Aiptek International (天瀚科技) is among a growing number of fledging Taiwanese manufacturers with brand name aspirations in the consumer electronics market. The Hsinchu-based firm, formed in 1997, has built upon its experience as a producer of digital photo frames, camera and camcorders to develop some niche products that will catch the attention of videophiles.
The Taipei Times spent a week sampling three of Aiptek’s latest showcase products: a pocket-sized digital camcorder, an e-book reader aimed at children and a mini-video projector.
CAMCORDER IN YOUR POCKET
The PenCam Trio HD (NT$5,900) is a tiny camcorder that has 4 gigabytes of internal flash memory and makes surprisingly good videos. The device, which measures the size of two magic markers stuck together, joins a growing crop of mini-cameras that record HD (high-definition) video at 720p, the widescreen resolution that is becoming standard on the Internet.
The video quality is impressive considering PenCam’s size and weight (85g), but as with any product of similar size and specification, don’t get swept away by the HD label. You can make decent and quick home movies with this device — the picture is much better than the average mobile phone video but a far cry from the sharp, crystal-clear sheen of a modern Hollywood production. The reason for this is the PenCam’s tiny lens and 5-megapixel CMOS sensor, which produces a quality equivalent to that of a point-and-shoot camera from several years ago.
But the PenCam is very much worth considering for its packaging of form, function and usability. It has a pen clip and fits nicely in a front shirt pocket, and the slim shape makes the device feel much more comfortable to hold than a mobile phone. The “trio” part of PenCam’s name refers to its three functions: in addition to video, the device takes still photographs and records audio in WAV format.
Aiptek wins points for user-friendliness. Using the PenCam is easy to figure out without a manual, with clearly marked buttons and a simple and intuitive menu navigation system. It plays nice when you connect it to a Windows PC, simply showing up as a flash drive. I wasn’t able to keep the PenCam long enough to properly gauge the battery life, but the company claims 140 minutes of video recording time, thanks in part to the 1-inch OLED screen, which consumes less power than an LCD screen.
E-READER FOR KIDS
Aiptek has its eye on the e-reader market, but with a younger target audience in mind: elementary school-age children. Last month, the company launched its Story Book inColor (NT$6,900), an e-reader with an 8-inch color screen and 1 gigabyte of internal memory for storage, which comes with 20 books already installed.
The inColor is just one part of Aiptek’s business model for e-readers. The company has created an accompanying online store (tw.ebookincolor.com), where users can purchase additional books.
In fact, inColor users have to purchase e-books from Aiptek’s Web site: The device uses a proprietary format that the company has developed with several children’s publishers in Taiwan. The selection, composed of mostly illustrated books by Taiwanese authors, is limited for now, with only 108 titles averaging NT$150 per book. The company expects to have 500 Chinese-language titles available next year (Plans are in the works to develop stores in the US and Europe, but no definite date has been set).
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