Camcorder Sale, Reviews: Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder Sale: 60%

Camcorder Sale, Reviews: Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 30-Minutes (White)

Sale: $90.00 (60%) Simple to use, pocket-sized camcorder with one-touch recording and digital zoom Holds 30 minutes of full VGA-quality video on 1GB of built-in memory; no tapes or additional memory cards required Convenient USB arm plugs directly into your computer for easy viewing and sharing Built-in software lets you easily e-mail videos, upload to YouTube and AOL, and capture still photos from video Watch videos instantly on TV with included cable

REVIEWS:

By d.drueck hammer - The ease of use of this camera is excellent. The quality of the video is approximately equivalent to VHS, and the low light recording and sound are excellent. There is no image stabilization, so zooming/panning should be kept to a minimum for best results. The camera also only has a Digital zoom. I do like the fact that this Camera uses AA batteries so it won't be a paper weight in a couple of years like the Sony NSC-GC1 when its built in battery dies. I wish this camera supported external SD cards like its competitors but unfortunately it doesn't.

One problem I found when operating the camera, was when connected directly to a TV I don't think there is a way to rewind clips. When I held the back/forward buttons on the camera the camera just went to the next clip.

I found the .avi files to be inefficient, as one 30-minute clip I shot was 800Mb in size but once re-encoded to MPEG4 H.264 it was much smaller. Also, for some reason the when I tried to play my clip using my free VLC player Version 0.8.6c the there was no sound. I was able to play the clips fine in Quicktime though...

The software included in the flash memory of the camera seems a bit slow but works for its intended purpose. Unfortunately, for those who want to edit their video, the included editing tools are only good for resizing or merging clips.

I own a Core 2 Duo iMac and wanted to edit my footage using iMovie '08 unfortunately, the current version of the software doesn't support importing .avi files. I searched for a solution and found that the footage can be re-encoded to MPEG4 or changed to a .mov Quicktime wrapper and it will import fine into the new iMovie. What a pain though! Some softwares that are useful for Mac to help re-encode the video are: iSquint (free), Visual Hub (more advanced pay version of iSquint), and Quicktime Pro.

Once I had my footage imported into my computer, I uploaded a few of them into Youtube to share our Christmas with some of our extended family. Unfortunately, I wasn't satisfied with the quality of the footage in Youtube. I tried to research how to encode the footage with different formats/bitrates for maximum quality in Youtube but unfortunately, no matter what I tried (MPEG4 H.264, .flv, etc) the quality was the same. Apparently, Youtube resizes/re-encodes the footage no matter what format it is in so I think the only way to get better quality on Youtube would be to start out with better quality clips.

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By richman - I like it because it's small and easy to carry with me and just take out and capture the moment and upload to computer in a few seconds (longer if the program has to convert avi to wma format for utube or email).

I would be interested in hearing others that have tried the rca model, and the aiptek a-hd model, so we all can get user experiences comparing all 3 video camera's. RCA is 99dollars, aiptek hd is 119 dollars on sale.

At first, I thought something was wrong in uploading clips to computer (converting files to email format) because it stayed at 99 percent done for 8 minutes. And I unplugged camera and got message that is was still in computer mode. If I just upload to computer without converting to email or utube it goes a lot faster because no conversion of formats.

Second time, I opened the folder on computer that file was downloading to, and when software hit 99 percent done , I saw that the program was still completing the download because file sizes were getting bigger, and it finally finished. I write this because others may think the computer is hanging but it isn't, it sometimes takes alot of time to convert regular avi format to wma format for uploading to email. So your camera is not broken, you may have slow computer or BIG file to convert.

As others say zoom is not that good, but for quick shots and face shots it can't be beat, because I have camcorders but never used them because I had to make sure the special battery was charged, and it was a lot bigger, and I couldn't put in pocket, and I had to have special tapes, and special software, and it was a pain to take spur of moment shots.

This camera takes 2 AA batteries that last over an hour, and you have 1 hour record time on camera. My style is take 15 second clips, or 30 second clips of stuff, and then mix them together. TV shows switch camera's every few seconds so it keeps peoples attention, and I try to do the same! So 60 minutes for me gives me 120 (30 second clips) or 240 (15 second clips)! And I'm always around a laptop or computer to upload everything I just shot. :)

p.s. I went to park today and made a 2min film using only ultra flip and software on the ultra flip.

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By Lisa M. Hendey (Fresno, CA United States) - I was fortunate enough to receive a complimentary Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder for review from Amazon, who offered the product to frequent reviewers to promote their new Video Review feature. Since receiving the Flip Video a week ago, our family has had a blast playing with this diminutive little camera. Like most other families, we own a regular sized video camera that gets pulled out for the occasional school play, Christmas, or major trip. So I wasn't convinced that we would actually use the Flip Video very much.

