So you can not only shoot in HD now, with these tiny little Minos, but you can also create your own artwork and customize how you want your nifty little camera to look. Personally, I really like the chrome look. Checkit?
 Full o' color, yo! |
I still don’t have the Mino in my hot little fins, but at least now I have an idea of the scale of one. I gotta say, I’m a little disappointed. A bit slimmer, but overall not considerably smaller. From what I’m herring (heh heh), the touch controls take a little getting used to, but they’re backlit, so that’s kinda cool.
The other point of contention is that it’s Pure Digital’s first model with a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery. So if you’re out shooting and run out of juice, you’re screwed. Just sayin’. Swappable double or triple A’s aren’t gonna help you, buddy.
It’s a bit difficult reviewing a product that I don’t have, but there’s a lot of buzz and, being a fish, I don’t really understand the concept of money, so I have to wait ’til someone gives me a Mino. If you gotta extra one laying around, hit me up. I’ll shoot your wedding or something, in exchange.
Fin
My “contact” in the industry still hasn’t come through on his promise to get me one of these. They’ll be in stores all over the place soon, bit for now you can get them at these fine retailers:
Amazon
Flip Video Store
Best Buy (don’t think they have them yet)
Sears (don’t think they have them yet)
Wal-Mart (don’t think they have them yet)
As scooped by ZDNet:
The leaked Mino camcorder from Flip is now official, and from the looks of it, it’s still got the stripped-down appeal of its sibling Video.
New features on the Mino include touch sensitive buttons (as opposed to click) and an increased video bit rate of 4.0 Mbps (doubled from before), giving the user an hour of capture.
What’s more, the built-in sharing function will now upload to MySpace, YouTube and AOL. Dimensions are a lithe 3.94? x 1.97? x 0.63?.
On the flip side (no pun intended — well, okay, maybe a little), the camera’s resolution is still 640 x 480, and the lens and 2X zoom remain the same.
One change in particular should be noted: AA battery capability has been swapped for a non-user replaceable Li-ion cell, doubling battery life to four hours at the expense of quick-fire, on-the-go replacement. It will take a minimum of two hours to recharge using a new power adapter or three hours plugged into a USB port.
The Mino is available now for $180.
As scooped by Gizmodo:
The Flip Mino, a pint-sized but more powerful companion to the so-easy-your-grandma-will-be-a- YouTube-star Ultra, is now official. We already saw the $180 mini-cam in a fuzzy picture, but now we know that although it carries 2GB of on-board flash for 60 minutes of VGA-quality recording like the Ultra, it’s 40% smaller—a scant 4” x 2” x 0.6”. The Mino distances itself further by adding a Li-ion battery and a flat back-panel with touch-sensitive buttons (rather than the Ultra’s AAs and push buttons). Check back shortly for a full hands-on; meanwhile, there’s a spec-laden fact sheet and a gallery’s worth of more shots after the jump.
Flip Video Mino Camcorder Details:
* Amazingly thin, pocket-sized camcorder
* 40% smaller than Ultra Series. Dimensions : 4” x 2” x 0.6”. Weight: 3.3 oz.
* 2GB of on-board flash memory records up to 60 minutes of video
* Sealed, internal rechargeable lithium ion battery that recharges through built-in USB arm
* Flat back-panel with touch-sensitive buttons
* No Glare display screen (1.5”)
* TV quality video
* Instant playback, pause, fast forward/rewind, and delete features
* Available in black and white models
* Connects to TV for instant viewing
* Built-in high-speed software enables instant video sharing from any PC or Mac:
o Save and organize videos on computer
o Email videos and video greeting cards
o Publish videos instantly on video sharing sites like YouTube, MySpace, and AOL
o Capture still photos from video clips
o Create custom movies with your own music
o Make your own DVDs and have them shipped anywhere in the world
Camcorder Available June 5, 2008
Nationwide at Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, Circuit City, Costco.com, Sears, Target.com, TheFlip.com, Walmart.com, and other national retailers. Available at additional retailers Fall 2008.
Camcorder Suggested Retail Pricing:
60 minute model: $179.99
My name is Flip. I am a very small fish of the Cyprinidae variety. I don’t tend to associate with those Eurasian stickleback asshats, they wouldn’t know decent video quality if it bit ‘em on the gas bladder
While I can’t attest to having opposable thumbs, or any thumbs for that matter, I do know how to wrangle my effing rig, and squeeze out the best quality video from the lightest and cheapest gear possible. In dealing with the previous lines of Flip (my namesake, purely coincidental) and Flip Ultras, things were starting to get better for me and my formidable quest to be the world’s best fish camera operator - in and out of the water.
The out of the water part was a no-brainer with the original Flips. You couldn’t get the goddamn things wet! So, imagine me in my fuggin’ bulky-assed dry suit, lugging one of those big things around on land with no water to help with buoyancy! Those Flips were innovative in their day, you could fit one in a human shirt pocket. But you can fit 5 to 7 times that many of me in a pocket - do the math and physics….
Anyhoo, the advent of the Flip Ultra line changed a lot of things for me. I’m crapping you negative: it was a better camera all around. And while still bulky in the water with the protective housing, the buoyancy achieved from the trapped air made it an amazing rig with which to shoot. And the various colors that camera came in had schools of babes swimming around me all the time. Good times, but those weren’t my most productive years, to be sure…. Reproductive, maybe ; )
So now, with Flip Mino coming out (the coincidences are starting to get a little spooky), I’m super-stoked to get back on land with a rig that may not be much taller/longer than me. I doubt that the tiny Mino will have all the accessories reserved for the Ultra series, especially another underwater housing. But how cracking would that be?! After seeing some blueprints of the shooting controls, I am a bit concerned about my ability to nail the shot while struggling with buttons in my land suit. We’ll see.
The Mino should be out tomorrow, so I’m going to try and not lose sleep over it (it’s a common misconception that we don’t sleep). Nor am I going to continue to speculate. So let’s just leave it at that.
I’ll try to touch on my challenges with uploading, next chance I get.
Fin!
It looks like Wednesday is the day for Pure Digital to add to their
burgeoning line of small, slender and ridiculously simple video cameras.
You can already slip these into your shirt pocket.
And the accessories for the Ultra series are pretty rad, I have to say. The tripod, underwater housing and action mount are worth their weight in roe! Really nifty.
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