SELFIE HELPER

Prolink Foto Onyx

Selfies have become somewhat of an internet phenomenon. The word itself was added to the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary last year, and after the nowfamous Ellen DeGeneres selfie at this year’s Academy Awards, people all round the world are taking selfies to the next level.

That said, taking a good selfie can be hard. The biggest problem that most users face is that their arms are sometimes just not long enough to capture either everyone or the scenery in the background. A solution to this is to put one’s smartphone or camera on an extendable rod (giving birth to “selfie rod”, but that’s a story for another day) but even that has limitations, such as the inability to reach the shutter button.

Enter the Prolink Foto Onyx, a coin-sized Bluetooth clicker that allows you to connect to your smartphone and manually control its shutter release remotely whether you are using a selfie rod or tripod.

Setting up is the Foto Onyx is really easy and requires users to download Prolink’s mFotoGem app for their smartphone from either Google Play or the App Store. Thereafter, users only need to pair the Foto Onyx to their smartphones and a simple press of a button is all that is needed to begin shooting. Apart from shooting photos, the Foto Onyx can also be used to start and end video recordings remotely.

Now, Bluetooth clickers aren’t exactly hard to find; some selfie rods even come with their own rudimentary clicker these days. However, what sets the Foto Onyx apart is the fact that it can be paired with up to eight devices simultaneously, making it convenient to take photos with multiple devices together; perfect for group shots or an extremely vain individual with eight different phones at every possible angle. As a Bluetooth device, it has a maximum operating range of up to 30 meters, but that should suffice for most situations

However, the Foto Onyx does have its shortcomings. The most glaring is that it only works with Prolink’s mFotoGem app and not with your smartphone’s default camera app. This means losing out on additional features such as filters and effects available on other camera apps.

Still, the Foto Onyx is a nifty device to have if you love shooting with your smartphone. It is compact, highly portable, extremely easy to use, and at $29, doesn’t really hurt your pocket either.