So you want to do some video calling over your smartphone but don’t have one of the new models that sport a front facing camera huh? No problem, there’s a stand for that. Vainworks has whipped together a clever little desktop phone stand that uses mirrors to point your phone’s rear-facing camera forward. It will work in portrait as well as landscape too! Well, sort of… hit the jump to read more and see a video of it in action.
As useful as it seems, we do find a few problems with this solution. For one, your phone’s camera needs to be near the edge of your phone to function properly – depending on the orientation you plan to use. Also, it’s not very portable, which is one of the best reasons for having on-the-go video calling. If I wanted to video call with somebody at my desk, I’d just use my desktop computer and Skype.
Still, it’s nice that there is an answer to those who might be stuck in a contract waiting to upgrade to a newer phone with a true front-facing camera. With fring, Tango, Yahoo Messenger, and Skype mobile all giving us more options to video call, there’s definitely an urge to hop on the camera calling train, and Vainwork’s camera stand might be your ticket to ride along.
[via youtube]