PCWorld - Pure Digital's Flip was a breakthrough product, but now it has company. We tested high-definition, YouTube-friendly pocket camcorders from Creative, Kodak, Sony, and Pure Digital and picked a champion. Here's a guide to our roundup.
They may be tiny, but pocket camcorders are a gigantic force to be reckoned with, thanks to the rapid growth in popularity of Pure Digital's Flip line of video cameras. Nearly 1 million Flip cams were sold in 2007, according to IDC Research, and an NPD Research report named Pure Digital's Flip Ultra the top-selling camcorder in the country last June.
Big-name companies are taking notice--Cisco acquired Pure Digital for $590 million in stock in March, and major players are trotting out small, cell-phone-size pocket camcorders to chip away at the Flip's throne, armed with the same dead-simple operation, easy sharing features, and cross-generational appeal as Pure Digital's pioneering moviemaking device.
These ultraportable camcorders make uploading and sharing videos very simple, usually with flip-out USB connectors and on-board software. Though the clips lose a lot of quality once uploaded to the Web, the pocket camcorders tested here are all high-definition models. That gives you greater flexibility with the source video--you can choose to view it on an HDTV or upload it to an HD-friendly Web service.
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