When AnkerWork sent me their newly launched video conferencing camera and headphones to say I was sceptical is an understatement. We see many brands try and launch these products into the market but in the end their hardware doesn’t meet the high standards we expect from our professional equipment.
Nothing is worse than being on a work video call and you have an equipment failure. It looks bad on you, on your employer and does instil much confidence in others in your ability – especially if you work in the tech field like I do. Luckily, after testing out the AnkerWork products for the last couple of weeks there is very little I need to worry about when it comes to quality.
AnkerWork B600 All-in-one Video Bar
The star of the show here is the B600 all-in-one video bar. It’s not just a 2K webcam but is also a speaker, microphone AND light in one. As such, with an all-in-one solution you would expect it to not be cheap and you’d be right but even when you are getting a complete solution, including lighting, $500 may still be a tough sell to many.
Design and hardware
The B600 video bar is a decent sized webcam but then it is a hell of a lot more than just a webcam so that is to be expected.
The camera sits in the middle with the microphone (four mic array to be fully accurate) below it. In the middle of the microphone array is an LED indicator that tells you if the mic is muted or not (red for muted). To the right of the camera is a slider allowing you to easily adjust the brightness of the light yourself (although it can also do it automatically using its AI within the app). This slider is incredibly easy to use to quickly adjust the lighting to your liking.
Above the camera sits the light bar which is a nice soft light and not only can the light be controlled but it also has a hinge so when the camera is not in use you can fold down the light so that it covers the camera for your privacy.
The left side of the B600 has a touch panel/capacitive button to mute/unmute the mic while the right side has a similar capacitive panel to turn the light on and off easily. These buttons work seamlessly, almost too seamlessly as they can be touched accidentally while adjusting the angle of the webcam.
Behind the camera sits the “low distortion” speakers which are actually quite good and give off a decent amount of sound. My monitor, on top of which the B600 sits, is mounted onto the wall so undoubtedly, the reflection of the sound off the wall helps its loudness so YMMV if you do not have a wall behind it. The speakers can also work as your desktop speakers, but they seem to lack the power to provide any real meaningful experience when thinking about music or gaming. For video conferencing though they are just perfect.
Underneath the camera is the mount which also has a thread so it can be screwed onto a tripod should you wish to mount it on that rather than the top of your monitor – I’m not sure why you would ever want to do that given how unobtrusive the B600 is on the display anyway but that option is there for those who wish.
The back of the B600 has three ports, a USB-A port, a USB-C data port and a USB-C power port. AnkerWork says to only use the power port for power – they include an AC adapter but the whole idea of the B600 is less desktop clutter, so I tried to plug the B600 power port into one of the Thunderbolt 3 ports on my monitor.
Interestingly, plugging the Thunderbolt 3 cable into the power port on the B600 achieved nothing but into the USB-C data port it provided power along with a data connection to my PC. Perfect, no visible cables, plus I already have far too many things plugged into my AC wall plugs (and I thought 8 would be enough when we built the house). The only problem was that when I used this port to power the camera it crashed whenever I tried to adjust lighting etc while in a Zoom meeting. If one app is using the camera already, a second one cannot — and that includes the AnkerWork app.
Setting up
The entire setup took very little time. Mount the B600 on the monitor, plug it in – to whatever power supply you are choosing. This was the longest part of the process for me as I figured out how to power it on without having to run a visible cable from the B600 to the wall.
Then it was just a matter of installing the app on your PC (or phone) and you can then go through various settings to set it up how you want it.
Functionality
Within the app you can choose the resolution of the camera you want – 360P, 720P, 1080P and 2K along with the angle and frame of it. My study is a bit of a mess at the moment so I preferred the 65 degrees option but if it wasn’t this messy I’d be choosing the Solo-Frame option where the camera follows your location within the frame so that you are continually centred within the picture.
Although the lighting options include settings to adjust the brightness and colour temperature of the light I left it on automatic light adjustment so that it used its AI to decide whether to turn the light on and how much as the video was going – it adjusts these settings on the fly using AnkerWork’s MagicSight intelligent lighting technology.
So, how does it know what baseline brightness etc you prefer that it needs to keep adjusting to? You set that yourself as well – I left it at default which was pretty damn good.
As you can see in the video above varying background light and other various settings the B600 adjusted extremely well on the fly. The B600 includes AI-powered auto focus, intelligent zoom and image enhancement and as a result the image produced is great quality — just make sure you get the settings how you want them before starting your video call/recording.
