Categories: Technology

Coolpo Conference Cameras Review – Two Camera Options for the Modern Era [Review]

In today’s day and age, having a good camera is non-negotiable. After all, we use virtual communications for pretty much everything now. Working, playing, learning, socializing － it doesn’t matter. If you want to (safely) chat face-to-face, video conferencing is the way to do it.

For those of us who embraced remote employment, schooling, and appropriately-geeky game nights with old college pals long before the pandemic made its unwelcome appearance, this isn’t a big deal. Yet plenty of others have an entirely different experience altogether.

The vast majority of folks and businesses are still － two years yet down the line － struggling to get their sea legs under them and part of it is because they simply don’t have the tools to make the transition easier or because the technology solutions they do have are lacking, difficult to set up, or impossible to understand without a Geek Squad member on hand to translate fancy jargon into the native tongue.

IMAGE: COOLPO

Thankfully, some smart tech companies are starting to understand this and are producing offerings that genuinely address our current needs but are also modern, attractive, user-friendly, and reasonably priced.

Coolpo video conference technology is perhaps the best example of this. It confidently checks all the boxes in the form of their Coolpo AI Huddle Pana and Mini, and wow － these two devices really are the sleeper hits you need to check out this year.

Design For Days

Obviously, or at least, obviously to all those who’ve ever seen Coolpo’s products, their conference cameras’ looks do play a solid role here. These devices are a massive breath of fresh air in a world full of ugly, bulky, vaguely Big Brother-esque webcams.

They’re genuinely gorgeous; stylish, but not in a way that feels particularly flashy (unless you’re in the dark!). This is especially true for the Pana. With a tall cylindrical shape and a colorway that utilizes a brushed silver body, inky black speaker, and that kind of tech-standard bright blue light when operational, the camera looks slick and distinguished.

However, it still looks right at home in an office setting, easily complimenting any gadgets you’ve got on hand, thanks to its familiar, professional appearance. It’s not just the basic looks that get two-thumbs up from us, though.

The practical aspects of its design are also fantastic, super intuitive, and user-friendly, no matter whether you’re at the top in tech literacy or have a hard time with most of the gadgets in your home. The front is bare-bones basic with two touch panels for volume control, a central power button, and the speaker. That’s it, and we’re not complaining about it since that makes use a breeze.

But what about the Mini? To be honest, it’s not quite as top-tier as its fancier, more expensive relative because it’s much more aligned with the external webcams of yore. Yet, Coolpo’s smaller alternative still has an elegance all its own and can easily be used free-standing or clamped onto a monitor, making the design feel pretty satisfactory overall.

Satisfying Specs, Simplistic Software

Speaking of satisfactory, we have to discuss Coolpo’s video conference technology’s specs and software stats. The former of these passes with flying colors. In fact, we’d argue that the specs might even edge into the “stellar” category.

Their Pana has a slight advantage here, too, which is to be expected. The conference camera has literally everything you could want. 4K video resolution, full 360-degree view, a built-in speaker, four 15-foot range mics, and artificial intelligence-powered participant focusing are all present, and they’re lovely. Audio is crisp, video is clear, and the smart focus feature actually works unlike with many of the competitors. Pretty impressive, right?

The Mini is no slouch, either. It does indeed trade-off the 360-degree field of view; although it still offers a capable 110-degree one with gesture recognition and full group framing (excellent for crowded conferences with lots of movement), background noise cancellation, and HD-quality video.

That’s a slight downgrade, to be sure, but it’s one few users will truly notice in their day-to-day use. In other words, the hardware and capabilities under the hood of these conference cameras are real crowd-pleasers. Software, on the other hand? Not quite as much.

Don’t take our words the wrong way: it’s perfectly useable, and the connection-specfic stuff is good. Both the Pana and the Mini are wholly plug-and-play and work for various computer setups sans significant issues. Just plug it all up, choose your Coolpo product of choice in your camera settings, and go about your meeting!

The few wobbles it has are instead with the app for setting changes. Contrast, hue, saturation, and other settings of that nature are available to tweak as you see fit, but it’s not the most fluid experience out there. In addition, they can’t be done right in the middle of a conference, disallowing minor adjustments as you go.

This is the small dim spot in an otherwise very bright experience. Don’t let this turn you off, however. They’re minor annoyances that don’t matter once you figure out the setup that works best for you, and Coolpo is constantly updating their software. We’re sure there’s a fix on the horizon, but in the meantime, there’s plenty to ooh and ahh over that makes up for any nitpicky wobbles.

Coolpo Out In The Wild

Hardware, software, and design － each of these product aspects is important on their own. But we do recognize that it’s really the convergence of all three particulars that matters since the combo is what informs the everyday user experience. Well, we’re happy to report that we’re not disappointed with this.

Coolpo’s conference cameras somehow manage to exceed all expectations. The Pana and Mini are $800 and $400 respectively, a fraction of what similar products are usually going for these days, yet they don’t feel like the more affordable option. They’re remarkably functional, simple to use, and powerful tools for any company or party that needs group-centered, remote-ready solutions.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking to focus on two people or twelve plus; use Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, or some other virtual conferencing tool; connect via your trusty Windows PC or your ride-or-die brick of a MacBook. Coolpo’s AI-based Pana and Mini camera will be up to the task － and they’re going to do it in style.

We’d be dishonest to say that there aren’t improvements to be made here and there. Literally, any product can find something to switch up for the better. However, Coolpo’s cameras still handily corner the competition. With innovative, well-leveraged AI tech, savvy stats, and user-first designs, these are undoubtedly the modern conferencing solutions we all need.