A yellow rectangle spans the viewfinder, which represents the motion detection area. To the side of the viewfinder you will find four control buttons and a three-dot menu. The control buttons are used to dim or black out the viewfinder, toggle between the front or rear cameras, calibrate the motion detection area and begin the recording session. Calibrating your motion detection area is key to having any success with Gotya.
If your detection area is too large, you will likely find your Windows Phone full of unnecessary photos. You can also tweak the sensitivity of the detection in the settings. Speaking of which, up under the three-dot menu you will find the camera settings and an option to return the app to its default setting values.
Settings for Gotya's camera include:. At the standard resolution, images are captured from my Nokia Lumia are at x pixels and those captured at high resolution are at x pixels.
While the standard resolution was decent, the high resolution is the way to go for decent surveillance photos. Once you have your Windows Phone positioned in the right spot on a tripod, propped in the corner, in a car cradle, etc. Gotya's remote control feature is a little deceptive. You do have the ability to control up to four Windows Phone cameras from a Windows Phone or Gotya's web portal. Control in the sense you can adjust the settings and capture a snap shot from those cameras but there is no live view. It does appear that you will receive alerts from the remote controller when an image is captured and can review those pictures if saved to the cloud.
However, the alerts were not very consistent. To use the remote controller, set up your camera accordingly and then go to either the Gotya web portal or another Windows Phone running Gotya. You will need to enter your username and password a few times and then you can tweak settings or capture a snapshot from the remotely controlled cameras. Through the remote controller feature, you have access to the full range of settings for the camera.
While a Live View feature would do wonders for the remote controller, being able to fine-tune the sensitivity settings remotely is a nifty touch. I was able to install Gotya on a Nokia Lumia and set the Windows Phone camera near a bird feeder. Gotya captured a wide range of birds partaking in the feeder as well as an annoying squirrel. While image quality won't land any of these images in the most recent edition of the National Birdwatcher's Magazine, they are good enough to give you an idea of what's going on.
I liked the concept behind Gotya but there are some shortfalls to the design. You have the obvious issues of leaving your Windows Phone laying around to double as a surveillance camera.
I'm fortunate to have a few extra Windows Phones that could be used but how many of you would be able to spare your Windows Phone for a few hours? Then there is the battery consumption issue. While Gotya wasn't a major power drain, it is going to eat your battery at a faster clip and any lengthy surveillance time will likely require an external power source. Asides from the power and convenience issues, Gotya does a good job of capturing images.
You do have to fine-tune the motion detection area to avoid hundreds of unnecessary images. I can see Gotya coming in handy around the house to catch your teenage child coming in after curfew or to catch the person raiding the refrigerator in the middle of the night.
Sharing the recordings is possible through OneDrive, Dropbox or an FTP server, but there is a 50 MB per file limit for uploading files these cloud storage services. Add it to your Download Basket! The interface is far from being attractive and the fact that everything is well organized and easy to reach is one of the few advantages it has in this respect. The prompts for rating and reviewing the application are less intrusive than the ad banners displayed by other apps, so they are only a minor setback.
The ability to record video from the built-in camera with the screen blackened is a neat idea, but it still needs a tiny bit of work because with the buttons remaining illuminated someone could easily realize what is happening behind the darkened display. Despite it being merely a video recording application, Hidden Camera requires access to the phone dialer as well as to the owner and phone identities. The app is friendly with the system resources, as the battery usage is kept low while the screen goes black.
However, the live preview, playing and uploading the captured files will need a bit more power, which increases the overall consumption.
Considering the fact that users don't have to pay anything to use all the features of the application, this tool is a bargain for anyone. Most devices powered by Windows Phone 7. The inconspicuous companion that allows you record videos without having the phone's screen lit to raise suspicion.