posted by admin on Jul 14
A really simple and stylish camcorder that is uber easy to use!!!
I recently got my hands on the brand new Flip Video Mino from Pure Digital, and am suitably impressed! Not only is it easy enough for your grandmother to use - but it is stylish enough for any youngster to show off to her mates in town!!
Step 1 of the instructions simply says ‘press power button, press record’ - done. It really is all you need to do to enjoy this smart technology.
What Does It Do?
Well, apart from filming just about anything you want and offering amazing sound - it can attach straight to your USB port on your pc or mac and download it’s own software - allowing you to view and save your images straight on to the hard drive. Using the same attachment (which is a flip-up extension of the Flip Video itself) you can charge the battery which blinks while charging (about 3 hours from empty).
It allows you to load straight to AOL, YouTube and Myspace, and even take photos from the frames in every video…… nice!
It also comes with a television connection cable that allows you and your friends to view the footage on your television screen without having to run any software.
You can also set the date and time to keep those memories in order - and it has adjustable tones if that takes your fancy.
Why Do I like It?
I love it’s size and look! Very much of mobile phone size and kind of iTouch looking interface - it sits perfectly in my hand without any worries. No attachments needed and no huge instruction book to memorise from - and all just one-handed (it’s very light).
It only has 7 buttons and no tricky combination and techniques to learn - which always puts me off investing $100’s on a standard camcorder - I’m worried I won’t use all the special features you are paying for and just end up recording simple shots anyway.
To film movies, all you need to do is press the central ‘record’ button and make sure what you are filming is in the small visual screen. You have a small ability to zoom in and out, but it doesn’t cover much ground to be honest. However seeing as this only hold about an hour of footage, it’s more likely to be used a smaller social events like parties and family get-togethers you really won’t need to be zooming in and out a lot anyway.
You can move left and right through your stored videos with 2 further buttons and play which ones you like, and delete them as you fancy with the ‘trash can’ icon.
What I don’t like.
Because it’s so simple, I was worried that I would accidentally delete some footage as the ‘buttons’ are touch sensitive rather than actual sticky out buttons and could get triggered by my hand - but it double checks all your actions and will clear the screen after a short period of time so any accidental commands will be forgotten unless acted upon within seconds.
I couldn’t find anything else wrong! When reviewing this as a fun accessory for filming family and friends or shots for the Internet - I couldn’t fault it! I mean if you were planning a 2 week safari in Botswana - then maybe this isn’t for you!
Anything Else?
The Flip Mino currently comes in either black or white, but the other version of the Flip (the Flip Ultra and the Flip Video - both cheaper) come in some different colours and matt coating.
In addition, you can get a camera stand, water-proof casing, material protective pouch, action mount (to film whilst cycling) and different skins (orange pink and clear) as extras.
But I like mine, just the way it is…..
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