If you’ve been working since the pandemic broke out, it’s likely you've had at least one video call for professional purposes. Virtual meetings aren’t going away any time soon, so you might want to invest in a better camera than your laptop’s integrated one as we’re all slowly forced to turn into streamers. The OBSBOT Tiny has been designed to cater for such video call needs and it is of course suited for video game streaming.

But with a maximum video resolution of 1080p/30 fps, you might initially dismiss it as yet another webcam in the pile. It also packs pan, tilt, and zoom (PTZ) functionality like its competitors do but the Tiny is unlike any other thanks to its unique A.I. feature. You see, this webcam’s PTZ functions are in fact performed automatically thanks to the hand gestures and facial recognition abilities of the built-in algorithm; without the need of any additional software. Quite a unique proposal, right? But we’ll get into the details in a bit. For now, let’s take a closer look at the hardware first.

The OBSBOT Tiny was in fact successfully crowdfunded and has started to ship already. If you want to purchase it in retail, it will cost you $199 and comes with the following items:

• OBSBOT Tiny AI Webcam X1
• Type-C data power cable X1
• Magnetic mount X1
• User Manual X1
• Warranty card X1

You can find some additional specs details below:

Size and Weight

• Size ( without mount ): 89.4mm x 58mm x 58mm
• Size ( with mount ): 142mm x 58mm x 58mm
• Weight ( without mount ): 146g
• Weight ( with mount ): 175g

Camera

• Max video resolution: 1080p/30 fps, MJPEG, H264
• Supported resolutions: 1920x1080, 1280x720, 960x540, 640x360

Supported frame rate:

• MJPEG: [email protected][30 24 20 15], [email protected][60 30 24 20 15], [email protected][60 30 24 20 15], [email protected][60 30 24 20 15]
• YUV: [email protected], [email protected][10 5], [email protected][15 10 5], [email protected][30 24 20 15 10 5]
• H264: [email protected][30 24 20 15], [email protected][60 30 24 20 15], [email protected][60 30 24 20 15], [email protected][60 30 24 20 15]

Digital zoom: 2x

Field of view: 90°

Built-in Audio: Built-in dual omni-directional mics with noise cancellation

Aesthetically, I found the OBSBOT Tiny to be extremely cute and even found it to be a bit reminiscent of the Pixar lamp shade logo. It easily fits in the palm and almost looks like a robotic pet with its swiveling base and head. Now, you wouldn’t want a robotic pet to be fragile and luckily the Tiny is of a study build, thanks to its tough plastic casing.

Being a fan of minimalist appeal, I was quite pleased with OBSBOT’s sleek and no-frills design approach for the Tiny. There are no buttons at all on the device. You’ll find the company’s logo in front and on top of it, a notification light bar. At the back, you’ll find a DC power port and a USB-C port. While a DC plug is not provided, you’ll most likely be using the included USB cable anyway.

On the underside, you’ll find a circular rubber pad to provide some added grip while on your desk. Alternatively, you can screw it onto a standard tripod but for the price, I wish OBSBOT would have included a tripod in the package rather than sell one separately.

What’s included though is a magnetic mount for your display. The mount is easily foldable but it sticks to your laptop screen/monitor by means of a double-sided tape, so it will be a permanent accessory to your display. Should you want to remove it later, you’ll be left with some sticky stain that can prove to be a pain to fully remove. Of course, you can also use the mount without taping it to your display (as I did in the following images) but it will not be as secure.

That said, setting up the Tiny on the mount is easy as it just snaps into place.

Having gone over the hardware and contents, let’s see how this accessory fares in practice. The OBSBOT Tiny is in fact a plug & play webcam. Just plug it into your computer and you’re good to go. On Mac OS, the device will be automatically set as your default webcam while on Windows, you’ll have to disable your laptop’s integrated camera in Device Manager. It’s just a little extra step but not that much cumbersome.

From there on, you can use the Tiny as a webcam, as well as fully make use of its A.I. features; no extra software necessary. With facial recognition technology, the A.I. will center and keep the focus on your face and will follow your movements nearly 360° around its base (its swivel movement is limited to some extent though). The Tiny also tilts vertically around its head and will follow you even if you stand up or crouch nearly 180° on that axis.

To have the Tiny track you around, just raise your palm next to your face and do the same action to stop the tracking feature. Another gesture control is the ability to zoom in/out by making an L-shape next to your face with your thumb and index finger as shown in the video below. The notification light bar will switch to blue when the device recognizes a gesture-based command.

Those gestures are not only cool and give a futuristic feeling when controlling the device but are also very handy. With those, no need for manual input as the A.I. will handle the rest. This is why I said that the PTZ functions are all handled by the A.I. following the appropriate gesture. Those gesture controls are also quite responsive, and I would say it gets it right around 7 times out of 10. However, you can only zoom in by a fixed interval. But you can adjust how many times the Tiny can zoom in with the TinyCam companion software (anywhere between 1x and 2x).

