We haven't reviewed a product like the TouchCam N1 before but such a simple product requires comparatively less testing analysis than the enthusiast products that we typically review at Vortez. So to ascertain how well the TouchCam N1 handles Skype and interaction I will be showing some imagery taken directly from Skype during testing.

Installation is very simple, connect the camera to your computer via the USB cable and ensure Skype is installed and you are good to go. It's as simple as that, plug n' play. If you don't have Skype already there is a copy of the IM on a CD bundled with the N1, although this is now quite out of date (version 4).

Image Quality

From the below pictures you can see that the image quality is quite fair. It isn't fantastic. The image quality of the phone is probably the best out of the bunch, the dog and fans appear to be quite blotchy and pixellated which is a little disappointing. That said though, the N1's ability to operate in low light is quite pleasing as you can see from the picture of the fan with the lights off. It's important to note that to get 720p HD quality your upload stream will need to be rated at above 1 Mbps. Otherwise quality is down-graded.

The N1 lens allows you to capture more content than a standard camera lens would thanks to the wide-angle. Auto-focussing is also very useful and it works extremely well on the camera. Motion capture is also extremely fluid and no jolts or juddering was experienced whilst using the N1.





Additionally in order for the wide-screen capture to properly work the camera will need to have at least 1Mbps bandwidth and thus be in 'HD mode'. So ideally you want to ensure that you have a decent upstream rate to guarantee best image quality.