Virtual Hideout takes a look at D-Link's DVC-1000 i2eye Broadband VideoPhone. All we have to say is that it looks like something from Star Trek.
Quote from the review:
“Staying in touch with people who are far away has been one of the mainstays of technology throughout the ages. Indeed, to support the vast infrastructures in place, fast and efficient communication is not a luxury, but a necessity nowadays, and when one thinks about it, much of our communication equipment not only supports infrastructure, but is an essential part of that infrastructure. When one thinks about it, a phone is pretty much a prerequisite to living in the modern world; some would say that Internet access is also the same. Following the lead that voice communications have taken, video communications have been promised for some time now. Watching any number of non-Apocalyptic future TV shows will certainly yield some form of video communication, whether it be through Star Trek or that episode of The Simpsons where Lisa is thrust into the future after her encounter with the fortune-teller. But a number of things have prevented the videophone from being widely adopted, from price, to the simple fact that many people don’t want to be seen as they value the inherent privacy of a phone.”
Our take: Cool idea, ugly execution. Personally there is no way I would use this big ugly behemoth in my house. The unit itself is larger than what I would have imagined and the remote reminds me of those cheap little remote controls found in hotel rooms. From reading the review it sounds like image quality and frame rate speed could be improved, but they do like how intuitive it is to use.
