We knew about the FlipShare TV awhile ago, thanks to an FCC leak. It's basically a companion piece to Flip's camcorders, streaming video shot with the Mino HD, Ultra HD or what have you to a TV. But oddly enough, it's dumbed-down enough that it somehow circles back around and becomes complicated again, starting with the seemingly-basic hardware.

The FlipShare TV is actually comprised of three necessary components: A cute, small, square white box about the size of a Roku that plugs into your TV (featuring RCA and HDMI ports); a fairly large USB dongle; and a super simple remote reminiscent of Apple's remote. The USB dongle is actually required to be plugged in (and your computer turned on) if you want to use the FlipShare TV at all, forming kind of an point-to-point wireless network. Yeah, it's supposed to eliminate the trouble of logging into a wireless home network, but it brings up problems of its own—what about multi-computer households? And while it may be a pre-release issue, my box dropped the connection with its dongle when the two were on opposite ends of my apartment, a problem my normal wireless router doesn't have.

Also released today is the updated FlipShare 5.0 software, which is easy enough to use. Plug in a camcorder, drag its videos to your library, and your precious moments can then be watched on your computer or via the FlipShare TV, or alternately shared via Facebook or YouTube. Also supported are FlipChannels, a sort of private online video storage that lets you upload videos and "share" access with other people. Anyone with whom the FlipChannel is shared can watch your videos on a computer, mobile device (iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry are supported) or, again, through the FlipShare TV. So those are your two choices for streaming: Computer or FlipChannel.

Therein lies another problem: The FlipShare TV can only play back the very specific video format used by Flip camcorders, some kind of WMV at 30fps. Nothing else. This is not a media streamer, it's a Flip streamer. Music? Forget it. Your ripped DVDs? No way. (JPEGs are also supported, but that's it for non-Flip media). Playback quality is good, but these aren't exactly super high-quality files we're dealing with here.

The FlipShare TV is a thoroughly simple device, often to its detriment. It does only one thing, and does it fairly well, but it's really designed for someone who finds the glut of excellent modern media streamers far too threatening. Given its limitations (no storage, only one compatible format, no extras), it's pretty surprising that it also commands a pretty expensive price at $150 (available tomorrow). Theoretically, parents, grandparents and other less tech-savvy folks would appreciate the simplicity of the FlipShare TV—but if you're reading this, you'll definitely find its limitations to be a dealbreaker. [Flip]

Creative also claims that there has been some improvement to the audio recording quality, which was a weak point of the prior generations. Other feature additions include:

* Improved quality of video in low light or brightly lit conditions with manual exposure adjustments
* External stereo microphone support for better audio recording
* Headphone output for private listening
* Motion Detection Mode enables users to program the camera to begin recording as soon as motion is detected
* Out-of-the box Mac and PC compatibility
* Still Photo Capture Mode

The camcorder will be available mid-December for $180 (and in a whopping five colors). Since that gives you plenty of time to shop, check out our pocket camcorder comparison guide before making a buying decision. [Creative via epiZENter via Engadget]

Kinda Like the Old One

The GoPro Hero HD is squarely based off the old model. It has the same mounting system, case, physical shape and user interface. It is so similar, I suggest you read the original short review I did and then come back here for the low down on what makes this one better. Here's the link. Or you could just take these basic points as a foundation.
• Awesome mounts for everything.
• Meant to be semi cheap so you don't sweat it, yet capable.
• It has a 170 degree field of vision and the case makes it waterproof to 100 feet. Very rugged.
• Two buttons for controlling the basic UI. Shoot, toggle modes. The UI is so rudimentary you'll often forget how to use it, but all you need to do is turn it on and shoot.
• There's no native LCD for viewing replays.
• It's not tiny.

The Video is Now HD

Instead of the paltry 512x384, the $270 camera with surf mount has several modes, most HD. On the silky smooth 60 frame per second mode there are standard definition resolutions of 848x480 or HD at 720p/1280x720. Both are 16:9 ratio, which is recommended only for motorsports or other activites where you're not trying to catch yourself in frame standing up. The 60 frames per second modes are noticeably smoother in normal playback but they're meant to also look better if you slow down the frame rate playback for slow motion in your favorite video editor. The grain was noticeably worse when using 60FPS indoors, but not a deal breaker.

