Eyemodule2 Digital Camera Springboard Module for Handspring Visor

This was a quirky unit that required more effort to use than one would expect. More of a Science Project than an appliance. Low resolution.

This is an amzingly cool module, and believe me you will be the center of attention when you show it to your friends :-)As I mentioned don't expect miracles from this nifty little springboard module. The images though in 24bit color suffer from some pixelation. Don't expect this module to replace your few hundred (or if you spent a few grand) dollar digital camera.Another problem that I had with my Visor Prism was that it is very difficult to see the Prism's backlit display in bright sunlight and bright sunlight is what the eyemodule needs for taking good pics.Neverthless, this is a great springboard module and a really cool addon to your Visor and comes with it's own cool box which can also hold another module, I use mine to hold both the eyemodule and the backup module. To top it all this nifty gadget takes small quicktime movies also :-)I would have given 5 stars if the picture did not suffer from very slight pixelation. $200 can easily buy a bottom rung digital camera why cant these people just take out the CCD from there and put it in here? I am sure the future versions of the product will be still better.

Works

By now, you've probably heard that digital cameras are becoming a practical alternative to their film-dependent counterparts. Image quality has vastly improved, and many respectable digital cameras are being offered at sub-$300 prices. If you're in the market for a digital camera, Design by IDEO offers an interesting option: the eyemodule2.Installation was a breeze. Without reading the manual, I slipped the module into my visor and pressed the shutter button on the front of the unit. The eyemodule2 software on the Visor is simple and intuitive.Let me just come out and say it: the eyemodule2 does not take the greatest pictures, nor is it intended for the demanding photographer. The color images I took looked a little blurry and muddy. Even the sample photographs on the eyemodule2 website didn't look that great.That said, the eyemodule2 does take adequate pictures for certain tasks. For example, let's say you're sitting in lecture, and the professor draws an elaborate picture of the brachial plexus that you do not have time to scribble down. Unfazed, you break out your eyemodule2, pop it in your visor, take the picture, and view it at your leisure. Or perhaps you're in a business meeting, and you want to make sure you remember that new guy the next time you meet him. You guessed it-you take his picture and associate it with his name in your contact manager software. So what if the colors aren't perfect and the image isn't ultra-sharp-it's the data that matters in these examples. Think of the eyemodule2 as more an information gathering utility than a camera.Your mileage may vary. Is this utility (or novelty) worth the price of the EyeModule? You decide...

I got the first EyeModule camera. It had bad reviews here but I still got it. It was junk. Now I have the new EyeModule2 from Block Products. It is excellent. I use it on my Handspring Platinum, the EyeModule2 does make me wish that I had the color Handspring Prism now. You plug in the camera and your ready to take photos and even make movies. It works better in low light than the other camera but it is not great in low light. With normal light it is a great camera. I got down low and took some color photos of ducks in 640 by 480 pixels size. Excellent images. I made a black and white mini-movie in 160 by 120 pixels size and posted it on my web site. People can view it with QuickTime. It has three image formats 640x480, 160x120 and mini-movies 160x120. I do wish it had 320x240 since I use that size on my web site all the time. But I just have a program, like ChillCam, resize the photos. So the size is not a problem. With my Handspring Platinum I can take 50 full size color images or 660 160x120 B&W images or 85 seconds of B&W movies. I did about a 25 second movie and the file size was very large. Not a problem if your just going to view it on your computer but if your doing it for a web site it will be a large download for people. The software that comes with the camera is excellent. I did not need to install the version of ACDSee (v1.0) that came with it since I already had 3.1 on my computer. I also did not install the EyeContact software that came with it. It will let you attach images to your address book. I can see were it could be a useful program. I wish I had it when I was working as a hospital security officer, I would have added a photo of all the people that I arrested and keep a record of all those that I gave trespassing notice. I take my Handspring with me all the time. Now I will have a camera with me at all times. It is super simple to get the photos from the Handpring to the computer. I just push the HotSyni button and it moves the images over as .jpg files and the movie as a QuickTime file. I love the EyeModule2 digital camera. I wish they had put this one out first. This should be a great summer. I should get some great photos now that I have a small camera with me all the time. Thanks HandSpring, thanks Blocks Products and thank you to Amazon.Com for great service.

I've tried this for a couple of weeks and returned it. The focusing took far too long - trying to get shots of anything with a little motion was very difficult (small children, etc) - pictures ended up very blurry.Pictures look OK in highest resolution mode, but take up too much space on the palm. (As compared to a higher-resolution JPG file downloaded to the palm that looks better and takes half the space).The software worked well, except for the separately downloadable eyecontact (address book) - which for me reset my palm whenever I tried to add a new address entry.