Walt Mossberg on TelyHD: Works Quite Well

"TelyHD is not a web cam," Walt Mossberg said right off the bat.  The personal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal said the video conferencing device that works with Skype does much more than that -- and it does it all quite well.

The TelyHD is "a complete Android-powered device," Mosssberg said in his weekly All Things Digital segment on FOX Business.  It features a Secure Digital (SD) memory card slot, lets users share pictures, grab others' pictures, and even leave video voicemails, he said.

The device features a wide-angle lens and multiple microphones so it can really take in an entire room, he said.  If you have mom, dad, and the kids in a room and another branch of the family they want to talk to, say, in another state, the TelyHD is designed for that, he explained.

Beyond video functions, there is a business version of the device that lets users share files like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Word and PDFs.  There's also a software plan that lets them take video from their iPad and show it on the TV (much like Apple TV can do).  "They have a whole roadmap for this product," he said.

At $250, the device is a lot cheaper than other attempts to do this through the TV have been, Mossberg said.  It's not going to have a gigantic market, partly because of the price, but there are lots of families and small businesses that will find this useful, he said.

Mossberg's only complaint about the device is its remote, which he said seemed cheap.  But he explained that the company plans to replace it soon and that people who adopted the device already will get a replacement for free once it's out.

The TelyHD does not require a computer to work, but does need a broadband Internet connection as well as an HDTV with a free HDMI port.