Digital Trends

Boynq Alibi December 17th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Features and Design

The Boynq Alibi speaker & webcam all-in-one unit has a purely fun design element to it. From the packaging to the highly unusual shape, the Alibi is anything but stodgy.

Available in multiple colors (our review unit came in a Kermit-green), the Alibi blends in with desk accessories or nick-knacks on a shelf. The base stands roughly 7" high with the webcam closed. When the pop-up webcam is engaged, the total height is about 8". The very top of the webcam is a mirrored metallic finish. When the Alibi is plugged in to your computer and the webcam head is popped up, the power indicator glows like bioluminescent green.

The webcam head can be adjusted to many different angles. It'll angle 25 degrees left and right, and it'll even rotate 300 degrees, allowing you to record video of most of a room without having to move the body of the webcam itself. Sadly, the Alibi does not have a rotating motor to automate this process. You still need to manually rotate the cam. Also, it may take a little fidgeting to get the proper angle to stick but once it's set, it'll stay. The webcam records at 640x480 and features auto white balance and color management.

The volume control is pretty cool. Instead of volume knobs, the Alibi has a tall silvery ring around its waist line. Slide the ring left or right to adjust volume up or down. The built-in mic isn't noise canceling, but it does cancel out incidental echoes from web chat activity.

On the very bottom of the Alibi is the 5 watt speaker, covered by a tough little metal mesh screen. The speaker has a frequency range of 20Hz to 20 kHz, which is pretty impressive. Of course, it's only 5 watts. It'll produce good quality sound, but you won't be able to crank it up very loud.

The Boynq Alibi works fine with VoIP programs like Skype.