4GEE Action Cam review

Live broadcasting your high-octane activities to an audience is the basis of EE’s first attempt at an action camera. The 4GEE Action Cam has a 4G data SIM built-in to get you connected and broadcasting, no matter where you are, and is available as a stand-alone camera or on a 24-month contract. The former costs £300 and includes 2GB of data for the first 30 days, while the latter costs £50 upfront and £15 a month thereafter for 2GB of data each month.

^ The waterproof case adds a sizable amount of heft

Aside from connectivity, there’s little here that deviates from typical action cam design; the camera is rectangular, with a small LCD status display on the top and a set of function buttons in the familiar EE colour scheme. It’s slightly chunkier than most GoPro models in terms of depth, and is considerably heavier too. Sealing it into the bundled waterproof case adds considerably to the bulk too. A lightweight frame is included as well, so you aren’t reliant on the waterproof case for mounting.

Unfortunately, you don’t actually get any mounts in the box – not even the adhesive ones I normally see included with even the cheapest action cameras, which just feels miserly. Instead, a GoPro mount adaptor is included, which does at least open you up to the bountiful mounting options available for GoPros, albeit at an additional expense. Fortunately I had a few lying around but that might not be the case for everyone.

The 4GEE Action Cam almost justifies the lack of mounts by the inclusion of a remote viewfinder watch. Like the Sony HDR-AZ1, the remote watch provides a live view of the camera’s sensor, circumventing the lack of a screen on the action camera itself, and lets you remotely trigger recording. The screen itself is relatively low-resolution, but is bright enough for outdoor use.

Watch remote

EE has gone for a distinctly more watch-like design for its remote, but it’s big and chunky like a 90s G-Shock. The buttons are a bit fiddly to press and it’s easy to forget which button performs which function. The camera would regularly need re-pairing with the watch between sessions, but there was at least minimal delay between the live view and what was being captured from the sensor. You can also navigate menus and change a few major settings using the physical buttons on the camera itself. The interface is as simple as it gets, but is at least easy to use. 

Video quality

In terms of resolutions, the 4GEE Action Cam can record at 1080p/30fps, 720p/60fps or 480p/120fps for slow-motion footage, or shoot 13-megapixel stills. This is a little disappointing, as other similarly priced action cameras such as the Sony HDR-AZ1 or GoPro Hero4 Silver both shoot 1080p at 60fps. When broadcasting, you’re limited to a maximum of 720p resolution to save on bandwidth.

Astonishingly, livestreaming was one of the 4GEE Action Cam’s most disappointing aspects. EE forces you to use the Skeegle platform, which is a separate service you’ll need to register for using a Facebook account. Anyone wanting to watch your broadcasts will similarly need an account, after which you’ll need to mutually add each other into friend circles. This is far clunkier than other live streaming services, many of which are already supported by certain other action cameras, although admittedly these require a Wi-Fi connection to another device in order to broadcast.

Image quality is naturally dependent on the strength of 4G coverage in the area you’re broadcasting from, but in our experience the locations best suited to the extreme sports Action Cams were designed for aren’t well known for their 4G coverage. Live streaming will still work over slower 3G connections, but quality will suffer.

Video quality was even disappointing on locally stored clips. Despite being served with well-lit outdoor locations, the 4GEE Action Cam provided washed out colours with lots of compression artefacts. Images were soft, with noticeable chromatic aberration around the edges of subjects, and there was lots of judder when panning horizontally. Similarly, sound quality was very poor, sounding very tinny and lacking detail. We expect much better image quality for an action camera as expensive as this.

^ Cycling test footage - best viewed full screen at 1080p 

Battery life was the only real highlight. It lasted 3 hours 30 minutes when recording 1080p video at 30fps, and even two hours while broadcasting 720p video is an impressive result. The battery is also user replaceable, which is useful if you want to swap out while on the move.

Conclusion

Aside from long battery life, which is the best I've seen from an action camera, there’s not a lot else to be impressed by here. The built-in 4G sounds like it could be exciting, but I'm not convinced the vast majority people will find it very useful. It'll also become costly as you'll burn through 2GB of data in around two hours. Even with a wide choice of platforms to stream to, most of us will never be able to draw any audience beyond one or two friends as a gimmick. The need to use Skeegle rather than a platform of your choosing further limits the feature to the point of near-uselesness. If live broadcasting is really your thing then I would recommend using a smartphone (safely tucked away) as a Wi-Fi hotspot for a Sony HDR-AZ1 instead and using Ustream, which I found infinitely less frustrating.

In addition, the 4GEE Action Cam is bulky, and the lack of any mounting accessories in the box is a travesty. Its only saving grace is the bundled remote viewfinder, but you can get that as part of the AZ1 bundle for less. I would much rather recommend the Sony HDR-AZ1 for less money at the sacrifice of integrated livestreaming. Alternatively, if livestreaming isn't even a priority, you're better off stretching a little further for a GoPro Hero4, which then opens up a huge range of possible accessories and has fantastic image quality,