VIVOTEK Live Viewer Lite for iPhone/iPad review

The great diversity and number of mobile phone applications is one major reason for a person to own a smartphone. The three major platforms are Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android and RIM’s Blackberry. Each of them has an Application Store which provides access to all the approved and available apps for that platform. That makes finding and installing a new application a breeze. Actually it was one of the main reasons for the iPhone’s explosion of popularity (As of the end of October 2010 the total number of applications at App Store exceeds 300 000). Later other major mobile phone manufacturers like Google (Android Market, with currently more than 160 000 apps), RIM (Blackberry App World, with more than 10 000 apps) and Nokia adopted this model. Prior to the introduction of the application store the mobile apps could be found only at a number of specialized web sites and finding the one you want took some time.

In order for an application to enter the iPhone’s App Store it has to go through an approval process conducted by Apple. This assures that it is a quality one and does not contain any malware or offensive material. A few weeks ago we posted news about VIVOTEK’s release of an iPhone/iPad application. It is now the topic of this review. And we can expect that since it bears VIVOTEK’s name, it has the high quality that is characteristic for their products.

Interface and Operation

As typical for mobile apps, Live Viewer Lite has a simple menu with short steps to get to the place you want. It is important to mention also that the application is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad and requires iOS 3.1.3 or later.

Once you start the application an empty 8-camera grid appears. To add an IP camera, please choose Camera Config and from the list of 8 cameras choose “Camera 1” for example and then enter the camera’s details like Name, IP/Hostname, Port, Stream, Username and Password and Save them. Then you can watch the camera’s stream in Live View. Live Viewer Lite provides basic functionality compared to same-category iPhone/iPad applications like Eyespyfx’s Vivotek Cams and CCTV Camera Pros’ iCamViewer but it is still sufficient for a non-pretence user.

Features

The application has the following features:

- it allows you to view up to 8 streaming channels simultaneously;
- one click full screen view;
- allows you to save a snapshot;
- pinch in and out for e-PTZ to monitor your VIVOTEK camera on the go;
- supports all 7000 and 8000 series VIVOTEK network cameras (MJPEG mode only);
- works over both Wi-Fi and 3G.

Conclusion

We were very satisfied with performance. It really fits the app’s description in the App Store: “A simple way to view up to 8 of your VIVOTEK cameras over 3g/wifi.” That is all there is to it! Nevertheless we highly recommend it to you to test it with your VIVOTEK IP camera!

Ip Camera Store team