IP Cam Viewer Android app review

 

IP-based surveillance has become the standard security measure that we take when we want to have a piece of mind about our homes and offices when we are away from them. At best you can view the video stream from these cameras on a browser but with the enhancement of the mobile phone hardware and software, it became possible to receive the images from our locations on our phone. And even to change the settings in some cases. The wide-spread adoption of mobile phone access to the IP camera's stream has even caused some IP camera manufacturers to create and advertize a free mobile app for their cameras. Apart from that a few of the professional surveillance software manufacturers have developed and offered mobile clients as a pleasant addition that compliments their desktop and web products. The topic of our review is the IP Cam Viewer application for Android, developed by Robert Chou. It is a paid application which has a free, a little more feature-restricted one, but still plenty sufficient to cover all your needs to access a surveillance camera or cameras from a mobile device. The application can be found on the Android Market.

 

Interface and Operation

The number of menus through which you go to get to the desired mode, setting or feature is very minimal and each of them is very well organized. We were pleased with the simplicity of the interface!
Once you start the IP Cam Viewer you are faced with the stream of four-camera matrix video stream, of which one or two is preset, usually streaming from traffic cameras, and the rest are blank. To add your IP camera streaming you choose Manage Cameras (Picture 1) from the main menu and then Add IP and create a name for the camera and fill out the rest of the details like Category, Type, URL, the camera's user name and the password and then you test or save your settings (Picture 2).

 

While on Manage Cameras, you can choose Add Web. It allows you to add a live IP camera from the web. You have a great variety of choice among Traffic Cams, Beach Cams, and College Cams. Each of them offers you international locations including that from several US states. It’s really nice to be able to switch views from different places!

Another option which you choose from the main menu is the opportunity to view your video/s in either in Matrix or Gallery mode (Pictures 3 and 4). The Matrix mode supports up to a 16-camera grid in the paid version and up to a 4-camera one in the free version; and the Gallery mode shows you one of the streams in almost full view and the rest are shown in small thumbnails. The images are optimized for quality and we were pretty much satisfied with the one from the video from our office. Our office IP camera whose stream we accessed through an Android phone was VIVOTEK IP7133 (see review of the camera here), whose maximum resolution was VGA (640x480) - (Pictures 5 and 6 ).

The Settings are a few and actually you don’t have to touch them after you install IP Cam Viewer. This only shows how easy it is to work with the application! Robert, you did a good job!

Picture 3

Picture 4

 

Features

- You can take a snapshot of the stream by pushing the camera icon once (in Gallery mode only);
- Add your own camera or one suggested by the app, as we explained above;
- You have a great variety of IP camera brands and types of camera to choose from. The list can be found here!
- You can view up to 16 camera streams simultaneously!
- If you experience any problem with the software there is a forum where you can post your problem!

Picture 5

Picture 6

Conclusion

IP Cam Viewer free edition is an excellent application to access your IP camera/s video streaming and also enjoy pictures from cameras around the world! Whenever your wireless provider has coverage, you have the opportunity to see what is going on in your house and/or office.

 

Ip Camera Store team

 

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