Creative's WebCam Instant is a webcam with personality. It has a three-leg base that's designed to fit thin-panel displays, laptops, and notebooks, although you can also rest it on a flat surface. With two legs hanging over the front of your monitor and its electric eye gazing benignly back at you, it looks like much more than a simple peripheral.

The WebCam Instant is easy to set up. Just plug the included USB 1.1 cable into an available USB port on your PC, and you're ready to start beaming your shining face to far-flung friends and family. The WebCam Instant is compatible with all of the most popular instant messaging applications, including AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Windows Messenger, as well as other instant messaging software.

The WebCam Instant can capture live video at a resolution of 352X288, at up to 30 frames per second, and store it in AVI format. The manual focus ring is easy to adjust. Unfortunately, there are no pan, tilt, or zoom features, which may cramp your chatting style.

The WebCam Instant can also capture still images at resolutions of up to 320X240 (640X480 software enhanced). This is acceptable for small images that will be posted on a website or shared via e-mail, but it is much too grainy for prints or enlargements. The camera can store images in JPEG or BMP format, so you should be able to share them with almost anyone.

The WebCam Instant is bundled with three software programs. Creative WebCam Center lets you use the WebCam Instant for remote monitoring or motion detection tasks, as well as time-lapse video captures. ArcSoft PhotoImpression provides basic photo editing and printing tools. ArcSoft Multimedia E-Mail allows you to create digital postcards from captured images, which you can then send to friends and family.

As you might expect from a camera with a bargain-basement price tag, video and still images delivered by the Creative WebCam Instant are nothing to write home about.

Pro: Inexpensive. Easy to set up and use. Includes three software programs. Compatible with the most popular instant messaging programs.
Con: Video images are somewhat blurry. No microphone. No pan, tilt, or zoom features.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Creative, Inc.
1901 McCarthy Boulevard
Milpitas, CA 95035
408-428-6600
http://www.americas.creative.com

Warranty
1 year limited