I know I give tiny cameras a lot of guff, but merely small ones are getting pretty damn good. It’s wrong to hold the iPhone camera to the same standards as something with a lens and sensor four times larger, but this new webcam from Microsoft seems to know its limitations. They probably could have pushed it to 1080p if they wanted, and people would have freaked out, but man that would have been one ugly image.

So, the LifeCam HD is like a regular webcam, except it has a real glass lens, a mic that actually sticks up and isn’t just a pinprick on the camera’s surface, and of course, it’s capable of HD. Whether your messaging or video chat application is ready for that is a toss-up, but I guarantee in a few months it will be.

It’ll sell for $80, or £70, which is pretty much a huge ripoff for the Brits. Sorry guys, I’m just the messenger.