Eyeing the Smart Mobile Eye

The device is targeted towards individuals who want to monitor their loved ones at home, work, or school, owners of small businesses who wish to keep tabs on the operations of their businesses, and members of small organizations or associations.

The Mobile Eye, introduced to the market on March 24, costs Php9,595.00. It comes with a 3G-activated prepaid SIM card, a charger, and a mounting rack.

One of the attractive features of the Mobile Eye is PIN-code protection which safeguards against use by other subscribers who are not authorized to view. Although the Mobile Eye is cheaper than most high-tech surveillance cameras out in the market, it is quite expensive considering its VGA quality grainy image. The Mobile Eye, which is equipped with a low resolution 0.3 megapixel camera, has to comply with the limitations of 3G calling, that’s why its creators cannot yet come up with higher resolution for the video. In addition, the SIM that comes with the package is prepaid, so the user has to reload it constantly to be able to use the device. The only discernible way to know the balance left on the SIM card is to take it out of the device, plug it into an actual cell phone, and conduct the balance inquiry from there, a process which seems inconvenient. Still, it is fully wireless and portable, allowing for easy setup. You just arrange the settings on your phone, leave the Mobile Eye on a flat surface, and off you go. However, if you’re a person who wants to get a surveillance camera for actual security reasons or to investigate operation anomalies in your business, you might want to get a more advanced surveillance camera instead. It might be more expensive, but you save money by not having to constantly make video calls to the Mobile Eye, which can rack up quite an expense. Besides, the Mobile Eye is conspicuous, with its shiny white gleam and the glaring Smart Mobile Eye logo on its top. It can easily be spotted by possible wrongdoers, and we all know how conscious of their actions people can get when they know they’re being watched. But if you’re, say, a parent who just wants to check up on your kids at home but doesn’t actually expect any burglaries to take place while you’re not around, the Mobile Eye could be a helpful tool to make you feel closer to your distant loved ones. Of course, like in any surveillance-themed innovation there will always be questions of Orwellian “Big Brother”-esque invasion of privacy. But the harmless, even jolly-looking Smart Mobile Eye doesn’t seem designed to do anything other than keep a friendly, not suspicious, eye on our areas of interests, be it our families, businesses, or workplaces. Let’s just grant that it is quite an amiable new service and leave the skepticism and social theorizing to the academicians.

by: Cheekie Albay (www.yehey.com)