Emeet Piko+ Review: A 4K dual-camera, AI-powered webcam for active creators

The Emeet Piko+ is the "world's first AI-powered dual-camera 4K webcam," according to the company. Of course, it seems like every smartphone since 2014 has had two or more cameras, so the Piko+ might be new in the world of webcams, but we've seen it before.

That said, we're here to answer the question: Is the best 4K webcam actually two 4K webcams?

The Piko+ features a 1/2.55-inch Sony sensor with an aperture of f/1.8, and records video at 4K / 30fps or 1080p / 60fps. It has a 73-degree field of view, 1.5x digital zoom, and features two lenses — one for imaging and one to help out the webcam's AI with focusing and metering. It also has three built-in noise-cancelling microphones and works with Emeet Studio, which lets you link and switch between multiple cameras (complete with multi-device audio mixing). Perhaps the most enticing thing about the Piko+ is its price — its MSRP is listed at $95.99, which is already pretty good for a 4K webcam, and it's currently $16 off at Emeet, bringing it down to just $79.99.

Design

The Piko+ is smaller than most webcams — but, thanks to its design, it’s also higher-profile. This small, oval-shaped webcam measures 2.2 inches (56mm) high by 1.69 inches (43mm) wide, and is 0.87 inches (22mm) deep. On the front of the webcam, you'll see two lenses under a round glass cover — similar to what you see on the back of most smartphones these days. The Piko+ has two lenses: a primary lens (used for imaging) and an AI lens, which is used to help with focus, face detection, and metering. The Piko+ comes in three colorways — black, white, and mint green (our review unit came in black). There's a small indicator light, right under the dual lenses, that glows blue when the camera is streaming.

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The webcam has a glossy finish that's pretty fingerprint-prone — not that you'll be touching your webcam too often. However, it was noticeable enough that I did start to wish the company had sent over a lighter color, where fingerprints would be less noticeable.

The back of the webcam features a USB-C port, and the bottom has a 1/4-inch threaded mounting point for attaching the webcam to a standard monitor mount or tripod.

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The Piko doesn't have a built-in privacy shutter, but it does come with this cute, rubbery panda-wearing-sunglasses lens cover thing, that attaches to the Piko's lens magnetically. The lens cover is cute and it works pretty well — the magnet isn't very strong, so you can easily remove it from the webcam without moving the camera itself — but it is a completely separate piece. I don't love this, because it means it's easy to lose. I don't know about you, but I definitely misplace things often enough that I know it's only a matter of time before this goes missing. It's also not terribly useful for anything other than sitting on your desk — the moment you toss the Piko+ into a bag or, I don't know, lightly brush it against anything, the privacy cover falls off. Webcam privacy covers aren't necessarily designed to protect the lens, but most of them do — this little panda is cute, but gimmicky.

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My review unit came with a lightweight aluminum tripod in lieu of a traditional monitor mount. I don't mind a webcam tripod, but everything about this tripod just feels cheap. It has three legs that measure 3.76 inches (95.5mm) and extend 2.44 inches ( 62mm) for a total length of 6.16 inches (156.4mm). With the legs fully extended and spread, the tripod lifts the webcam about 7 inches (177.8mm) off the surface of your desk. The tripod also tilts and swivels, so it shouldn't be too hard to keep yourself in-frame.

I like the idea of a webcam tripod, but not as a primary mount — it's hard to find a place on your desk for something like this, even if your desk is clutter-free. This tripod is also very flimsy and easy to knock over (I know this because I kept knocking it over). Anyway, I'm not the only one who doesn't particularly care for webcam tripods, and the Piko+ now ships with a clamp-style monitor mount instead of a tripod.

The thing about the Piko+ is that, at 2.2 inches (56mm) high, it's taller than most webcams. This might not be a problem for most people, but I have four monitors — two horizontally stacked in the middle, with a vertical 27-inch on each side — and the Piko+ adds just enough extra height to interfere with my top screen. I realize this is due entirely to my unique monitor setup, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who prefers a low-profile webcam.

Speaking of which, the Piko+ comes with just a handful of accessories: a 5-foot (1.5m) USB-C to USB-C cable with a USB-C to USB-A adapter, a small desktop tripod (now a clamp-style monitor mount), and a magnetic, panda-shaped lens cover.

SPECS

Well-lit Performance

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Our well-lit webcam scenario is very well-lit — more well-lit than the average well-lit lighting scenario. Most webcams perform nicely in a well-lit setting, and this is usually where 4K webcams really shine — especially when it comes to all that extra detail. The Piko+'s performance was just okay in this scenario. The webcam did a decent job with color balancing, but the default settings looked a little overexposed. Also, getting good picture quality was tricky — the autofocus worked well enough for video, but couldn't keep me in focus long enough to get a good still photo.