Even if the Tiny is perfectly usable without this software, I think OBSBOT should highlight its importance a bit more in the user manual. With the app, you can upgrade the firmware (maybe they’ll add more gesture controls in the future?) and adjust a number of functions like the zoom, gimbal and preset position.

A particularly important feature in the app is the ability to switch between tracking modes (standard, headroom, motion). With standard and headroom, the tracking is smooth but relatively slow as these modes are meant for more desk use. The speed with these modes is suited for video game streaming or video conferencing but if you’re pacing around a lot like in an online class or to track a player during an in-door sports activity, you’ll want the camera to keep up. This is where the motion mode comes in as the motion of the device is at a faster pace.

Nevertheless, in each mode I found the tracking to be smooth, thanks to the integrated 2-axis gimbal. But you can only switch modes with the app and this makes it rather important. But even if it helps you get the most out of the webcam, I wish the app would show a stream of the camera's images as you adjust the settings and see what changes. To do so, you'll need to open a separate window of your computer's camera app (or similar) and it's not very ideal.

Now let's get back to the A.I. tracking. In any mode, the OBSBOT Tiny tilts and swivels silently and this seamless action is an aspect of the device that I really appreciated. You can see it in action in the video below where you can notice that there’s more background noise (birds chirping, cars driving by) than anything audible coming from the webcam itself.

This brings us to why you would consider getting an OBSBOT Tiny. It supports a maximum video resolution of 1080p/30 fps while the cheaper and smaller Akaso Keychain which we reviewed before is itself capable of 4K/30fps captures. But unlike the latter, there’s no issues with reliability. As a webcam, the Tiny works and I’ve encountered no problem using it as such.

While the image quality is about fine for a webcam (see pictures below), I was much more impressed by the image quality in dimly lit conditions or if there’s a lighting source behind me. The images in such unfavorable conditions are actually quite good, if not understandably grainy in the lowest lit environment, as the camera delivers a clear, visible and bright view of my face. To achieve this effect, the company leveraged the power of A.I. yet again to enable auto-exposure and smart white balance. While it’s recommended to have an external light source for video streaming, the Tiny’s auto-exposure will come in very handy in a pinch and you might not even need an external light source if you plan to use the webcam more casually. But an integrated ring light would have been welcome here nonetheless.

What's integrated in the Tiny are built-in dual omni-directional mics with noise cancellation. And while it’s great to have such a feature in a webcam, I found the quality to be serviceable at best.

It also has a fixed focus, so you’ll have to stick to general videos and don’t expect to use it for close up shots. The Tiny apparently uses its own in-house algorithm and software to adjust the focus but I didn't find it to stand out and the images still feel like they have a fixed focus.

So, for $200 you will find cheaper alternatives or devices that have better specs in the same price range. Then why consider the OBSBOT Tiny?

Images taken with the OBSBOT Tiny and thumbnails show the fixed focus

The main draw with this webcam is its unique A.I. functions. With the automatic tracking, it’s essentially like having a video recording assistant to keep you in frame while you’re vlogging or conversing. No need to manually (re)adjust the camera’s position (or employ a person to do that for you) whenever you move as the A.I. will handle it smoothly and seamlessly (within its own boundaries). It’s a really convenient feature, especially if you still want your audience to have you in focus even if you move out of frame when reaching out for something or pointing at another item. You can as easily stop the tracking with a hand gesture and have the frame fixed on a new location.

These easy gesture controls also make controlling the camera less of a hassle. You can tune some settings with the app but while in use, you’ll just control it occasionally with those gestures while the lens will follow you around thanks to the A.I. As mentioned earlier, this camera’s A.I. capabilities also extend to image enhancement and I’ve been positively surprised by how good images look, despite poor lighting conditions.

Another convenience that the Tiny offers, on top of the A.I. support, image quality adjustment and minimal footprint, is that you can tilt the lens to face down. The notification light will turn yellow, indicating that it is not recording, and this is advertised as an added layer of privacy. This can give some peace of mind to those weary about someone spying on them through their webcam and as such won't need to tape the lens when not in use. Personally, I find that being able to tilt the lens down really helps in preventing it from accumulating dust or even accidental scratches while not in use.

All things considered, the OBSBOT Tiny is a webcam that is well-suited for video calls or streaming where the user’s face will be at the forefront, rather than other items. It boasts several aspects that decidedly make it a device whose main use is to have a person’s face front and center without any hassle from the user. These include the head tracking feature that keeps the face at the center of the frame; the A.I. that focuses on the visibility of the face in images; and the hand gestures make for easy controls. These work well for a plug-and-play approach.

But I still wish that the Tiny could be used as a standalone device with onboard storage but that’s not the focus here. Rather, the focus is on having a computer-centric webcam for streaming. While it is limited in some specs aspect, the OBSBOT Tiny’s A.I. delivers a compelling experience that makes it quite a versatile tool. And despite the relatively high cost, the Tiny offers several conveniences that other webcams won’t offer which makes it worth considering.