everyday as well as running or training.

With two different designs and a bunch of different straps, there's some choice of style in the Samsung Gear S2 line-up, though it can't rival Apple or Motorola for personalisation options. While the Gear S2 Classic, with its leather strap, looks more in line with a Fossil watch, the plastic strapped Gear S2 has more in common with a Swatch. This is key for a couple of reasons. First, the Samsung Gear S2 doesn't try too hard. With its pre-loaded watch faces it looks fun and off-the-wall. It's not trying to be as classy as an Omega or as blingy as a Michael Kors. It has a confident style and it translates well.

One of our only criticisms here is that the 11.4mm thick S2 is still quite chunky and sits quite high on the top of your wrist. This is similar to the second gen Motorola and if there's one guarantee about the next generation of devices it's that they will be slimmer, but right now smartwatches are still chunky. The Classic will work for women but it wouldn't be our first recommendation. Still, one thing is for sure – we are so far away from the first Gear watch. This is a polished, unisex, circular smartwatch that no one will be ashamed of wearing.

Samsung Gear S2: That rotating bezel

The Gear S2's rotating bezel is far and away our favourite thing about the piece. Rather than try to disappear the bezel altogether like Motorola or primp it up to look like a traditional wristwatch like LG, Samsung has transformed it into a satisfying, addictive and most importantly, intuitive way of interacting with the smartwatch.

When you move your hand to hover over the watch on your wrist it's the exact place your fingers land, even when you aren't looking down yet, and thanks to some clever UI design in its Tizen OS – more on that later – you can switch between apps, cycle back to notifications, change volume and brightness all in the same smooth motion.

In short, it's genius and – sorry, Samsung – we hope to see similar mechanisms on rival smartwatches.

It's faster than Apple's Digital Crown on the Watch and the touchscreen prods and gestures of Android Wear. You can control everything with your finger on the right half of the bezel (if you're right handed) which means you will always be able to see the whole display.

The bezel's closest rival here is actually a little known Chinese watch, designed by Frog design, called the Ticwatch which has a capacitive strip on the outer edge.

There are also two buttons on the right-hand edge of the round watch body: 'back' at two o'clock and 'home' at four o'clock. The first of these is in the perfect position, the second can be a bit annoying to shift your hand around to press. You can set a double tap of the home button to launch an app, such as the music player or maps, which is handy, though unlike say, a Pebble, in order to select an app or setting it's back to prodding the touchscreen.

Samsung Gear S2: Screen

With so much love for the rotating bezel you might forget to pay proper attention to the bright, vivid and sharp 1.2-inch Super AMOLED screen. It's smaller than some smartwatch screens and set into the watch so it doesn't look quite as modern as the Moto 360 2. But this just increases its retro/classic charm.

At 360 x 360 pixels, the Gear S2's screen has an impressive pixel density of 302ppi, which means you can choose to set the font very small and see more messages or notifications on one screen as you scroll through them. It's as pin-sharp as the smaller Apple Watch and it shows. And unsurprisingly for a Samsung product, it can go very bright – probably too bright, though, as most days we settled for a low, easily readable setting.

Samsung Gear S2: Tizen

Tizen has always been a gamble for Samsung but this time it has paid off. Unlike all the Android Wear watches from Huawei and LG and Motorola which benefit from recent updates but can't really move the category on, the Gear S2 is doing its own thing. And its thing is a damn well easy to use smartwatch OS. As easy to use, in fact, as our beloved Pebble OS.

The home screen is the watch face screen and you simply rotate left one click for recent notifications. Rotate right to get to a screen with an apps icon, settings, buddies (for quick messages) and S Voice. Keep rotating right and you can get easily glanceable information – weather, S Health progress, heart rate and information from third party apps. Choose the apps menu instead and Tizen makes the most of the circular screen and bezel with round app icons around the edge of the display to cycle through. Keep going with the bezel and it simply takes you to the next screen of apps. It is much quicker than zooming in and out with a Digital Crown.

Editor’s picks

Notifications are there, messages are there, call logs, third party apps… You can't get lost. One niggle is that images, say from WhatsApp, don't display on the watch but this can be excused for the time being. Tizen performs well too with no lag between transitions – the only thing that keeps you waiting is animations when apps open. Unlike Android Wear, the music player controls work without fail every time. With alerts, the vibration is quite subtle – not refined subtle like Apple's Taptic Engine but more in a you-might-miss-it kind of way. You can set the Gear S2 to long vibrate and there are levels to choose from but even 'strong' isn't that strong.

Our only criticism is that it would be great to be able to customise the aesthetic of the whole UI – it looks a little clownish and in particular will probably look a little odd on the Classic. Apple's watchOS 2 is colourful but looks more suited to a stylish accessory and watches such as the Olio Model One are offering bespoke watch faces and UIs custom to each finish.

