Many laptops come with built-in webcams nowadays. My old Sony Vaio had one and I was pretty happy with it. However, I have recently changed to a more powerful HP 8710w mobile workstation laptop. Unfortunately, this laptop does not have a built-in webcam.

I use the webcam occasionally and carrying a separate webcam is not very practical. Because of this, I decided to find a solution that would turn my mobile phone into a webcam. Luckily, there are at least two solutions that will get the job done. The first one is Mobiola Webcam and the other is WWIGO. The former is a commercial application and the later is a free application (WWIGO is at a beta stage for now, but works just fine).

Those applications install a webcam driver in Windows and as a result you can use both solutions in instant messaging software like Skype, MSN or Yahoo Messenger.

If you are up to spending $20 on this type of software, you may wish to go for Mobiola Webcam. If you'd rather use a freeware product, then WWIGO is the way to go.