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Web cameras are, to me at least, something of a novelty item. But with broadband connections becoming more common by the day and the quality of webcams improving all the time it’s not hard to see why they are so popular. Another reason is that they can now be used with most of the instant messenger services.

Logitech has just launched its new QuickCam Sphere, which is trying hard to differentiate itself from the average webcam. What Logitech has done is nothing new, but it is the first time that features like these have appeared on a consumer level product. The QuickCam Sphere has taken much of its functionality from high-end video conferencing systems that you would normally find in board rooms or hospitals. The main unique feature is that the camera can move inside its round housing allowing it to pan 90 degrees each way left and right as well as tilt 30 degrees each way up and down.

Logitech has also added head tracking software, which means that the camera will follow the movement of your head. Add digital Zoom to this and you’ll soon realise that this is a an attractive product if you’re into video conferencing.

But in my opinion the best feature is the detachable stand that allows you to raise the camera 22.8cm from its base which brings it pretty close to face level. This makes it a lot easier to position the camera correctly. The QuickCam also features a built in microphone, but it tends to pick up a little too much background noise to be really useful.

Installation couldn’t be much simpler, load the driver CD, reboot the PC and follow the on-screen instructions. This is where Logitech has done an excellent job compared to many of its competitors and if every PC accessory was this easy to install there would be a lot fewer telephone calls to technical support lines.

So how is it to use? Well, as I have relatives in the US who are keen on using their webcams I decided to have a go and see how well it all worked. The head tracking was somewhat disappointing with the camera at times focusing on a brown box behind me, which incidentally looked nothing like me. At other times it would focus on something completely different and I had to manually disable the head tracking and make the camera move back to the correct position. The digital zoom function works, but the picture quality gets degraded when used.

But the biggest problem here is the jerky movement as the camera seems to move on cogs. I don’t know if this is the case, but it appears that the camera is taking a small step for every movement rather than moving smoothly. This means that at times it has problems focusing on you and it ends up cutting out parts of your face that should be in the frame.