High-definition video – now in the palm of your hand
The Flip Mino HD is roughly the same size as its pocket predecessors – the original Flip camcorder was released in the UK last year – but, as its name suggests, records in high definition.
Of course, slapping the letters HD onto a product isn't the be-all and end-all: while the camera does indeed record in HD the results aren't quite up to what you'd get from a 'proper' camcorder with a larger lens (such as the Sanyo VPC-HD2000).
But those cameras cost more than double what this one does, and if you're not looking for video you'll need to archive.
The Flip Mino HD does an admirable job.
The body measures just 10cm tall and under 2cm deep, although the lens sticks out a touch from the front. Operation was easy – just turn it on and it fires up quickly. Recording is a matter of pressing the red button, and again to stop.
The rest of the controls light up when the camera is on – the up and down buttons are for zooming and the left and right buttons allow the user to skip through recordings and view them. The 4GB of internal memory, which can't be expanded, holds an hour of video.
You can view and delete clips on the rather small screen (the Creative Vado HD's screen is bigger). It can be connected to a television, but only using the composite cables supplied, so you won't see your results in HD unless you flip the internal USB connector out from the top of the camera and plug it into a PC or Mac. It also charges over that connection.
The software on the camera installs automatically and can be used to view or edit the clips that use H.264 compression. The included software is very basic but clips can also be edited using any other compatible software.
Results were good but low light was a problem (as was moving from light to dark quickly) and video was a bit blockier than we had expect, but it's a definite step above the quality of previous Flip models and certainly good enough for the video equivalent of holiday snaps.