Wrong! Since owning the camera, we've shot over thirty video clips in a variety of lighting and sound situations. The biggest fans of the camera, of course, are my teenage sons who are a part of the You Tube generation. They love the immediate gratification of being able to shoot a video, flip the USB arm from the side of the camera, plug it into the computer, and use the camera's on board software to upload directly to You Tube in one step.

Here's the blueprint for the Flip Video: the dimensions are 1.2 x 2.2 x 4.2 inches and the camera weighs 7.2 ounces, less than my cell phone. I have a small camera bag, and this little guy fits neatly into it with my still camera, making it easy and accessible - which means that you will actually carry it along on outings. It would easily fit into a pocket. The camera comes with a hand strap and small drawstring bag (not too useful). With 2 GB of memory, the camera can hold up to sixty minutes of footage. All the software you need is loaded onto the camera, which enables you to do some minor editing, file organization, upload clips to the web, or email, and string clips together to make a longer movie. The Flip Video also comes with a cord to connect to the television and watch videos there, but we have not as yet tested that feature.

On the down side, the Flip Video is not the perfect camera for taking far away videos, since it only has a 2x zoom level. I found that it is great for shooting at close range, but when I tried to shoot video from a great distance (as you might do at a school play or sporting event), the results were not great.

I'm looking forward to using the Flip Video to capture those "spur of the moment" situations with my kids that seem to come up in day to day life. Since the camera is so small and light, it easily fits into my small purse and is ready at a moment's notice. We've had a great time playing with the Flip Video and would highly recommend it for families on the go like ours, looking to capture memories without a lot of hassle. Have fun!

Iron Sale Reviews: Black & Decker D2030 Iron Auto-Off Digital Advantage

Iron on Sale Reviews: Black & Decker D2030 Iron Auto-Off Digital Advantage

Save: $32.20 (50%) 1500-watt iron with digital-display temperature and fabric settings Easy-to-read mini LCD monitor; stainless-steel soleplate; soft grip Variable-steam control; vertical steaming; burst of steam; auto cleaning Temperature ready tones; motion-sensitive auto off with audible alerts Measures approximately 5 by 11-1/2 by 6 inches; 1-year warranty

REVIEWS:

By Dharma (CT) - The only reason I have given it 4 stars is due to the following:

1. Its a little heavy as compared with other similar irons - but on the flip side I have noticed that the weight has helped iron the clothes better
2. You could control the flow of steam but on the lower settings also, the water is used up pretty fast.
3. After each ironing session they suggest to turn the steam off before powering the iron off and turn steam on only after powering the iron on for the new session. I am not sure what it does to the iron if this is not done in this fashion but it is kind of cumbersome to do it every single time and would tend to forget this standard operating procedure :-)

Apart from that the iron works pretty good and I am happy and would recoomend you to buy it.

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By Mark (East Coast) - The Black & Decker D2030 Auto-Off Digital Advantage Iron has a lot of nice design elements and good performance. Most of all, this unit is priced very well for the included features. Of course along with that come a few things that could have been improved. Some may opt for a higher end model, but for most people this unit's flaws should be overshadowed by the positives.

I have used more irons that would be considered *budget models* than those that could be considered *premium models*. I am aware that some brands, like Rowenta, seem to have a very loyal following. However, being very value focused I have yet to take the plunge with any of those much more expensive models. So my comments come from a user who wants the best value for the money. I am willing to accept this iron's flaws because it performs so well given the price.

PROS:
+ The iron heats up quickly and alerts you with a *beep* when it's hot
+ The weight of the iron seems evenly distributed and easily glides over clothes
+ The cord has a rotating base that allows it stay out of the way as you iron
+ A nice screen clearly displays the fabric number you select with the simple controls
+ The water reservoir seems to hold more than some of the other units I tried
+ Produces nice steam, though adjustable wheel gives less than ideal volume control
+ Also squirts water with the push of a button
+ A convenient red LED on the handle lets you know that the iron is plugged in
+ The unit gives a warning beep and automatically shuts off when not in use
+ Included 1 yr warrantee gives some peace of mind
+ The price seems very reasonable compared to a few other irons I tried and returned before settling on this one

CONS:
- Refill water with caution because the cover does seem poorly made
- There might be a shorter life with the electronic controls than plain old knobs
- Changing settings goes in order, so to change from 6 to 5, you have to go through 1-4
- May feel a little heavy to some people
- The unit beeps every time you change a setting, which can get annoying
- The steam adjustment wheel seems to go from "off" to "on" with only a little variation

Like all irons I have used, it may feel heavy for some people. I like the overall feel, and think that the weight helps with thicker fabrics. I know there are steamers that are much lighter, and some people may prefer that.

Considering the digital controls, nice steam and quick heat up time, this is a great value. I do worry about how long some of those electronics may last. On my old iron, I never had to worry about those types of parts failing. But hopefully with careful handling and storage this unit should last a long time.

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By PFC - I found this to be a great product overall however, I rated it as a four star for ergonomics. The button I use the most is the steam surge button. As a right-handed person it would be perfect if this button were located on the left side of the handle so that I could easily access it with the thumb of my right hand.

