The viewfinder on the handheld's display is pretty small. When you tap on it however, it enlarges the image. One problem I had with the viewfinder is that there is a delay from when you point the camera at something to what you end up seeing on the screen, making the experience kind of choppy, especially when compared PDAs with integrated cameras such as the CLIE NZ90 and NX70 and Palm Zire 71, which feature real-time video like images that takes up the whole display. The choppiness with viewfinder of the Photo Traveler gets even worse when the image is enlarged, which you can do by tapping the viewfinder with your stylus. This is probably due to the limitations of the bandwidth of the SDIO (Secure Digital In & Out) slot.

Another difference between camera-enabled PDAs and using the Photo Traveler is that the image on the viewfinder appears washed out with the Photo Traveler, even on a fantastic display like with the Tungsten C we used for testing. You press the little camera icon or one of the handheld's hardware buttons to take a picture.

Small Viewfinder Image

Large Viewfinder Image

If you press a little clock, as seen on the screen shots above, you can set a timer to take pictures on a delay. By selecting the four little patterned squares on the left side, you can view the pictures you've taken individually or as thumbnails. There is also an icon to beam individual images to other handhelds or delete a selected picture.


Set a Delay When Taking a Picture

View & Edit Image Thumbnails

Similar to the way the usability of the Photo Traveler suffers when compared PDAs with integrated cameras, so does the image quality, as colors always appear a little washed out as they did with the viewfinder. And I'm not talking about comparing the Photo Traveler to the 2 mega-pixel camera in the CLIE NZ90, but to ones that are more in line with the Photo Traveler, such as the one with the Zire 71 and the CLIE NX70. Indoors, the image quality suffered the most. Of course, as with cameras in the PDAs just mentioned, the quality of the images doesn't even come close to what you'd get in a stand-alone digital camera, but even less so.

So if what you mainly need is a digital camera, then the Photo Traveler isn't for you. If you want the convenience of being able to take pictures easily without any hassle with your PDA, then you should consider one of the camera-enabled models available. Nevertheless, the Photo Traveler does give the majority of PDA owners who don't have a camera-enabled handheld an option they wouldn't otherwise have. And with all its faults, if you take it for what it is, a relatively easy to use gadget that is small and convenient, then the Photo Traveler is worth considering.

For a while Palm was offering the Photo Traveler as an incentive to buy the Tungsten T, which would have been a great way to get the camera add-on. Veo's asking price of $100 for the Photo Traveler, however, is going to make some people think twice before getting one.