Product Reviews

Macally's IceCam 2 is a USB 2 webcam that looks rather like a white, one-eyed head and shoulders image of Pixar's Wall-E. It's also a very decent webcam for anyone who doesn't have an iSight on their Mac.

It connects to your Mac using USB 2, and features a microphone, manual focus adjustment and a clip that doubles as a stand. The design of the clip means you can either attach it to your monitor (and screw it securely in place) or stand it on your desk. The camera head rotates through 360- and tilts 135-.

The IceCam 2 has a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels and is a USB Video Class device, so doesn't need any drivers. The only configuration necessary

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is to choose it from the preferences of the application you're using. Macally claims that it's compatible with iChat, Yahoo Messenger, and Skype, as well as Windows Live Messenger on Windows. We also found that it works with Apple's Photobooth application, which is now part of the Mac OS X install.

Video quality from the IceCam 2 was reasonable in our tests. It's not as clean or crisp as the feed from the iSight, and if you already have an iSight, there's no reason why you'd want this, but it is very useable. For applications such as video chatting over iChat it's more than adequate. Audio from the microphone was less impressive. It's a tiny mic and necessarily sits several feet from your mouth. This means that, as well as picking up what you're saying, it also picks up background noise and hum. And the quality of speech from it wasn't as good as, say, a USB headset.

This wouldn't be an issue if you could opt to use the camera for video and choose another device for audio, but the IceCam 2 is identified as one device, so you have to use it for both or not at all. That limits its appeal if you need better audio quality than its mic can deliver, but if you can live with that, it's a decent substitute for an iSight and a bargain at £20.