Flip Mino

The basics

The Flip Mino camcorder features a 1.5-inch TFT display and, thanks to a 1/4 inch VGA CMOS sensor, captures video at a 640 x 480 resolution at 30fps. It also boasts a 2x digital zoom, powers up in four seconds and has a battery life of four hours. It also measures just 100x50x16mm and weighs 94g.

The good

Flipping heck, the Mino is easy to use. The original one-button wonder is back, with less flab (it weighs just 94g), a rechargeable battery and more smarts. You can now fast forward and rewind in the camera, with touch-sensitive buttons adding much-needed mobile chic. Uploading to YouTube is still just a matter of flipping out the USB plug and waltzing through the dead easy Muvee software. This now comes with auto-editing features to splice together a Tarantino-esque masterpiece from your wobbly clips.

The bad

Some things haven’t changed. There’s still 2GB of built-in memory (enough for an hour of average quality video) with no memory card slot for expansion. And the zoom remains just a blocky digital effort instead of real moving optics.

The bottom line

There’s no easier or quicker way to get your real world antics online than the Flip, and the £20 price hike over the earlier model is justified by the rechargeable battery alone. If you’re anything but a YouTube junky, though, you might find a movie-shooting digital camera a better all-rounder.