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I film almost everything on my phone's main rear camera because it looks far better than the selfie camera, but I never actually know if I'm in frame. So I bought this tiny square screen that magnetically snaps onto the back of the phone, plugs in over USB-C, and mirrors the rear camera preview back at me. In this video I unbox it, snap it onto an iPhone and a Galaxy S26, test how bright it is under studio lights, and find out that on iPhone it needs no app at all while Android needs the HC Cast app. I also spend a long time trying to make the shutter button and the little Bluetooth remote actually take a photo, and I'll be honest about how that went.
mini vlog screen for phone
external screen for phone camera
see yourself while filming rear camera
magsafe monitor for iphone
hc cast mini vlog screen
phone vlogging accessories
selfie monitor screen review
usb c camera monitor for phone
android phone external display for camera
vlogging gear for beginners
#HCCast #VlogScreen #VlogScreenReview #MagSafeAccessories #RearCameraVlogging #PhoneCameraGear #ContentCreatorGear #Vlogging #ExternalMonitor #GadgetReview
00:00 Why I wanted a screen on the back of my phone
01:00 Unboxing the mini vlog screen
02:09 Build quality, on/off switch and buttons
02:45 The Bluetooth remote and its battery
03:14 Cable, Lightning adapter and stick-on ring
04:00 Snapping it onto the phone
05:00 The QR code and the app situation
06:06 iPhone needs no app, Android does
06:51 Plugged into the iPhone
07:22 Seeing myself and framing the shot
08:08 How bright is it under studio lights
08:29 The shutter button doesn't take a photo
09:39 Pairing the Bluetooth remote
10:06 The remote doesn't work either
10:45 No auto-orientation
11:27 Reading the manual, still no luck
11:56 Trying it on the Galaxy S26
12:15 Installing the app, and no built-in battery
14:05 Android mirroring working
15:00 The camera button fails here too
15:32 Final verdict
What's up guys! Today is another cool gadget for videographers and
it is for iPhone users who love to take videos and selfies with their like these main cameras
not with the selfie camera and this one you can actually see yourself when you are making video
or picture but you know it is not the highest quality one so people usually do it like this
so they can take the selfie with the highest quality camera out there or when you are taking
video you want to see yourself then this is the kind of screen that you will need there are a lot
of different versions for it many are expensive some are cheaper this is in between and what it
does is that you're connected with an iPhone and I'm assuming it will be MagSafe compatible I hope
so and then you will be able to see yourself here so let's see if it lives up to its promise
because I don't know so let's open it up okay it is well packed that's good and I think this is
remote to control it hopefully and it's MagSafe no not really we'll see okay this is the screen part
seeker has some instructions maybe it will work I mainly bought it for iPhone but maybe it will
work with Android as well so it says screen mirroring connection mobile devices so trust
on your iPhone pop-up notifications can the QR code be a browser we should download it has a
companion app connect USB cable power on tap for automation to enable mirroring wired connection
only there are wireless ones I think as well I have adjustment I want it with wire one because
it has less issues it also has separate Bluetooth pairing not sure what that is main unit and remote
control so it will be Bluetooth pairing for remote control pair each one individually of course
so it has a companion app that we will need to install then it has this two device at the end
device is actually quite smooth and I'm not sure if you guys can actually spot it but its surface
is polished surface not some rough surface that you see in cheaper gadgets see so it is very
polished very smooth and easy to hold and it feels really good in the hand it's extremely lightweight
on the button side you have on off button and indicator light then you have this brightness
light this is for the picture in case you don't want to use the remote control that's also good
and this is the remote control let's see this is on off button probably this is for the lanyard I
think and what is inside it probably some cell okay yeah they do sell it is the battery I'm
assuming it is going to be something like a cr 2032 type of battery this is the button of the
and I think there should be cable yes because it needs to connect oh nice so you have this
type c to type c cable because it is supposed to work with newer iphones but they actually
they were so nice to send actually an adapter in case you have an older iphone unfortunately I
don't have an older iphone I have the iphone with the type c so I will not be able to test it with
this adapter but to know that it is there in case you have an older iphone with the lightning
cord and they sent this metal tip so I'm assuming that they have sent it for the phones that are not
magsafe built-in and you want it to snap it then you can do it and this one is actually magsafe
because let's see so it snaps so let me show you yeah now that's what I am talking about this is
so it is a magsafe it will snap right in and and for the phones that actually don't have magsafe
this one is s26 it does not have a magsafe so you can use one of the cases this is just a case with
magsafe the phone itself does not have it or if you want don't want to buy the case then you can
just paste this one on your case or your phone and it will become magsafe compatible and overall the
first impressions are quite good actually and we will need the type c because this is a wired
connection it is not wireless one this one is wireless one and let's see you have the documentation
as well in case you are confused about something I will see if I need it the first thing that we
need to do is that we need to download their companion app so let's scan the qr code open in
chrome and hopefully it will redirect us to their place app store download hopefully