In 30 frame per seconds, there are modes for 720p again, but also a 1280x960 which is 4:3 high def. That's the default and I used that for surfing which is (usually, if you do it right) something you do while standing. The 1080p mode is 16:9, and 30 frames per second but limits the field of vision from 170 to 127 degrees. Again, the 16:9 modes are used less than you'd expect in sports shots. There's also a center weighted mode for exposing the road when shooting from inside a car, and leaving the dashboard underexposed properly.

The bottom line is that this new camera is in HD. That's the big improvement

Quality

This is a still of the movie at full res, not the actual 5MP stills.
First, watch the movies the guys at the company produced here. Then watch my shitty one filled with shitty surfing. Colors were a little washy/green but the ocean and the sky together, with the lens collecting droplets, well, that isn't an idea situation. Watch it for yourself and form your own conclusions, but note the reflections off the water which will inform you of pretty decent autoexposure and sharpness. It's a vast improvement over other sports cams and the standard def version. Oh a little thing held over from the last generation that isn't a ding or a plus: the 170-degree angle is great for reducing apparent vibration and for making sure what you want in shot is in the frame, but has the unfortunate side effect of making things like waves and jumps and other otherwise impressive looking things seem smaller.

Storage Capacity

Average recording times:
1080p: 12 min/GB
960p: 14 min/GB
720p: 16min/GB @30fps; 11 min/GB @ 60fps

GoPro recommended you use fast SDHC cards to save battery life. And that on a 32GB card you can get almost 6 hours of recordings, although you'd be constrained by battery life. Oh one annoyance — every time you clear the card, the files are named from 001, 002, again. So if you copy them over to the same location, they'll ask you if you want to overwrite. I wish the camera kept its file name numbers in series.

Battery Life

The other big change is that instead of being powered by a pair of AAAs, GoPro jammed a 1100Mah 3.7 volt battery in the case. I did not do a full run down test, but shooting 51 minutes of video didn't reduce the charge one notch; GoPro estimates you can get 2.5 hours of battery life from the camera in normal climates, regardless of the definition of video you're shooting. The old model died quickly in the cold if you weren't using rechargeables but this camera's housing retains a bit more heat making it better for the winter. You charge it by USB. Unfortunately you can't charge it while doing a USB transfer, yet. They hope to fix this by firmware later.

Sound

Stills

I didn't test this mode, but GoPro claims the 5MP shots are better due to better processing. There are several still modes, as before: Single shot, triple shot that takes three shots over 2 seconds and a time lapse mode that can be set to record a shot every 2, 5, 10, 30 or 60 seconds. And a 10 second delay timer. For me, this is not why you get a sports camera.

The Surf Mount, in Particular

Oh it's 3M double sticky and it seems to hold up just fine. You clean your board of wax and then use a bit of rubbing alcohol to apply it. Let it settle overnight. To get it off (permanently) you use a hair dryer, which sounds a bit scary when it comes to something nice and fiberglass, but what do I know? (That's why I put this one on a pop out longboard.

The Future

Another big but so far not useful thing on the new camera is the expansion port. they plan on offering a bigger back door for the case, so you can fit in an external LCD screen for replays or an extra battery pack. I like the idea. I'm thinking they could probably go ahead and work on making the camera smaller even if it costs a bit more, in the next generation, though. I like GoPro enough to use it, even though gadgets on the mountain or in the surf piss me off by way of distraction. Now that they've got mounts, higher resolutions and battery endurance covered, I think making it even smaller is the next step to making it more enjoyable.

High def modes

Best mounting options in the business

Rugged, yet affordable case good for bumps and waterproof to 100 feet

Wide angle lens captures 170 degrees of motion so you fit in the shot and vibration is dampened.