Like the Apple Watch, it's missing the contextual alerts of Google Now which can be really handy, but arguably what Tizen offers is – for now – more useful; a quick way to find out and access what's happening. What we really want is a blend of the two – Google's virtual assistant is the future but Android Wear is still a work in progress after 18 months. Outside of Apple and Google, Samsung has obviously been looking elsewhere for its services and maps are taken care of by HERE Maps. It's generally accurate and you can zoom in and out of your location using the bezel but it can be rather slow to load on the watch. Directions are handled by a separate HERE app, Navigator.

Tizen supports Bluetooth – the S2 works with most Android phones, another first for a non-Wear Samsung smartwatch. It also has Wi-Fi on board – pull down to see if it's in 'standalone' mode or paired to a phone – as well as NFC for Samsung Pay, its mobile payment service which is a hit in Korea, just launched in the US and is coming to the UK. We'll update this review with our impressions of using Pay with the Gear S2 very soon.

There is also the small matter of the 3G and GPS Gear S2 with a bigger battery but we haven't seen this model yet, and according to a Samsung exec it's not due to come to the UK or Europe.

Samsung Gear S2: Health and fitness

So many health and fitness features are bolted onto smartwatches these days, we'll focus on what Samsung does well. Step counting is accurate and S Health offers some easily glanceable graphics to show your progress to specific goals set in the smartphone app.

If you want to be more active, the Gear S2 can vibrate to remind you you've been sitting down for nearly an hour and also give you the time you've been inactive as well as active – all useful, motivational stuff. Other alerts include step target achieved and healthy pace. You can also input that you've drank a glass of water or cup of coffee with one tap (once you've reached that screen with the bezel) which is exactly the kind of thing a smartwatch can help with.

The S2 isn't going to replace your sports watch, especially as neither the regular nor Classic models have GPS, but there are some attempts to give you that option. It auto tracks walking, running and cycling, with estimates of calories burned, which is perfect for the kind of casual user who would consider the Gear S2 as an all-rounder. Though it did detect our evening jog, it also had a blip when it once – only once – classed sitting on the sofa as light activity. Nike+ Running is also preloaded and is a better choice for regular runners as it shows time, distance and pace right on the watch face.

The heart rate monitor on the underside of the Gear S2 is a cut above too, and while it's no more accurate than the tech you'll find on an Android Wear watch, it's a lot more useful. It can take on the spot readings and can also be set to continuously take your pulse at intervals with two settings, moderate or frequent.

When you're not exercising, you can also tag your bpm readings as 'resting', 'before exercise', 'after exercise' or with moods such as 'excited' and 'angry' so you can keep an eye on your heart's health. The app also lets you know if your resting heart rate is average or lower/higher than average, though the stats get annoying fairly quickly.

All-in-all, the S2 offers more than Android Wear or Pebble in terms of health and fitness tracking. It's similar to what the Apple Watch is offering, partly successfully, but if Cupertino does decide to include GPS on its next model, the Gear S2 could get left behind.

Samsung Gear S2: Apps

Here's the part of the Tizen gamble that might not pay off. There are a handful of preloaded watch faces to choose from – both analogue and digital style, customisable and some with 'complications' to show the date, the weather or whatever you want instant access too.

As for apps, Samsung promised over 1,000 Tizen apps designed for the Gear S2's circular screen and it gave developers plenty of notice to get them ready. What we have is a bunch of big names like Nike, CNN, Yelp and Twitter as well as some smart home control options, and then a lot of, shall we say, interesting apps to sift through. Interesting may be generous.

You can head to the Samsung Gear Apps store via the Samsung Gear app to see the limited selection for yourself, but chances are you won't be too impressed. For instance, there's no Uber app yet, though you can obviously order a cab on your phone then get the alerts to your smartwatch until the app arrives.

Pebble's indie app store took time to get going, but despite the healthy community and the decent Kickstarter sales, it hasn't come close to Android Wear or Apple.

But this is Samsung and the Gear S2 has the potential to outsell all Android Wear watches. We haven't seen anything available for Tizen so far that pushes the boundaries of what smartwatches can be great at – we're thinking of Google's two way translation app, say, or the text based games on the Apple Watch. But it's still very early days, so we will only say that if you think apps will be a big part of your smartwatch experience, it might be wise to wait or look elsewhere.

Samsung Gear S2: Battery life and charging

The battery life on the Gear S2 is better than most smartwatches. Of course it depends how you use it – whether you go for the always on screen, how much you use apps like S Voice and Maps, etc. But when using the S2 as much as we've used Android Wear watches day to day, Samsung's smartwatch is the one left standing. The 300mAh battery inside is officially good for three days – we haven't got more than two and a bit days out of it, even without the screen 'always on', but we're sure it can go for longer with lighter use.

