Point and click again

Introduction

It's nearly Xmas time once more. So what do you get people who have everything? Hopefully something that they don't have. Unless they bought the first version of this little gadget that we reviewed way back in 2009.

A pen that's also a tiny little camera is probably something that most people don't have. Apparently it is also "the perfect business person’s accessory", ideal for "law enforcers and mystery shoppers" as well as being "a cool gift idea!"

This is the Swann Security HD PenCam, which looks very much like the previous version of the PenCam. It's a pen which you can take pictures with, and also record videos (with sound) onto the 4Gb memory stick that's built in (twice as large as the previous version).

Set Up

Take it out of the box. Plug the USB part into a computer to charge it up. Screw that into the rest of the pen, and you're good to go. There's a small switch inside which allows you to switch between still camera and video camera. Select the one you want and away you go.

In Use

Hold the little button on top down for a few seconds. A little blue and orange light comes on for a second. And then it's ready to use. So you can use it like a camera, and take little snaps normally by clicking the little button. Or you can use it in a covert way just pretending that it's a pen, and clicking away taking photos. Because it has a tiny lens and is a pen rather than a camera, the results won't always be amazing, and you might have to use it very carefully to get great results, but it can be a bit of fun...

The built-in battery lasts for around 45 minutes before you need to find a USB port to recharge it. Sadly, that’s half the time of the previous version - so the memory capacity has doubled and the battery capacity has halved...

Conclusion

It's a fun little gift. And Swann have learnt the lesson of the previous incarnation, as this comes with an RRP of £39.99 instead of the previous version’s £90, which makes it far more affordable (but still by no means a cheap stocking filler!)

If you are looking at using it in some form of professional capacity then I'm not sure it's going to be up to scratch. As you can see from a few of the photos I’ve tried, the quality isn't amazing, and you have to hold it really still. If you were trying to take photos of something that you needed to capture in any form of detail, then you might find it hard to do that with this little pen.

So as a thing of fun that the kids might love playing with at Christmas, it's a winner (apart from the price tag). As a covert security device (whilst I'm no expert on this subject) I don't think that it's quite going to cut the secret agent mustard. Especially if they see the little status LED flashing on the back of it...