Smooth 60 frames per second great for action shots

Relatively cheap for what you get

Case kind of biggish
[GoPro]

Of course, even the miniest of mini camcorders cannot be crammed into the shell of an existing shuffle, so Xiangyun Industry Co did the sensible thing and sacrificed the music player to focus on transforming the device into a spy camera. Features include a 1.3 megapixel sensor with VGA resolution and the ability to capture 1,280 x 960 still photos. Not bad for $15-$30, but you are going to need to outfit an entire spy ring if you want to get your hands on one. Orders are only taken in bulk with a 100 unit minimum. [Global Sources via Red Ferret]

The lens itself is located within the number 2, and its 1.3MP camera takes AVI video at a resolution of 352x288. Inside the watch lies 2GB of flash memory, which is enough for about 12 hours of video, and gets about 12 hours of battery life on a single charge (via USB or AC). It's pretty toned-down, looking just about like every other trendy oversized silver wristwatch out there, and costs $150. [Book of Joe]

• The Coolpix S70 Nikon announced last month is now available. The main draw here in the 3.5" capacitive OLED touchscreen that of course comes with obligatory touch features like tap-to-focus. Besides the touchscreen, it's a pretty standard 12.1MP point-and-shoot with the ability to record 720p video. Now shipping for $370. [OLED Info]



• Dell released two new 24" monitors today, the Ultrasharp U2410 and ST2410.

• JVC's GZ-HM400 Camcorder

Our Nano reviewer had pretty steady hands when filming footage, but for those that get the shakes the Kickster should help. I also presume it will make shooting with one hand easier. And honestly, if I watch a video on my iPod Touch I always like to prop it up with something; this case takes care of that with its swivel mechanism that lets you kick the stand up vertically or horizontally.

The Kickster was designed by the open-sourcers at Quirky so the profits of the $14.95 case will be split amongst designers. Kinda sucks that they don't know if it will fit the fourth generation Nano, but I'm assuming it does. [Quirky Kickster]

This new Nano—the 5th generation—comes in the same 8GB/16GB sizes as the last one (and the one before that, actually), though it costs slightly less than the original price of the 4th generation Nano (which was $150/$200). The $20 price drop is nice, but we'd have preferred a capacity bump with the same price. Correction: This section originally compared the 5G Nano's price to the very recently discounted 4G Nano's price( $130/$150)—but as that price was only in effect for a couple days, it's more accurate to compare the 5G price to the 4G's launch price. Sorry for the confusion.

Body

The new Nano has the same body as the 4th generation, but there are definite changes afoot. The screen takes a bump from 2 inches to 2.2 inches—a jump that may sound tiny but is surprisingly substantial. If you're used to the old 2-inch screen you'll definitely notice and appreciate the extra space for navigation. The resolution goes from 240x320 to the oddball 240x376. Though wider when viewed lengthwise, the new screen still isn't 16x9; even widescreen videos will be slightly letterboxed due to the unconventional size. Aside from the added real estate, it's also noticeably brighter and sharper than the previous model. It may still be too small to watch a two-hour movie on, but it's a pleasure to use for everything else, including shorter video clips.

Unfortunately, that larger screen comes with a caveat: The click wheel is even smaller than earlier Nanos. If you found the previous Nano's click wheel slightly thinner and harder to hit than you prefer, this will be even worse. If you had no problems before, then the slight decrease in size shouldn't affect you much. I personally found it too small, and my thumb sometimes hit the area around the controls instead of the control itself. This is especially true when the Nano is docked.

The anodized aluminum finish is also a little different—there's an added step in the process that makes it shinier and brighter than the previous generation's comparatively subdued matte finish. Oddly enough, it actually feels slightly lighter than the last model, though no less solid—this is an extremely durable player. It doesn't bend under pressure from any angle and a nerve-wracking fall onto a hardwood floor had no adverse effects. However, I found that sharp metal objects like keys will leave scratches, while the previous matte Nano showed no scratches under similar abuse. One bit of bad news: People who hated the sharp corners of the last Nano will have to put up with them for at least another year.

Features

Did I mention Apple crammed a bunch of new features into the iPod Nano 5G? And that the most notable—and most thoroughly leaked—is a video camera? Here's the rundown:

Video Camera
The big selling point of this Nano is that the video camera theoretically puts it in a position to compete with the Flip, Creative's Vado, and Kodak's Zi6 and Zi8. Steve Jobs said so himself. But is it true? Well, yes—and no.

Like the Flip-class cameras, there's no optical zoom, and it can't take still shots (very few of these new camcorders can). Also, there's no on-device editing, just the option to delete what you shot. It too has video output, but only if you buy the right cable.