To find out the battery level, you swipe down from the watch face, exactly the same as on Android Wear. Especially worth mentioning is the superb Power Saving mode. We left the house on 15% battery one morning having forgotten to dock the S2 in its tidy wireless charging dock overnight. We popped power saving on and it got us home from work before the Gear conked out. This switches the watch face to a simple grayscale screen, disables everything apart from alerts, calls and messages and turns off Wi-Fi. In short, it's wonderful and it means you won't be wearing a blank circle on your wrist on your commute home.

As for that dock, it's the spitting image of the Moto 360 dock (a little smaller) and helps to build charging into your daily routine. The only annoyance comes with needing to charge your watch at work or when travelling but nine times out of ten, we prefer this kind of dock to a random proprietary cradle.

Samsung Gear S2

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Samsung Gear S2: Voice

Voice controls on the S2 are actually a bit of a letdown – it's one of the only areas Samsung needs to improve on. S Voice can be accessed on the first screen right of the watch face and it can also be set to open by double pressing the home button (as can any app). The software uses Nuance voice recognition tech, like Pebble watches, and this just isn't as reliable as Google Voice or Siri.

The watch's mic picked up what I was saying without having to bring the device up to my mouth, choosing to open a result on my phone was quick and reliable and it's nice being able to add your own command phrase. I also recorded a voice memo with Samsung's built-in app which handily transcribed my mutterings. Annoyingly though, it was with only around 75% accuracy. It's much the same with voice searches, plus it's a bit of a pain that it defaults to Yahoo search results, rather than Google, on the watch. That can make for some odd results.

As ever, voice needs to work more times than it doesn't in order to get people trusting the technology. It could have been a great anti-touchscreen one-two with the rotating bezel, but S Voice isn't quite there yet.

gear vr

Looking into the future: Samsung Gear VR review

Summary

Oculus VR and Samsung's Gear VR virtual reality headset is an enticing first taste of the potential future of a new medium. It's light, comfortable and -- most importantly -- accessible. Gear VR is the most usablevirtual reality headset we've ever tried, and the first to market after several years of hype. At the same time, an extremely limited selection of software and functionality makes Gear VR live up to its "Innovator Edition" alias: It's a device intended for early adopters and virtual reality enthusiasts, not the mainstream. At least for now.

Pros

Incredibly accessible
Light, comfortable, attractive
Extremely impressive visuals

Cons

Limited functionality
Extremely limited software library
Requires a Note 4, making it very expensive

Looking into the future: Samsung Gear VR review

You can finally buy a virtual reality headset and use it in your home. Right now -- today -- that is possible. It doesn't cost $10,000 and it doesn't come with caveats like, "This is made for developers." Samsung is officially the first to market with an accessible, impressive virtual reality headset, all powered by software from Facebook's recently acquired Oculus VR team. That alone is very exciting: We are standing at the precipice of a new medium, finally technologically possible. Wireless, consumer-grade virtual reality! In your home! Today!

Samsung's Gear VR is both an astounding feat and an illuminating vision into our near future; it's the closest anyone's come to making virtual reality into a palatable consumer experience, and a stark example of how far we still have to go before that dream is completely realized.

smallest 4K camera

If your sole guidance on an industry was the share price of the market leader, then you'd definitely consider it a tough 12 months for action cameras. That said, newcomer So Special Labs isn't put off. In fact, it thinks its Mokacam GoPro rival might just be the tonic the product category needs. The 4K action camera packs a dual punch of being small and reasonably priced. At $270, it's more than $200 cheaper than GoPro's flagship 4K camera, and it deliberately tries to improve on its rival pain points. With all of that going for it, is the diminutive Mokacam able to compete with the biggest name in this space?

Going by the marketing, you'd think the Mokacam's key selling point was its size. On its hugely successful Indiegogo site, the company claims three separate times that the device is the "world's smallest 4K camera," and that's before you even get to the details of the product. The main websitealso repeats this claim throughout and boasts, "The only risk you run is not being able to find it in your bag." Spoiler: I can confirm that it's quite easy to find in most bags, though it is indeed on the smaller side.

The problem with the size claim is that at 45mm x 45mm x 30mm, the device isn't that much smaller than an unadorned GoPro Hero4 (41mm x 59mm x 30mm). And depending how you measure it (if you just measure the body and ignore the lens), my ruler suggests the Mokacam might not be smaller at all. The GoPro Hero4 Session is definitely more compact than the Mokacam, but then again, it doesn't shoot in 4K. Last, once you add the waterproof case to the Mokacam (required if it's going to get wet), it's actually bigger than any housed GoPro Hero4 -- so I'm not sure why the company placed so much emphasis on the footprint.

