Labs

The Philips SP300NC is the newest and the poshest looking webcam in this test. New, however, doesn't always mean better. The SP300NC may look very nice, but it captures video at a much lower resolution than most of its competitors.

This means that its default video window is very small. You can enlarge the window size by dragging the corner of the program, but video quality deteriorates quickly, becoming very blocky and pixelated.

The software itself is very basic. It consists of a basic album for your videos and still images, a small screen displaying your live video and links to three different types of messaging programs you can use for video conferencing, if you like.

The camera looks nice, but it only moves up and down. Given the small viewing angle, even leaning to one side can take you out of the frame.

This webcam can't compare to similarly-priced competitors.