Digital Trends

Concord Eye-Q Go Wireless

June 7th, 2004 | by Nino Marchetti

Features and Design

The Eye-Q Go Wireless is a 3.4-inch by 2.4-inch by 1.3-inch pocket-sized camera with 7MB of internal storage. While 7MB isn't much at all by today's standards, the camera also features an SD/MMC expansion slot located in the battery compartment.

In a small compartment on the left side is a USB 1.1 port and mini-jack TV out plug, giving the Eye-Q Go two other options for connecting to other devices for transferring or viewing images and video.

With a weight of approximately 3.7 ounces and relatively small dimensions, the camera can easily slip into your pocket, but those features also make the camera seem to lack a solid feeling to it. The five buttons on the backside of the camera also felt cheap and difficult to push in, while the playback/camera operation slide on the top felt like it would snap off it pushed too hard. We also found the slide on the front of the camera, which offers scene selection controls, was stiff to the point of annoying.

The camera also offers 4x digital zoom, built-in flash, auto exposure and auto white balance picture quality controls and a 10-second auto timer. Included with the Eye-Q Go Wireless camera is a USB Bluetooth adapter, a soft carrying case with belt loop, a non-adjustable wrist strap, a CR123 lithium battery, a video cable, a USB cable, 2 CD-ROMS with software and drivers, and operating guides. There is also a standard tripod hole on the bottom for those who want more stability in their shots and an auto-shut off feature to help save on battery life, which Concord estimates to be approximately 120 photos.

The included Bluetooth dongle hooks up to any USB port for wireless image transfers.

Images can be captured on the Eye-Q Go at 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, and 640 x 480 pixels. Each image size also has three quality settings: fine, normal and economy. Besides capturing images in JPG format, the Eye-Q Go can capture AVI video files at QVGA resolution (240 x 320), which is perfect for viewing on PDAs.

Compatible with only Windows operating systems (98SE and later) with the USB connection, the Eye-Q Go is also compatible with phones by Sony-Ericsson, Nokia, and Siemens, and with HP iPaq Pocket PCs.

Camera Operation

Menu navigation was simplistic with the Eye-Q Go Wireless. Eight options, including image selection size, indoor/outdoor scene control and brightness, are easily navigable on the built-in LCD screen.

As mentioned before, five buttons adorn the back of the camera. Power, LCD on/off, menu access and “ok” buttons make up four of the five while the larger fifth one acts both as navigation for the on screen menus and zoom in/out.

A slide on the top of the camera allows you to switch between playback mode and picture taking mode, with the shutter button positioned between the two. Another slide on the front lets you choose between three picture taking modes for different conditions, be it distance, number of subjects or setting.