The Piko+'s well-lit image wasn't nearly as crisply detailed as the images from other 4K webcams, such as the Logitech MX Brio, Elgato Facecam Pro, and Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra, but this seems to be partly due to the dual lenses attempting to autofocus and create artificial depth of focus. Too much light meant too much to try to focus on, and the algorithm ended up kind of just putting everything in focus — but it also uses the AI lens to apply a pseudo depth of focus effect, and it ended up also applying this effect (mildly) to the whole picture.

This also explains why the Piko+'s image looks flatter and less dynamic than the pictures from other 4K webcams. In videos, however, the AI lens did a pretty good job of keeping a moving subject in focus, though the depth-of-field effect was still a little touchy.

(I should point out that the default Windows Camera app doesn't support 4K resolution, so unless a 4K webcam comes with its own app for taking photos, it can be tricky to get good still pictures of the webcam's image quality.)

Low-Light Performance

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Our low-light scenario is basically just darkness — the only source of light in the room is one 27-inch monitor, set to 70% brightness, with a dark wallpaper and the Google homepage open in a browser window on half the screen. The Piko+ performed adequately in this lighting scenario — it tried to light the scene evenly, but it was still pretty dark overall (not to mention very grainy/noisy). It's pretty clear that I'm sitting in a dark room, and the Piko+ doesn't even try to make up for that.

Overexposed Performance

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Our overexposed lighting scenario might seem unusual, but it's actually more common than you might expect — most people put lights everywhere except behind their monitor/laptop screen (screens are backlit for a reason). So, while you won't necessarily end up in a scenario manufactured to be overexposed, like ours — which consists of a 27-inch monitor with its brightness set to 70% and a screen that's split between a dark wallpaper and relatively white webpage (Google home page) and a bunch of overhead and background lighting — the average home or work office lighting scenario leans toward overexposed.

The Piko+ performed relatively well in our overexposed lighting scenario. Like just about every webcam, the Piko+ struggled to adjust the light balance between the subject and the background. The subject is fairly dark, and the background is still overexposed, but it's more balanced than the Logitech MX Brio — which lights the subject well but blows out the background. The Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra lights the background nicely, at the expense of the subject.

Features and Software

The Piko+ works with Emeet's combination peripheral / streaming software, Emeet Studio. You'll find the standard webcam settings in Emeet Studio — image adjustments and auto/manual exposure, white balance, and focus. The software also has some streamer-oriented features, including the ability to set up multiple linked cameras and switch between them (e.g., for switching between angles/scenes/close-ups). You will, of course, need more than one webcam to set up multiple cameras, which is why Emeet also sells a three-camera MultiCam Bundle (currently $209.99 — $69.99 each).

The Piko+ has three built-in noise-canceling microphones, which sound better than most webcam microphones — but that's not saying much. I was impressed with how well the Piko+'s mics picked up my voice: I was still pretty loud and clear even when I was a couple of feet away and facing a different direction while speaking. But don't be fooled into thinking this means the Piko+'s microphones are good — they're still webcam mics, after all. Voices are loud and clear, but sound a bit thin and hollow, a pretty common issue with webcam mics. I wouldn't recommend anyone actually use the mics in the Piko+ for anything real. But if you happen to be in an emergency that can only be solved with a webcam microphone, the mics in the Piko+ are better than most.

The Piko+ also has some other features, such as whiteboard mode — which autofocuses on the text or diagrams on the "whiteboard" behind you, and AI-powered autofocusing and light metering.

Bottom Line

The Emeet Piko+ packs a decent amount of power in a small package. It features two 4K lenses and uses AI to improve images (or, well, at least.... try to). I'm glad to hear the company scrapped the wobbly tripod for an actual monitor mount, and the sale is tempting me a little.

While we definitely got 4K video quality from the Piko+, there's more to image quality than just resolution — from the lens and sensor size to firmware updates and software workarounds/adjustments. The Piko+'s AI lens did a decent job of keeping a moving subject in focus, but it was a bit too finicky if you weren't moving all over the place.

So don't run out and buy this webcam just because it's relatively budget-priced — it comes down to what you're going to be using it for. If you'll be presenting or lecturing or otherwise moving around, the Emeet Piko+ is a pretty good budget alternative to fancier AI-enhanced action webcams, such as the Insta360 Link. But if you'll mainly be sitting in front of your PC and streaming, and you're looking for impressive 4K image quality, I still recommend the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra.