Have you imagined using your Android phone as a webcam? This is already possible if you are willing to use DroidCam, a free software (freeware) developed by Dev47Apps. The program (which has a version for Windows and one for Linux ) communicates with an eponymous application available for mobile devices and allows you to use them as a camera for video calls and chats on Skype.
For now, DroidCam does not have full support for audio, which will require the dispensing embedded on your smartphone and use an external microphone connected to your PC. If you want, you can choose to be a “beta tester” and install the capture of experimental audio program (this option is offered to you during the installation process). However, the very creators of the utility does not recommend we do this because of the instability of the resource, especially in the Windows operating system.
How to configure?
The DroidCam is able to communicate with your cell phone in several different ways, however, the simplest and quickest is through a local Wi-Fi connection (LAN). Thus, after having it installed on your computer, open the application and click the “Connect to Phone (WiFi / LAN)” button. Then open the DroidCam on your mobile device. You’ll find a balloon in the upper left corner of the screen that tells you the IP address and port of your phone. Back to the client DroidCam computer, enter that data in the “IP Phone” and “Port” fields, respectively. Finally, click “Connect”.
If you configured everything correctly, your phone should now be transmitting video to your PC. Instead of opening Skype or similar program to test it, click the ellipsis of DroidCam your computer (“…”) button and select the “Show output camera”. A small window will be opened where you can view the images being captured through your Android gadget. V ale note that you can configure DroidCam to work with different image resolutions and get a higher quality video. The utility supports from 320×240 pixels to 1280×960 pixels.
Review
The DroidCam is virtually indispensable for anyone who makes videoconferences regularly and has a cell phone equipped with a good camera program. After all, why spend more money with a high resolution webcam if you can use your Android device to transmit images of excellent quality? In our tests, we found that the utility is very practical and easy to use, requiring no technical knowledge from the user. Its interface is straightforward and minimalist without too many menus or buttons in excess.
In practice, the transmission of images worked well. We matched the software with a HTC Sensation and use Skype quietly, even though the video has shown some slowness when we adopt the highest available resolution (1280×960 pixels). Remember that software performance is proportional to the quality of your Wi-Fi connection (unless of course you choose to connect your phone via a USB cable).
In the end, the only DroidCam let us down because of the lack of support for audio, something that must be fixed in future updates of the program lessons. In short, it is worthwhile to try the application and retire once his old crappy webcam.