AnkerWork PowerConf H700
It’s difficult to say much about Bluetooth headsets because most features you find are just standard features and as such you would expect all headsets to excel in those areas – especially those that cost as much as the PowerConf H700 – $300.
Design and hardware
There’s nothing spectacularly different about the H700 compared to other headsets around. It has decent ear caps, an extremely comfortable headband which did not give any feelings of discomfort, even when wearing it for hours on end, and a boom mic. The boom mic does flip over either way so you can wear the headset with the mic on the right or left hand side.
The earcup with the boom mic on it has the power and Bluetooth button while the other earcup has the media controls and the ANC button on it. All of these buttons are relatively easy to use, once you get used to them. The reason there is a bit of a learning curve is that the controls are not always a button press but a turn of the button as well. Once I got used to this was easy to use and I think I preferred over a multitude of buttons which is the other option.
The H700 connects to your PC, Mac or mobile device using Bluetooth or the included USB dongle. The dongle provides for a truer, cleaner connection to your PC and the difference in voice quality was fairly substantial. If you have a spare USB port on your PC I’d recommend using it for the USB dongle for the headset.
Regarding Bluetooth, the H700 supports multi-point pairing so you can be connected to two devices at once – get notifications from your smartphone while connected to your PC for a video conference.
Functionality
A headset is a headset is a headset so in the end it is their functionality which can set them apart from other brands. The AnkerWork PowerConf H700 has functionality that sets it ahead of many, and in fact most, others on the market. Some of the added functionality is hardware driven and some is their software and AI driven.
Let’s start with the hardware-driven functionality. The boom mic not only can be on either side of the headset but also mutes the audio when lifted up. This is not unusual but there are other ways to mute the audio including using the touch buttons on the opposite earcup or just removing the mic-side earcup off the ear. It is these little features that make them stand out.
The ANC is decent but don’t expect to listen to high end audio on an aeroplane any time soon – it is great for a video conference though with a small amount of background noise. This is thanks to the five noise-reducing microphones.
The H700 is charged using either the USB-C connection on the headset or by placing the headset in the included stand that is connected to a USB-C charging connection. The stand is what you will use most as it is also a great way of storing the headset.
The battery is rated to 21 hours of talk time WITH ANC turned on. I definitely got this – I accidentally left it on for a couple of days, not in the charging dock, and came back and it still had charge.
The big-ticket feature of the PowerConf H700 though is the integrated call recording and transcription service. During a call audio can be recorded to a computer using AnkerWorks conferencing software and later retrieved and automatically transcribed into text. Upon purchase users will receive 1,000 minutes of the transcription service (which needs to be used within two months of activation) – additional time can be purchased as required.
The auto-transcription works, although don’t expect it to be as accurate as Google’s AI Google Assistant just yet. It is early days for it and the format needs some work but the option to transcribe it yourself is also there by listening back to the audio yourself. As you can see in the screenshot below.
AnkerWork smart app
The app on the PC is decent, basic and super easy to use, even with multiple AnkerWork devices connected. Simply switch from one device to another and you can then change the settings on that. The mobile has added functionality – the only issue I had with it there was a firm\ware update for the headset but the PC app could not do it – it MUST be done in the mobile app and you need to disconnect the PC app from it at the time for it to update. I just pulled the USB dongle out to disconnect it while updating from the mobile app.
Should you buy them?
The AnkerWork B600 video bar is a great all-in-one solution and really does prevent clutter on your desk. It offers a great, soft light, along with decent sound and a 2K camera which is really everything you could wish for. The app adds in even more functionality with its smarts and the ability to change picture settings such as resolution or brightness.
The only downside of the B600 video bar was that you cannot adjust the settings for it while in a video call — you need to have all this set beforehand and just live with what you have set. I tended to use their default settings, and auto light and framing solutions.
The AnkerWork PowerConf H700 is a headset with some great smarts in the form of the app. The sound is crystal clear and the ability to use the boom mic on either side along with the way it pauses/mutes the audio is great. There are many headsets out there to choose from but the big deal with the H700 is the integrated call recording and transcription service. Its format isn’t great but you can get a decent transcription of the audio — the accuracy isn’t Google Assistant-accurate but it’s still pretty good.
In Australia, Directed Electronics is the exclusive distributor of the H700, the B600 and the full AnkerWork range. The AnkerWork PowerConf H700 is available for AUD $299.95 and the B600 All-in-One Video bar for $449.95 at Harvey Norman stores in Australia.
