$170-$200 • www.panasonic.com • www.samsung.com
Two new portable camcorders from Panasonic and Samsung are vying with Flip, the market leader, for a place in your pocket. Both shoot video in full 1080p high-definition.
The Panasonic HM-TA1 ($170) doubles as a webcam when connected to a computer via USB, a clever feature for video chat applications. It's a compact, straightforward camcorder with a design similar to that of the Flip family. Just below its 2-inch LCD are single-function buttons for power, play, record, still photo and delete.
The camcorder, available this month in purple, gray and red, can shoot still images at a resolution of eight megapixels. It has a familiar fold-out USB connector for easy transfer of videos to a computer and battery charging. It uses the ubiquitous SD card (not included) for storage, so users probably can swap in cards from their digital cameras.
The $200 Samsung HMX-E10 has a bright f/2.2 lens that swivels 270 degrees (similar to the Sony Bloggie), giving users greater flexibility in framing videos. It has a 2.7-inch LCD with a touch interface for shooting and sharing video. It can add four effects to video: miniature (a shift-tilt effect), vignetting, defog (mimicking the effect of a polarizing filter) and sketch (a pencil drawing effect). The camcorder also can capture still images at eight megapixels.
Again, there's the familiar pop-out USB connector, but for storage, the Samsung camcorder uses a microSD card (not included), rather than the more standard SD card. That means you'll probably have to invest in a different type of memory card. It will be available in ivory or black in September.
A TINY FLASH DRIVE WITH SPACE
$15-$78 • www.sandisk.com
As their data capacity has grown, flash drives have been shrinking. One case in point is the new SanDisk Cruzer Blade.
The Blade is about the size of a paper clip, and it weighs the same as a penny. It's fairly sturdy, and can hold up to 16 gigabytes of files; that's about 4,000 songs or 5,000 photographs.
In itself, the Cruzer Blade will not change the world. But for cocktail-party chatter fodder, it's a natural.