But the Nano is limited to VGA resolution—640x480—far less than that of current HD pocket cams which hover in the same sub-$180 price range. Casual videos meant for YouTube may not need more than VGA, and Apple sort of makes up for it by adding creative video filters, similar to those found in iChat and Photo Booth. These aren't just for fun, they tend to cover up the limitations of the video itself. On the other hand, if you're shooting your baby's first steps, or anything meaningful, no matter how short, you might end up regretting that you didn't shoot in HD.

That being said, it's a remarkably high-quality camera, as good as standard-def pocket cams like the Flip Mino (which I used in the comparisons below).

When you hold the Nano, you discover that the lens is placed in an awkward location—the lower right corner of the device's back. You can rotate it and the accelerometer will adjust, so it can actually be held in any way you choose, but the natural motion is to turn it 90 degrees counterclockwise (so the screen is on the left and the click wheel on the right), which leaves your fingers right in the lens's way. You get used to it, though. It's annoying but not a dealbreaker.

In video-camera mode, you can bring up those creative filters—cyborg, security camera, film grain, tunnel vision and more—by holding down the center button. They fit right in with the idea of the Nano as a quick-and-dirty camcorder: You wouldn't want your serious short film to have a red, pulsing cyborg filter, but it's really fun for 30-second clips. Speaking of which, the only limit on video length seems to be the remaining memory in the Nano itself.

Here are a couple comparison clips. This first is low-light, notoriously difficult for any budget camcorder to capture.

The Flip is far better here: You can actually make out the features of my kitchen with some certainty, and while it's blurry it's still watchable.

The Nano's low-light video is pretty much pitch black until I hit a patch of light, and it's extremely jerky. I should add that the kitchen wasn't really that dark, but it looks like that tiny sensor is just no good for situations with less light.

This pair of clips is to demonstrate macro. The Nano is actually a little better than the Flip here, with a sharper closeup picture, although color reproduction is a little more accurate on the Flip. Still, closeup shots are difficult and I'm really impressed with the Nano's clarity here. Here's the Flip:

And here's the Nano.

This last series is what most people will likely use the Nano's camera for: Shooting with a decent amount of light, natural or artificial. It's not quite as good here as the Flip—notice the tearing in the video as I pan, and again, color reproduction is a little darker and muddier than the actual object. But given that the Nano's camera is a tiny little lens crammed into an already-tiny music and video player that you may be intent on buying anyway, I'm really pleased and a little surprised at how well it performs.

This is the Flip:

And this is the Nano:

The microphone does a pretty good job at picking up sound. Speech is totally audible and it's sensitive enough to pick up a fairly quiet conversation 10 feet away. Wind shear can get really noisy, unfortunately, but unless it's incredibly windy it shouldn't be much of a problem.

So is the Nano better than a standard-def Flip? No, it's not: Besides poor low-light performance, the straight video quality is slightly inferior and there are no features like digital zoom (which some people like). This is a PMP with a camera, not a camera that plays music. But should Flip be worried? Absolutely. If you have a Flip already, you may not be swayed to purchase the Nano because of its video, but if you buy the Nano, you don't really need a Flip—and Apple's going to sell boatloads of these Nanos for reasons other than video camera anyway. Speaking of which...

FM Radio
Defiantly coming dead last to the FM radio party, Apple finally bestowed an iPod with a real FM radio, not some costly optional accessory. Why did Apple cave? Every single other mp3 player since about 2001 has had this. Your guess is as good as mine. The addition was announced without fanfare or explanation at the Nano's unveiling, and the tuner itself doesn't bring any new features like HD Radio, but it does come in with a suite of features proving, at least, that this wasn't an afterthought.

The radio gets excellent reception, though you have to use your headphones—not just Apple's white earbuds; I used my Shures—as the antenna. There's support for RDS data (station name and song title). That song title data can be used to tag favorite songs so that you can, well, buy them later on iTunes. The coolest radio feature is "Live Pause." You can pause a program for up to 15 minutes, and it caches it to memory. It's really nice addition, and you can even fast forward through the cached content, though you can't truly record and save radio.

Built-In Speaker
That's right, there's a teeny little speaker on the bottom of the new Nano. It's not particularly loud or high quality, but it's damn impressive that Apple could cram it into such a thin player. It's definitely audible in quiet rooms, although you'd probably want to use it for spoken word or video rather than music, as songs tend to get washed out and distorted. Still, I have a feeling I'll take advantage of the speaker even more than the video camera—there was one on the Samsung P3 and it proved extremely useful for those times when you want to share a quick video, or don't feel like plugging in earbuds.

