Flip Video Ultra

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http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/camcorders/0,39029967,49297285,00.htm

Reviewed 11 June 2008

Reviewed by Rich Trenholm

It's a sign of a successful product when a slew of similar devices turn up on the market. The arrival of assorted clones demonstrates the phenomenal success Flip Video has had in the States with the Flip Video Ultra, the ultra-simple mini camcorder priced at £99.

Design
The design of the Flip Video is simple as humanly possible. It has a lens on the front and on the back, a 38mm (1.5-inch) screen and a big red record button. The only other controls are play and delete buttons, and a clickpad that navigates through menus and adjusts playback volume or zooms in and out. The screen is too small to really concentrate on composition, but then the Flip is designed for fast-and-loose handheld shooting anyway. It comes in black, orange, pink, green or white colours.

The on switch is on the left side, and on the right is a flip-out USB arm. This allows the Flip to be connected to a computer without the need for a cable. This is a good idea and is the Flip's unique selling point, but it does mean that if you have awkwardly-placed USB sockets on your computer, the Flip is resting its weight on the arm. While it's pretty sturdy, you might be more comfortable with an extension cable.

It's slightly chunkier than a mobile phone or compact camera, but still slides easily into a pocket and sits comfortably in the hand. It feels very plasticky and is far from seamlessly put together, but there isn't any flex or creakiness in the frame. The flip-out arm is securely held in place so there's very little chance of it opening accidentally.

Continuing the consumer-friendly convenience theme, the Flip is powered by AA batteries. The battery compartment can be locked off by a switch in the bottom, next to which sits the tripod bush.

Features
The Ultra's main feature is its lack of features: it shoots video in the simplest, most stripped-down manner possible. Our 2GB version records 60 minutes of standard definition H.264 MPEG-4 video, while a 1GB 30 minute version is also available. This is automatically converted that to WMV or QuickTime when connected to a computer.

All the software is on the camera, so you don't need to install anything on your computer, although when we first plugged it in, some software was installed automatically.

The software then lets you easily trim your footage and upload it to YouTube, MySpace or AOL video, or to other sites via an uploader assistant. The software isn't the glossiest design, but again, it does its simple job with the minimum of fuss.

Video is recorded by a 1/4-inch VGA CMOS sensor. This is a decent size compared to compact cameras, which could be seen as the Ultra's closest competitors.

Performance
We weren't expecting great things from the Ultra, but we must admit we were pleasantly surprised. Video is somewhat rough and colours are a little bland, but the autofocus is capable and the results aren't bad at all. There's very little in the way of image artefacts, motion isn't too blurry and diagonal lines aren't too jagged.

The zoom is superfluous, but for hand-held shooting, the Ultra's lightweight is extremely portable. Low light shooting was possibly the biggest surprise. We tested the Flip at a live concert, where it coped well with the combination of bright lights and a darkened room.

The big stumbling block is the sound quality. It packs a mono microphone that suffers badly from wind noise and is muddy at high volumes. While this is fine for recording people socialising, detail is hard to pick out and it can't really be used for recording dialogue.

Conclusion
We're in two minds about the Flip Video Ultra. On the one hand, it's unbeatable for ad hoc, down-and-dirty, quick and easy shooting and uploading. But on the other it's fairly limited as to what you can do with your footage -- essentially, Internet-sharing only.

If you have any plans beyond YouTube or MySpace, similar money will get you high definition with most of today's compact cameras: the compacts in Casio Exilim range also have YouTube modes, as well as a greater range of video options and the option to take decent stills. We appreciate the Flip Ultra's simplicity and affordability, but unless you're a YouTube addict or a dedicated video microblogger, the possibilities are just too limited to justify even this low price.

Edited by Shannon Doubleday