Pure Digital Flip
Pure Digital’s Flip camcorder is now what Beta camcorders were in the 1980’s. Wait, who are Pure Digital and what exactly is Flip? If that Flip thing is as bulky as a Beta cam then forget I even asked. Oh, it’s not bulky at all?
What I wanted to say in the first place was that the Flip has taken 13 percent of the camcorder market, according to Pure Digital. And this device has only been around for one year. Its size and simplicity contributed to the surprising ascension.
Flip is by far the tiniest camcorder you’ve seen. In fact it’s a stripped-down video recorder the size of a digital camera and you hold it vertically, hence the flippy denomination. But that was last year’s surprise. Six months ago, Pure Digital presented an improved model, called the Flip Ultra. It featured slightly improved video quality, greater capacity, a tripod mount and better looks. It's been the best-selling camcorder on Amazon.com since the day of its debut.
Now, why should a gadget geek like you pay attention to such a puny device? The screen is tiny (1.5 inches) and doesn't swing out for self-portraits. Yaicks! You can't snap still photos. Uuuuuh! There are no tapes or discs, so you must oftenly download the videos to a computer when the memory is full (30 or 60 minutes of footage, depending on whether you buy the $150 or $180 model). There are no menus, no settings, no video light, no optical viewfinder, no special effects, no headphone jack, no high definition, no lens cap, no memory card. And there's no optical zoom, only a measly 2X digital zoom that ruins the quality of your zoomed footage. This ain’t no Beta camcorder successor! Way cheaper, though.