Pedometer
It works, mostly, though it's not a substitute for Nike+. Even Apple says you can't use it for running. I tested five sets of exactly ten steps, and it registered the correct amount twice, but it also registered nine steps twice and thirteen steps once. It'll probably even out for longer walks, but you will never get perfect accuracy. It's still kind of fun, though: Turns out my nearest coffee shop is only 278 steps away from my bedroom, and I burned 14 calories getting there.

Voice Recorder
Using the built-in mic, you can record little voice memos. Sound quality is okay, but very limited by distance. I tested from different distances and found that while about one foot away from the mic, talking at a normal conversational volume (as in an interview or quick voice memo situation), sound quality was very audible and clear. From five feet back at the same volume, it was still clear but soft enough that the volume had to be upped quite a bit. From ten feet back it was still clear but only after I plugged it into my stereo and cranked the volume. When recording very loud music from a bit of a distance (sorry, neighbors!), the volume was fine but the recording came out way too distorted to be worth listening to. It looks like the recorder would be a good tool for memos or lectures, but forget about recording concerts with the Nano.

The Verdict

The iPod Nano is the best-selling MP3 player of all time, and this new model should keep that record alive. It's still an incredibly small and thin player with intuitive navigation and popular software, priced competitively. The new features are really nice—the video camera is good in a pinch, enough to supplant standard-def pocket cams—and the bigger, brighter screen makes navigating through the added options.

The video camera is a major feature addition, but this Nano is still an incremental upgrade. Apple hasn't changed the capacity or price in years—does it really not make sense to release a 32GB version? The 8GB version, only $30 cheaper than the 16GB, seems undesirable and outdated. But at this point what else could Apple add to the Nano? I'm just surprised everything they have added actually fits.

The iPod Touch and other full-featured touchscreen players like the Zune HD and Sony X-Series are the big attention-grabbers these days, and the Nano will surely be left behind as dedicated media players yield to convergence. The steady price and capacity of the Nano and the dropping price and skyrocketing capacity and functionality of the Touch signals the sea change better than anything: Soon the Touch will be top seller, and the Nano will slip into being a niche product for people who really prefer small form factors. There is much speculation that the Nano got the video camera—and the Touch did not—in order to slow this inevitable decline.

So the big question: Should you buy the Nano? Yes, if you want an easy-to-use, slick, full-featured and small PMP. No, if you just want an 8GB vessel for your MP3s.

If you're in the market for both a PMP and a cheap pocket camcorder, it's definitely a "yes." But think it over. If you've got last year's Nano and you have an interest in decent video quality, better to spend the money on a Kodak Zi8 (or the newly discounted Zi6). Or just wait for the iPod Touch to get a camera—now that's an upgrade. The camera alone isn't worth $150 or $180 if you've already got every other feature—maybe that's the reason Jobs himself said it was "free."

Retains stylish and durable form factor, with bigger and better screen

Camera is surprisingly good and really fun

Price is very tempting considering camera addition

Design, battery life and UI are unchanged, but still good

Capped at 16GB capacity

[Complete Coverage of Apple's Only Rock and Roll Product Launch]

Speaking with planet5D, Hurlbut revealed that the mount was designed for a series of 9 Terminator Salvation webisodes and was later used to film a rollercoaster ride experience video for the Terminator ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Needless to say, this might be the best thing to come out of that whole debacle of a film. [planet5d]

The Avatar Digital Binocular Sports and Spy Camera has a 2.5 LCD screen, USB connectivity, video out, and up to 3GB of memory using a 2GB memory card. It suppors the usual video and audio playing formats, recording at 25fps in 640 x 480 mode. [Chinavision via Red Ferret]

Rodney Charters, the Director for Photography on 24 expressed interest in it via an email sent to planet5D. He also believes that it may have been used on Ironman, although he has no confirmation on that. Either way it would make for some interesting fight and POV scenes, not to mention comical situations on set for anyone trying to pass through a doorway with one of these on. [planet5D]

The piece goes more in depth about the security risks in having a cellphone confiscated by anonymous theater cops, and Doctorow seems upset that nobody would tell him exactly what happens to these phones during the movie. I'm less concerned; I think the reason nobody knows what happens is that nobody cares, and there's probably never been an instance of data theft in that situation. But it is definitely a bad sign for the film industry that anybody anywhere thinks that's where leaks come from.