it took a long time to actually load it but now we have all the markets
so you have google play store huawei owner app market xiaomi vivo direct download
and so where is the iphone okay it's only for android let's see if it doesn't maybe need an iphone
okay yeah sorry my bad so for iphone you don't need any companion app for android you actually
do need it so this is the app is only needed for android you don't need any device for iphone and
note the initial password it is one two three four when you are pairing it you just remember it
so for iphone all I need to do is just pair it so it has a first class support for iphone and
for android you will need a companion app which we will test once we go there but again I myself
bought it for iphone so that's good there are wireless variants as well I personally wanted
this one I mean with wired you don't have any worries so it is already on and it has a good
resolution actually let's see if it asks me anything here well that's it is it touch screen
no okay so it is not touch screen but let's see what it shows me oh see let me show you
okay okay I need to show you as well so let me remove it see so this camera is actually the
iphone and I'm able to see it so for example if I want to align it this is the right alignment
I know right so you can take a picture with it did it take a picture I don't know that's
it is not taking picture let's see is this the maximum brightness okay this was the maximum
this is the maximum brightness let me draw I mean even in studio lights you can clearly see it so I
think brightness is good one thing that I am noticing is that I am unable to use this
to take picture which is bad I mean I should have gotten it
let's do in case maybe need some permission let's plug it again and see if iphone asks anything
it doesn't actually just you just plug it in and it starts working and I'm assuming it also
takes power from this type-c so it doesn't run out of battery but
as of right now it doesn't ask for any permission or paying
so but I can't take pictures so maybe maybe if I yeah it doesn't take picture
now let's pair in this one maybe it has to do something with it but the purpose is clear right
that's really good brightness exactly what you want now let's turn on the remote control
it is blinking blue it is that really means that it is in pairing mode so let's go and say
bluetooth settings and I think I mean assuming it's called
because it's a shuttle so let's try that one
now let's go to that camera now take a picture and now take a picture
now let's see if this one works okay this one doesn't work
so this one is a no-go maybe I'm missing something but
now let's try the remote with the video because that is also important
so let's start the video video is started now let's end the video
and you can also do it like this so in case you want to hang it somewhere
it does not have any kind of built-in orientation setting so you have to align it yourself
but I still don't like that this one didn't work I really would have liked it
all right even after looking through documentation I still can't make this device work
okay now it's time to switch to android phone
before we do that let's unpair the remote from here
or disconnect it so that it's easier to connect there for android it doesn't work
for at least based on their description it doesn't work like plug and play so yeah let's see if it
okay says that to install it so I do need to install it the app
okay okay I don't think this device even has a built-in power I think it doesn't
because it only turns on when I connect it with my phone
takes a long time to do it but the app name is the link is very slow so remember the app name
SC cost let's install it and let's see what are we looking at I only shared one app
which is the camera so it will only look at my camera
and there you have it I like that iPhone had plug and play android doesn't
because you need an app but once you do install that I think it should be automatic let's try
plugging it out and then plugging it back again let's see if it is automatic or I need to open
the app myself okay every time you need to select I can also do like share entire screen
and then it will just mirror whatever I'm looking at it is up to you and this is my camera let's try
that's weird even on android it doesn't work I mean here it should have worked because
now you are communicating with your own app but it doesn't
the rest is with the remote shutter I don't think we I need to test it out for you because
it's just a trigger remote and it will work through bluetooth so it's not something to
share about so this was the device its name is nothing special meaning vlog screen
you can do it for iPhone this and search for it overall build quality quite good
I really like it you can also get it in other colors like orange polished surface very lightweight
magsafe works without any software or any hassle whether your iPhone needs an app
work with your android phone it has a built-in shutter bluetooth one I wish this one had
worked but it doesn't brightness is really good on off is there if you want to just turn it on
or off that's also up to you and overall I think I really like this device I think there are many
cases in which I personally take I mean whenever I need to record a video I usually record with
back camera and first is I align it and know where the camera is and then go sit and make
that video so and in some cases when I do forgot to align and remember it I actually ended up
cutting something left or right or alignment was missed so I think this kind of screen helps and
you don't need to use this actually type-c you can use your own type-c which is longer and
plug it in and anywhere left and right so overall I think this is a very versatile device with
combined with the remote you can easily bring it along with your face and uses like a
built-in DSLR camera style screen for iPhone making it a camera so overall really good device
and if you need it I think it's a good device to get anyway let me know guys your thought has
as well in the video description and comments and update the video descriptions in the comments
take care of you guys bye