A cellphone camcorder that clips to the user’s ear has been tweaked to work with the iPhone series. The Looxcie LX1 had previously been an Android-exclusive.
The $199 device weighs just an ounce and clips to the ear in the same way as a Bluetooth headset. It has 4GB of on-board storage, which is just enough to record continuously for the four hours that the built-in battery lasts between charges.
The logic is that a user can record an entire event or activity without the need to worry about making sure to capture the highlights: instead they can simply dump the lot onto a computer via a USB link later on, edit the footage and pick out the best bits.
The video is far from high definition, instead being an HVGA resolution of 480 x 320 pixels at 15 frames per second. It also records audio at 64kbps which, as a point of comparison, is about half the quality of an iTunes track.
The “killer feature” of the device is that it can connect via Bluetooth to a mobile handset. Users can press a button on the earpiece to automatically send the previous 30 second of video to their Android or iPhone device. From here, a phone app lets them either e-mail the clip or upload it to YouTube or Facebook.
The Bluetooth connection works over a 33-foot range, so it could be used in situations where carrying a phone in a pocket isn’t practical, such as climbing or some sporting events. Of course, that doesn’t always mean raising a hand to click the earpiece button is going to be practical either.
The device also works as a traditional Bluetooth earpiece allowing the user to answer calls. During a call the video continues recording, but the audio mic is muted to avoid recording the phone conversation.
The app requires either an iPhone 3GS or 4 running iOS 4.2, or one of 14 approved Android 2.0 handsets.[source]
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