Nokia HS-1C Camera Headset

...a free upgrade to a Nokia 7210 picture phone, I almost bit their hands off! Being a text-aholic, I’d been wanting a picture phone for ages and the thought of being able to take my own cheeky photo’s to send to half my address book, just took me over. I shouted ‘yes send it to me’ without even bothering to ask any questions about the phone itself. As far as I was concerned a picture phone was able to send and receive pictures, so being a bit dippy ...
...went in seek of the Nokia HS-1C Camera. I did a bit of online window-shopping, but was quite upset about the prices I was finding. They were all between £60-70, so off I went to Ebay to see if I could get one on there for a bit cheaper. I managed to pick a new one up on there for £30 in the end, which was much better. (This was quite a while ago now, I have since seen them for as low as £25 – if anyone wants the link just let me know). I was like ... more

When T-Mobile rang me up one day and offered me a free upgrade to a Nokia 7210 picture phone, I almost bit their hands off! Being a text-aholic, I’d been wanting a picture phone for ages and the thought of being able to take my own cheeky photo’s to send to half my address book, just took me over. I shouted ‘yes send it to me’ without even bothering to ask any questions about the phone itself. As far as I was concerned a picture phone was able to send and receive pictures, so being a bit dippy I just assumed it contained a camera,.. Woops!!

I was so excited about receiving my new phone and was still under the impression it had an in-built camera! So when it finally received it, within seconds I had it out and went on my mission to get some pictures of the sleeping Baldloaf and his cute morning mouth!! Hmm,,.. where was the camera?? I spent about half an hour trying to work it out and then it eventually hit home (stop laughing) Arrrrgggghhh NO CAMERA!!!

So, after a bit of investigation I went in seek of the Nokia HS-1C Camera. I did a bit of online window-shopping, but was quite upset about the prices I was finding. They were all between £60-70, so off I went to Ebay to see if I could get one on there for a bit cheaper. I managed to pick a new one up on there for £30 in the end, which was much better. (This was quite a while ago now, I have since seen them for as low as £25 – if anyone wants the link just let me know). I was like a child for days after that, getting up early and waiting by the door for Mr Postie to arrive! Then he finally arrived one day and within seconds it was out of its box.

At first glance I thought ‘wowsers’ that looks like a smaller version of my computer mouse. The small silver camera is joined to a fairly long black cable that plugs into the port on the bottom of your phone. The camera itself has a sliding cover which protects the lens, you just open it up and wait less than a second for the green light to come one, this indicates that your ready to take your pictures. Just line up your shot, press the little silver button on the top and wait for the picture to arrive on your phone. When your phone receives your picture just press ‘show’ then ‘options’, where you can open, save, show details or delete. There is also a small switch on the bottom that your can choose your picture quality (low or high, however this does effect the size of the file).

THINGS I HAVE NOTICED ABOUT MY CAMERA:

It can take quite a while for the picture to get to the phone, sometimes it never even gets there at all - I don’t think this is because of alien interception or anything like that so its got to be something to do with either the camera or the phone. I know what my money’s on though.

The picture quality isn’t really that good. You have to be in a very well lit place to get a good snap with this camera! If you are in poorly lit conditions its not even worth the bother of attempting it, as the images will just be unrecognisable or it will just be a black square that arrives on your phone.

Another thing I find about the pictures are even though I line them up perfectly, they never come out right. For example I just took a picture of my mug in front of a plain wall – I actually got a picture of half a mug and the rest was of the wall? All I can think is the viewing lens is pointing slightly out.

It’s not the most sociable camera. As its just not viable to have it attached all the time, unless you’re the kind of person that would make use of its belt clip. It’s a nightmare when you have to rummage around your Mary Poppins bag to find the little thing, then you have to fiddle about trying to plug it in – all this takes time and normally the moment will have gone by the time your actually ready to take your picture (definitely no good for them trips to the zoo)!

The camera also likes to take it upon itself to turn my phone off. I have no idea why it does this, it will be working fine and then it just switches off. This is really annoying and only happens when I use the camera, so unfortunately the poor little camera has to be blamed again.

With regards to the radio, unfortunately I have never bothered to use it, but this is only because my phone already has one built in so I just listen to it through the good old hands free. I have just quickly tested it out for the purpose of this review and it is actually has quite good reception, but I obviously haven’t gone very far so I can’t say how much of a difference it might make. The volume controls are quite good too - it goes quite high, so you might look a bit of a wally if your sitting on the bus listening to the traffic reports. (To use the radio just plug your headset into the end of the camera).

OTHER USEFUL INFO

Camera Size – 72mm x 28mm x 18mm
Camera Cable length – 850mm
Colour – Black Cable/Silver Camera
Weight – 60g

MY OVERALL OPINION

I probably just expected too much from my camera. It is easy enough to use and does do the job it’s supposed to, it just takes its time doing it. When I bought mine it was definitely not good value for money, although it has probably saved me even more in text charges! When I think about how many pictures have actually been good enough to send, I have saved a small fortune :o) The cameras are much cheaper now, so I think you could certainly get your moneys worth from it. If you don’t mind fuzzing about for ages trying to get the perfect shot then this is the camera for you, I don’t have the patience and for me this has proved to be a very unpractical item. However, if the picture taking drives you round the bend you can always chill out and listen to the radio.

All in all for something I wanted so much, this camera has sadly disappointed me and will now spend the rest of its life in the drawer with all the other things that have been kept in case one day they may be needed again. I think unfortunately this was my money well wasted.

 

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