As any diligent pirate knows, there are levels of illegally-obtained films that vary wildly in quality, and at any reputable Bittorrent site, they're clearly labeled (or at least noted in the comments). The first type that usually appears is the camcorder version, which is almost always a complete waste of time. "Cams," as they're called, are often shot from corners of the theater to avoid detection, and sound quality is praised if dialogue even the least bit understandable. Most pirates will skip this garbage and wait for a more legit copy, so it's not worth getting worked up about people with camcorders. Next up, the last thing to leak before the actual DVD release of the movie, is the one that's actually worth stealing: The screener.

Screeners are preview DVDs sent out to critics and others in the industry, and that's where nearly all of the leaks happen. I repeat: Leaks come from inside the industry. So maybe the MPAA should stop whining and figure out a more secure DRM system, some kind of watermark, or just a way of tracking which copy gets leaked instead of taking silly action like confiscating cellphones. [The Guardian]

The Price: $300
The Verdict: This helmet cam is great for shooting mountain bike or skateboarding shenanigans, especially if you can steady the camera a bit – a snug helmet mount will work better than the handlebars. Although some sort of steadying device would help a lot, since heads tend to shake more than most areas of the body, this camera tends to shake as much as most others that also lack a fish eye type lens (Don't get me wrong, it has a 135 degree field of view, which is wider than almost all cams on the market. And 135 degrees seems to be a good angle for chasing and filming friends with. ) Colors and detail come out really well, except on snow, which tended to be washed out and over exposed. But it shoots in HD: 1280 x 720 at 30 frames per second, which is output as a 16:9 720p picture. Or 60 frames per second in SD. And that's a rare thing in helmet cameras these days.

The ContourHD's record/stop functioning is matter of sliding a giant tab up or down and is easy to operate, even with ski gloves on. Aiming the device is pretty simple, too, because the field of vision is determined by dual laser pointers, which remind you where your cam is pointing. It is not waterproof, but it held up fine to getting pummeled by wet snow for a run when I duct-taped it to the nose of my snowboard (probably not a recommended mounting option). Speaking of mounting, the camera comes with a goggle-strap mount and a 3M sticky-backed flat surface mount. Optional mounts are coming, including a suction mount for attaching to cars and smooth surfaces of outdoor gear.

The camera itself isn't in a housing, which is great for the form factor, but the aluminum and plastic case will run into some issues: If you fall on this camera, there's no layer of protection for it, and it will get hurt on big enough falls. Wind noise could also be a potential problem, as you can see in some of the videos on VHoldR's site. And there's no way to fully submerge this camera, so its not good for water sports.

You'll also probably want a MicroSD card bigger than the 2GB that comes with the camera, good for an hour of HD footage. The device does charge by USB, though, and having a rechargeable lithium battery, swappable no less, in such a device kicks ass. The battery claim is 3 hours while recording SD, so less with HD.

The two significant shortcomings I saw in the pre-production demo unit they sent have apparently been addressed in the final production run. Those "bugs" they've addressed: the Record on/off switch now has sufficient magnetic strength to stay on when vibrating hard, and the battery will no longer shake loose under serious vibration.

HD on a sport camera.

Rechargeable lithium ion battery

Mounts only on helmet for now.

Not waterproof enough for submersion

Randy Salzman is a volunteer Ski patroller. He rides an alpine/carving board but can pretty much ride anything.
[Vholdr]

This DSLR battery clip charges via a special USB source (like Energizer's own portable battery pack, which has a higher voltage than standard USB) and clamps on to "any" digital camera or camcorder battery. The compatibility list is probably high, but we're unsure if any actually means any, so check out the site before buying. The entire Energi To Go line will be available next month. [Gearlog via Oh Gizmo]

I love the looks and the functionality of this concept by Nikola Knezevic, a 3D camcorder that records straight to a Blu-Ray disc in high definition. I don't want to have it just because it looks pretty or because I like the idea of consumer 3D video. No, I want it because it would let me play Han Solo hunting Imperial Droids in Hoth. [Nikola Design via Tuvie]