The size brag seems even less necessary once you look at the spec sheet. The Mokacam has a pretty robust feature set that includes a 16-megapixel sensor (the GoPro Hero4 Black has 12); 4K video shooting at 25fps; a decent Sony sensor; and hot-swappable, magnetic batteries, plus software stabilization and motion detection. Some of these features address major pain points found in all action cameras, but a few feel specifically targeted at GoPro (battery life and the lack of image stabilization come up again and again in GoPro forums).

Mokacam wouldn't be the first action camera that relied on unique features to stand out. Garmin's VIRB series trades on the company's GPS heritage, and TomTom added auto-editing, while others bet on price. The Mokacam, for its part, tries to solve genuine problems rather than create gimmicks. I already mentioned the hot-swappable magnetic 1,100 mAh batteries, for instance.

This is a genius idea that theoretically lets you record forever (at least until your memory card fills up). The magnetic back also means you can mount the Mokacam on metal surfaces directly, no accessories needed. In a similarly practical vein, the attachable LCD screen has its own battery and thus doesn't drain the one inside the camera.

It's not just the hardware design that's thoughtful. The software -- on both the camera and the app -- also has clever features. First up is software stabilization, which I found wasn't as smooth as the OIS found in theiPhone 6s Plus. Still, it's better than nothing. Then there's the motion detection. With this, you could use the Mokacam as a security camera or capture wildlife shots. Other cameras have similar features, but their inclusion here shows Mokacam's makers are eager to please at both the hardware and software level.

Smart hardware and clever code are only as good as their delivery, though, and this is where things go a little off track for the Mokacam. Those hot-swappable batteries? A great idea and fun to snap on, but they can be knocked off during an activity (unless you're using the case, that is). And the LCD screen? It works well enough, but the menu system isn't intuitive. Many key features, including motion detection, are hard to find. The menu screens on the LCD are generic and look like they'd be more at home on an off-brand MP3 player from 2009. Neither of these accessories works with the optional stabilizer accessory (itself a good product, and was used in the sample video in this article).

I'd like to say that the Mokacam was also designed for ease of use. It probably was, but the reality isn't so straightforward. It's nice that there's an app and an LCD screen to control the camera, but there's barely any feedback on the camera itself. One single, tiny LED on top of the camera tells you whether the device is on, recording or taking a picture -- and it's barely visible in the waterproof case. To switch between video and photo mode, you tap a button on the side; an equally small LED provides feedback here. It's easy to press this button by accident without realizing it. It's also the same button that you use to activate WiFi, with a long press. Doing so dims that top LED enough so that it looks like the camera is switched off (it isn't).

By the way, you'll want to enable WiFi so you can use the companion app. You might wish you hadn't bothered, though, as the software needs work. On Android, I could barely get it to run at all. I successfully connected to my phone precisely one time. The iOS version works much better but still lacks many of the menu options the LCD display provides, and it's pretty ugly too. Other oddities include the option for 20-megapixel mode, even though the camera's sensor has 16 megapixels, and the 4K video mode isn't accessible here either. So unless you have the LCD (which is technically $50 extra), you'll have to wait until the app gets updated before you can use it. Thankfully, an update is indeed in the works, the company tells me.

This is a first-generation, crowdfunded product. So I'm willing to cut it some slack if the image quality is on point. The slider below contains two versions of the same shot, one from the GoPro Hero4 Black (right) and one from the Mokacam (left). The two had near-identical settings (mostly auto). You'll see that the Mokacam's higher resolution results in sharper detail on the trees and other busy objects. You'll also notice that the color is much more vivid. This may initially make the image more pleasing to the eye, but the GoPro's color reproduction is actually much more authentic. That is to say, the Mokacam is boosting the saturation on the camera.

As for video, the results are pleasing. The general image quality is good, and there's no screen door effect either. Colors don't seem as amped as they do in photo mode, but there might be other factors at play. Bright backgrounds can blow out the image a touch -- the cheery blue Spanish sky in the sample below seemed to come out white -- and at times there's what appears to be lens distortion. There is an option to remove that on the camera, which is a real time saver, but it's not always practical out in the field. Overall, though, the Mokacam is good enough that, combined with price, it makes a strong case to those not willing to spend more than $300 on a camera they may only use occasionally.

Ultimately, could the Mokacam be my go-to for outdoor activities? Not right now. I love the creative thinking behind the batteries, the self-powered LCD and the ability to mount it magnetically. The camera delivers decent photos and video too. The issue for me is the usability. Simplicity is good, but visual feedback and functionality are better. Still, at $270 for a fully loaded bundle (with extra battery, LCD, waterproof case, remote and carry pouch), you might consider a few lost or accidental videos worth it.