Looking to Escape to the Unknown??? iSpyCams or Mobiscope can Get You There!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Price Rating: $19.95 (Mobiscope) 2 out of 5 stars

                                       $2.99 (iSpyCams) 4 out of 5 stars

Have you ever been sitting at work and thought to yourself how at that very moment you would love to be anywhere else in the world.  Perhaps jump on a plane and head to Paris, the Caribbean, or anywhere else the hear desires.  Now in that same instant have you thought I wonder what is happening there??? Well ponder and dream no longer, I have two apps that will comed to your rescue!

iSpyCams v1.0 is brought to us by Warelex and Mobiscope v2.9 by Shape Services are nice little apps for checking out the whole world. I will not go into great detail on the difference between these two apps, as they are almost identical except for the price!!

Mobiscope Features:

• Watch real time webcam video stream on your mobile. Keep an eye on your children even when away from home; See your loved one at any time when separated by distance or observe your work place and employees in the office during trips.
• Audio streaming. Enjoy greatly improved video and audio streams!
• Get motion detection alerts over email. Be notified of all motion detections and instantly watch a video stream from a place you observe. Start recording when motion is detected.
• Any webcam / IP cam support. You can watch up to 4 web/IP cameras simultaneously or watch public webcams streaming remarkable places of interest worldwide. If you connect to wireless cameras, the desktop service of Mobiscope is optional.
• No special equipment required. All you need is a webcam connected to computer (or network camera) and your mobile.
• User interface in English, German, French, Flemish and Russian.

iSpyCams Features:

• WORKAHOLIC? Take virtual vacation and check out surf, beaches, mountains and other popular places for summer vacation.
• ANIMAL lover? When watching Animal cameras, educate yourself about animals and birds you observe, see zoological wonders in zoos from all over the world.
• BIRDWATCHER? Enjoy wonderful diversity of birds that live far from your neighborhood or even your own country! No need to stand up early, birdswatch right from the iPhone!
• BEATLES fan? Watch Abbey Road Webcam which will bring you to the famous pedestrian crossing outside the Abbey Road recording studio. Watch tourists and other fans re-enacting the The Beatles’ Abbey Road cover, taken on August 8th 1969.
• Know more about famous world places and archaeological sites with iSpyCams! Vote for your favorite webcams!
• Besides viewing public cameras, you may configure and enjoy watching at YOUR OWN IP cameras. You may even view group of cameras simultaneously!
• Enjoy and Discover mode allows to view Wikipedia articles about selected cameras

Now the idea behind these apps is that there are multiple cameras setup at cafes, hotels, landmarks, etc all over the world and they feed into iSpyCams and Mobiscope.  Now when you first open up the app it runs a connection test to deem the best connection type on your device, now while it says (WiFi) on the splash screen for the app, there is no way to select WiFi only in the settings to save on your data plan.  So as a warning if you decide to download this app and do not have an unlimited data plan be careful! 

 

The main dashboard of the app is setup with a very user friendly layout.  There are six icons… Popular, Categories, Countries, My Cameras, Setup and Exit.  Now as I am sure all of you can figure out what is layed out in each of those icons.  I found the “My Cameras” section to be great, as you are able to setup your home security cameras or motion detectors up to the app.  This feature is great if you have small children that you need to keep an eye.  You can also receive email alerts when motion detectors are set off, allowing you to check in on what is happening in your home.

 Now the one major downfall of these apps is that they can use a fair amount of data if you aren’t careful.  Also if there is nothing going on at the location you decide to take a look at, it can be a bit of a downer.  If you are looking to be able to monitor employees, children, or anyone you need to keep an eye on, either one of these apps will work for you.

The general speed of the apps is pretty good, most of the camera feeds load farley quickly, and I did not notice too much battery drain when using them.  As there really isn’t too much to the apps themselves, they sit at around 2mb in size. 

All around these apps are OK, the UI could be updated and the connection settings must be fixed for the next version.  I found that some of the cameras were excellent quality and some were just a bunch of static or fuzz.  However the home security function is one thast sells these apps, and I cannot for the life of me see why anyone would pay $19.95 for Mobiscope when you can get iSpyCams for $2.99.  The UI’s are the same and the speed of the two apps seem the same.  The Mobiscope is a newer build, but other than that and the fact that Mobiscope’s UI is grey and iSpycams is orange, there is no difference.