Amazon preorders have opened, with a ship date set at May 22nd and price at $900. It's an intimidating number, but the camcorder is no slouch: aside from its attention-grabbing 64GB internal SSD, it boasts full 1080p recording capabilities, an SDHC slot, 10x optical zoom through a Schneider Kreuznach Varioplan lens, hardware image stabilization, 4.7-megapixel still shooting and a built-in flash. Not bad for a soup flask, really. [Akihabara via T3]

Short answer: Just like the Ultra, but um, HD. The Flip UltraHD is actually not the first HD Flip camcorder—the runt of the litter, the Mino went high def first, and we thought for a while the fattie Flip Ultra was going to rot and die.

But it hasn't. It's been reincarnated with HD—720P shot in H.264 at 30FPS. I mean that fairly literally—if you were to take an Ultra and an UltraHD side by side, the only giveaway besides the branding is the Mini HDMI port on the side of the UltraHD. It's got the same 2X digital zoom, the same fat ass. It's like the MinoHD's guts and soul inside of the Ultra's body. Which is actually what annoys me the most about it. Its bigger, brighter, better screen is the antidote to my biggest problem with the MinoHD, but it's so goddamn thick you can't comfortably shove it in your pocket like the Mino. Keep the the width and height, but it should be thinner, even considering the depth needed for the little zoom lens. This is also pretty much the last camera Pure Digital can make like this—it feels like they've exhausted everything this particular package of camera and features can do. Whatever comes next needs to be actually different.

These comparison videos were filmed holding the MinoHD and UltraHD side-by-side—outside in the afternoon, and then outside at night, with crappy lighting to test and compare how well they handle low-lighting. (Sorry, in GA, I had nothing more interesting to shoot than my dog.) To me, the footage virtually looks the same coming out both from a quality standpoint. Clear with good lighting, visible but noisy as balls in low-lighting. Though, the UltraHD's zoom lens does give you appreciated flexibility. (Update: It's just digital zoom, my bad.) Overall, compared to the rest of the cheap camcorder market, if you consider the UltraHD's quality equivalent to the MinoHD's it looks like it's still about tops, though not the best.

Our model's got 8GB of storage and promises 120 minute of video out of it. If you don't use the HDMI cable to plug it into your TV, you interface with it the same as always, via the pop-out USB jack. It comes with a rechargeable pair of batteries, but you can pop in some standard AA if you want.

At $200 retail it's not the cheapest cheapcam in the pack by any means—you can pick up the slightly older Kodak Zi6, another pocket HD camcorder that we like a bunch and shoots slightly cleaner video for $140 or its weatherproof cousin for $150, though you have to add in the cost of additional SDHC storage. That said, compared to the MinoHD, you get twice the recording capacity and bigger, brighter screen for about the same price, with the cost being the fatass. So it really depends what part of the triangle is most important to you: Size, storage and video quality. But you can't go too wrong with the UltraHD. [Flip]

Besides going HD—bringing it up to par with our other fave, Kodak's ZI6—the Flip Ultra HD gets HDMI, a rare rainbow unicorn for these cheap pocket cams. It's got two hours of record time, and removable rechargeable batteries. Gary walked out of Best Buy with the so-far-unannounced Flip Ultra HD for $200, which is high compared to Kodak's upcoming $150 Z1x. Still, we can't wait to get our hands on it. [Gaxonline via Engadget]

For instance, you could pretend that you needed this $128 tie for important reconnaissance work, using its one button controls to grab footage of Joe using the copier, or Marie pouring another cup of coffee. Later, when downloading 30 hours of 352x288 .avi footage to an XP or Vista machine, scrupulous review could reveal that Joe had actually planted a miniature explosive while duplicating those expense reports, set to blow the next time someone made a double-sided copy. And there's Marie, making her way over to the machine now! That earth-loving hippie will surely make a double sided print. Run like the wind, my dull office companion! Run! [Thanko via DVICE]

With a built-in compass, lithium-ion rechargeable battery and waterproof body, the DXG-125V camcorder looks like it was built to stand a few bumps and bruises out in the nitty, gritty outdoors. But if you're looking for something a little more feminine, in August, you'll be able to get the $130 Luxe version that comes with a 3-inch LCD flip-out screen, designed to look like a plush clutch purse. [Dvice]