The Big HUE review

A few tech presents arrived at Shed HQ recently ready for review.  We thought we would pass them to the experts Mr. Chase, a teacher at our local school and also @_geekyteacher on twitter.  He was very excited to get his hand on some tech and his gadget geeks were even more excited! 

HD Pro Camera

Positives: Device has a bendable neck that allows the Hue HD Pro to be used both as a webcam for things such as SkypeChat and Google Hangout and a visualiser/document camera for things such as highlight work, demonstrating skills or sharing a class book.

Keep in Mind: Whilst it is one on the best visualisers I have used, if comparing or using as a webcam keep in mind that it cannot be mounted to a monitor. In my opinion this isn’t a negative though as the bendable neck can be used to manipulate and show work or move to people speaking. Also, if you want animation software for your lessons look into the Hue HD as it comes with it.
​
Overall Verdict:  The Hue HD is a mid-range webcam with an excellent design, but it lacks full 1080p HD resolution.
The Hue HD Pro is a webcam for the classroom. It has a stylish body with a bendable stand. You can use the swivel neck to turn the camera whichever way you want, and with this design, many classes can use it as a document camera. Unfortunately, its highest resolution is 720p. This counts as HD, but if you watch 720p content on a 1080p display, the image tends to look grainy or pixelated. It has a few features that make it good for video chatting. I used the visualiser feature of the camera in my lessons to live model activities for students; they love watching me do things and naturally want to work along with me and the HUE HD Pro delivers such a crisp picture and that I was never interrupted learning to fiddle with the camera.
Installation was simple, plug into the desktop PC or laptop, and with no technical problems and I was away! I could project children’s work up onto the display board, or use it to show my examples. The base is nice and sturdier than many other models I’ve used, and the head is very flexible but also steady. You can focus easily using a dial on the head of the camera, lights are also available and easy to use, a colleague did point out that they didn’t make a large difference in a bright classroom, in fact paper can sometimes be a bit overexposed. The camera comes with a whole load of visual software tools, however for most people initially just the basic camera driver will produce good results. I would recommend this to any school that wants to get visualisers cheaply into classrooms.
Some children from my school, my ‘Gadget Geeks’ or ‘Digital Leaders’ created their own reviews as unboxing videos. Here are their initial impressions: 

Unboxing Hue HD Pro Camera. from Old Hall Primary on Vimeo.

The camera was the Winner of the Technological Innovation of the Year 2016, Best in Show at ISTE 2016 (the largest EdTech show in the US)  and Teachers Choice for the Classroom 2016
​It’s priced at £44.95 + VAT so schools can afford one in every classroom.
​
For further information please visit our website https://huehd.com/
A short video with examples can be seen here https://huehd.com/pro/

​HUE Tablet Stand:

Positives: Device has a bendable, but stable, neck which allows for movement and user can be relaxed that device won’t fall out. Vice system can be adapted for most surfaces.  

Keep in Mind: If you have thick tablet cases, as many schools do, you may struggle to get the tablet in securely. I had to remove the school ones.
​
Overall Verdict: A brilliant resource that allows user to utilise an iPad or tablet more, however might struggle with thicker tablet cases.
HUE’s Flexible Tablet Stand has been designed to help educators get the most out of their tablet devices. It can also be used in the home or while traveling to make use of tablets in new and creative ways.
The stand is available in a choice of three colours: green, blue or black.
The tablet stand is perfect for:
 

• Teachers who want to use an iPad or tablet in the classroom to share student work or a demonstration.
• One-stop animating (stop motion animation).
• Slow-motion video capture or time-lapse photography.
• Attaching an iPad to an extension pole to achieve previously unattainable camera angles.
• Turning the iPad into an OHP and projecting the image onto a whiteboard using either an Apple TV or Reflector.
• Demonstrations of apps, showing how children can produce end results that are expected of them.

This is a very sturdy tablet stand, at first I was very precious about bending the stand but after a couple of weeks I am very confident in its build quality. The goose neck is sturdy to the point that it's almost not flexible. It literally takes two hands to bend it. First thoughts could be that a more flexible neck would be preferred but in fact over time, the goose neck can become the weak link in the configuration and sag.
The tablet stand uses a clip-like, spring system which has no problems holding an iPad Mini, or full sized iPad Air 9.7 this system is fully covered by a rubber band that protects the tablet or iPad from any scratch. Admittedly I haven’t tried the larger iPad pro or other tablets but I see no reason why stand wouldn’t cope, the company do assure on their website that the stand can support up to 12.5 tablets. Furthermore, its rear has a locking and unlocking to remove the tablet foot you have, it's super easy to remove and put simply clicking on the lock button. It doesn't seem that the stand would do well with thicker cases that are often the norm in schools so if you have a thick case on you may tablets you may want to keep research other brands or combinations. If Hue made the clamp so that it would fit an iPad in any case it would be perfect. The clamp which attaches to the desk or table is solid as well. It holds up to very tight clamping to make the rig secure.
Overall, I really enjoyed using the stand, I think this is because I am a big fan of using iPad’s Airplay system as a bit of an all-rounder; I use it as a visualiser, I demonstrate apps and I use it to record and play StopMotion animations- all of this is aided with a good iPad stand.
Some children from my school, my ‘Gadget Geeks’ or ‘Digital Leaders’ created their own reviews as unboxing videos. Here are their initial impressions:

Unboxing Hue Tablet Stand. from Old Hall Primary on Vimeo.