Microsoft recently unveiled its new series of LifeCam webcams. The Whack received the LifeCam VX-5000for review. The VX-5000 offers convenience and is portable enough not to interfere with your work. The striking thing about the VX-5000 is the bendable base, making it easy to place it on a desktop monitor or fix it to a laptop. The camera is available three different colors: blue, green and red (we received the blue one for review).

Setting up the camera was a breeze. The installation of the bundled software went smoothly and the webcam was up and running within 10 minutes of opening the package. However, it took considerably more time to open the package itself.

When logged in to the Windows Live messenger, clicking the button on top of the camera starts a Windows Live Call: it loads your contact list, and you have to select one to start a conversation with. There’s a unidirectional, noise-canceling mic on the Lifecam VX-5000. As can be expected, the webcam is optimized for Windows Live but works pretty well with others like Yahoo! IM and Skype. In low-light conditions, the video was less than desirable quality, but once you switched on the lights, the quality was pretty good.

For some reason, the default resolution for still photos was set to 640×480 (VGA), but you can easily change this to 1.3 megapixels. Even at that resolution, it falls short of some cell phone camera images, but then again this is not your everyday high-end webcam. The software bundled with the camera allows you to add all sorts of goofy stuff to your video conversation (you know what I’m talking about — stupid fish!).

The Photo Swap feature lets you share photos with whoever you are conversing with. There’s also support for one-touch blogging - a feature I did not try because I don’t have a Windows Live Spaces account. The microphone built into the LifeCam VX-5000 works pretty decently. However, I could not find any place where this can be over-ridden with another microphone.

The Microsoft LifeCam VX-5000 is easily a nice-to-have accessory, being in the mid-range of both price and features. Priced at US $49.99, it is actually available for around $37 on Amazon and other online retailers.

Tags: 1.3 megapixel, Digital Cameras, lifecam, microsoft, Portable Devices, webcam

Have you checked out the T-Mobile HotSpot @Home line-up lately? T-Mobile added the new Samsung t739, dubbed the Katalyst, to its series. The Samsung Katalyst comes in a slider design and offers Wi-Fi calling apart from regular cell phone calling. The HotSpot @Home, purchased as an add-on, allows customers with a more complete wireless coverage when using available home Wi-Fi networks or T-Mobile hotspots to make/receive calls. As soon as you leave a hotspot, the call seamlessly switches over to T-Mobile’s wireless network.

The Katalyst comes in a metallic silver finish, and apart from Wi-Fi, features Bluetooth, a sad 1.3 megapixel camera and IM (compatible with AOL, ICQ, Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger). A spiffy 176×220 pixel, 220k color display greets the user. An integrated MP3 player, support for microSD memory card and speaker-independent voice recognition round up the rest of the features. A quad-band GSM world phone, it measures 3.97″ x 1.98″ x .65″ and weighs in at 4.1 oz.

T-Mobile

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Tags: 1.3 megapixel, bluetooth, Cell Phones, katalyst, news, Samsung, Samsung, T-Mobile, T-Mobile, t739, tmobile

Funny name for a cell phone. The Samsung Blast is here, available to T-Mobile customers. Available in a slider design, Samsung claims that the Blast has an enhanced QWERTY keypad for easier texting and IM. The phone is compatible with 850/900/1800/1900MHz GSM networks and is equipped with a 1.3 megapixel camera - and it can also record videos.

Other goodies include hi-fi ringers, stereo Bluetooth support and, more importantly, voice-activated dialing. There’s also an email client on-board, and IM support for AOL/Yahoo!/MSN and ICQ. Samsung claims a talk time of 5 hours and standby of up to 8 days. The phone measures 4.2″ x 2.0″ x 0.5″ and weighs in at 2.8 oz.

Priced at US $229.99, it is available for ust $99.99 after instant discounts and mail in rebate.

Samsung Blast from T-Mobile

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Tags: 1.3 megapixel, cell phone, Cell Phones, im, offers, qwerty, Samsung, Samsung, slider, T-Mobile, tmobile

Toshiba Korea unveiled the new Toshiba Portege M600, a portable notebook PC featuring a 13.3″ display. Featuring an Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 processor on board, the laptop offers a 160GB SATA hard drive and 3D sensor for protection from shocks. There is also a 1.3 megapixel webcam available on the notebook. Apart from that, the M600 comes with 1GB of RAM and a DVD-Super Multi drive.

Graphics is handled by an integrated Intel GMA 950. For connectivity, the Portege offers 10/100Mbps Ethernet, 802.11 a/g wireless LAN and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. It comes bundled with Windows Vista Home Premium edition. Measuring 360mm x 267mm x 39.3mm, the laptop weighs in at 2.08 kilograms.

No word on the pricing or availability in the US yet.

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Tags: 1.3 megapixel, core 2 duo, Intel, laptop, Laptops, m600, notebook, Portege, Toshiba, webcam