Many of us are still (somehow, maybe even forever?) working from home, completely dependent on webcams for face-to-face interactions with our co-workers, and grainy 720p streams don’t make your work-from-home PJs look as nice as you think they do. It’s long past time for an upgrade, and Anker’s new webcam includes several features that can help you appear less slovenly.
Now granted, if you’re trying to hide a 2-day old mustard stain on your T-shirt or an unfortunate acne breakout, the HD webcam included on your laptop is more than capable of delivering grainy, highly-compressed video to friends and family who will have a hard time seeing all of the flaws you’re trying to hide. But work is an entirely different social situation, with your boss expecting you to show up for online meetings looking as put-together as you do when you stroll into the office every morning.
The new AnkerWork B600 Video Bar captures video at 2K resolutions at 30 frames per second, with the added convenience of autofocus and automatic image enhancements to further improve video quality. It even has an adjustable field-of-view so you can ensure the piles of laundry and other messes you’ve pushed out of frame remain out of sight during a call. The B600 includes its own microphone with “AI-Powered Noise Reduction” to help keep noisy roommates or kids from interrupting a call, and its own speaker which, given the overall size of the video bar, almost certainly outperforms the ones built into your laptop.
The AnkerWork B600’s biggest selling point, however, is a generously-sized diffused LED light panel sitting just above the camera lens that can be quickly brightened and dimmed using a front-facing touch slider. You can also use a companion app on your computer to further adjust the brightness and colour temperature. The B600 is expected to cost $US220 ($304) when it launches on Jan. 25, which puts it at a higher price point than most 4K-capable webcams already available, but you’re paying a bit more for the convenience of not having to mount and use a separate LED light.