a very portable microscope: Smartscope iGo (2013)

At BETT 2013, Data Harvest had the SmartScope iGO (£250), a wireless microscope made to connect with tablet devices and phones powered by Apple IOS and Android. The microscope can broadcast to three devices at once, using an app that displays the images with a wireless setting. The microscope has its own bright LED lighting and it is high-powered (x200) enough to see crystal details in a rock but also much more. It was interesting to place it on the skin and see sweat appearing from pores. It was surprising to see the tiny dots of an inkjet photo and note how colours were made from a few inks. You can take pictures, annotate them and record video using the app, although you will sense the excitement from simply hand-holding this microscope to see inside a flower or what is happening in a test tube. If you do not use iPad or Android tablets, there’s SmartScope 5M (£x), a wired USB microscope with similarly impressive results.