Unfortunately the spray mist button is on the left - the steam surge is on the right which is a little cumbersome. I would have liked to see the designers simply reverse the position of these buttons. Other than that I highly recommend this product.

BlackBerry Curve 8330 Phone Reviews: Save 75 %

BlackBerry Curve 8330 Phone Reviews: Save 75 %

Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Smallest, lightest BlackBerry with full QWERTY keyboard features GPS turn-by-turn directions via Sprint Navigation

Sprint Mobile Broadband Network via EV-DO connectivity; Sprint TV and Sprint Music Store enabled; access personal and corporate email

2-megapixel camera/camcorder; Bluetooth for handsfree devices and stereo music streaming; MicroSD expansion up to 8 GB

Includes: handset, rechargeable battery, charger, USB cable, 3.5mm headphones with microphone, 1 GB MicroSD card, quick start guide.

BlackBerry Curve 8330 Phone Reviews: By Natalie V. Galasso(Newark, New JERSEY) I am a very high tech digital girl, I go through about two to three cell phones a year due to the fact that I bore of them after constant daily use of them. Prior to the blackberry curve I owned a Palm Centro, in pink.. Wonderful phone by the way.. loved the touch screen. ANYWAY* Sprint offers this amazing unlimited everything plan for 99$ ( awesome deal! ) I upgraded to the Blackberry curve recently.. I will list the pros and cons.

Pros:
Beautiful, bright, large wide and clear screen

QWERTY Keyboard ( gosh I love texting, I cant use a normal cell to text on anymore after being spoiled with the qwerty keyboard)

Comes with leather case

Email Enabled

Has Pocket Express

Cheap Simply everything plan for 99.99 with sprint

Can Download AIm, MSN, flicker and a few other programs from blackberry.com

Cons:
1. no place to hang a cell phone charm from
( I felt a strange, slight withdrawal from the lack of a cellular charm. made me feel a little mental hahaha IT REALLY BOTHERED ME FOR ABOUT A WEEK, I had to find what to do with my old charms, I then just attached them to my key chain... )

2.Every time I restart my phone, my theme defaults back to the original.

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2 STARS

By D. Montgomery (Portland, OR)
This is my first Blackberry. I got it for free for work, even though I don't really need to be in contact that often.

This phone is like a swiss army knife with 50 tools. Technically, it can do many things, but it does none of them well. The menus are a jumbled mess of indistinct icons, and the drop down menus contain endless items to scroll through to get to the one or two you actually use. There are lots of options screens with lots of choices, but they are so disparate and poorly laid out you will always have to hunt around to find the setting you are looking for. Overall, the device's software seems like a project where several different teams worked separately, never talking to each other until the day before it shipped, when they hurriedly pasted it all together.

Navigation with the little thumb stick is ok, often not very precise, and frequently frustrating. The small keyboard is actually not bad, and I have big hands, though I hear others at work who have the same model complain about it. Battery life is also just ok. I don't make many calls and I have to recharge every couple days. Call quality with Sprint is good and I haven't had any problems with reception. The web speed is also ok. Email sync methods leave a lot to be desired, but I wouldn't blame RIM for that.

Nokia N97 will hit the stores in 3 months

An online retailer has started accepting pre-orders for the upcoming Nokia N97. There's a specific release date now and a price tag to match the N97 rich feature set. We bet all Nokia fans will rejoice to find out that their dream device will hit the stores in less than three months.

The QWERTY-and-touch-enabled Nokia N97 is supposed to hit the shelves at the last day of March over at Play.com online retailer.

The price tag of 480 GBP (540 euro or 720 US dollars) for the dream-come-true phone sounds quite nice and is actually a tad lower than the officially announced suggested price of 550 euro before taxes or subsidies. We've never seen a Nokia phone introductory price go lower than the initial expectations, so it's either the world financial meltdown talking here or the seller is just pulling our leg.

The Nokia N97 is most definitely one of the most loaded N-series devices out there, but that's not it's all about. The N97 is the first high-end device powered by the latest touchscreen Symbian S60 OS. And if the 3.5-inch touchscreen display is not enough for you, you can always slide-and-tilt it up so the large full QWERTY keyboard gets revealed.

Tri-band HSDPA and quad-band GSM ensure world wide roaming, but the new Nokia N97 also boasts 32GB of internal memory, a 5 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, touch-enabled Nokia Maps with a digital compass, an accelerometer for auto screen rotation and a proximity sensor for auto screen turn-off during calls.

The 16M color 3.5-inch touchscreen TFT display has a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels that should meet all your handheld widescreen multimedia needs. Of course all the basics are covered too - with stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm audio jack, TV-out and FM radio with RDS.

As you can imagine the loaded Nokia N97 is quite hefty - it weighs 150 g, but size-wise it's not bigger than say, the Apple iPhone 3G (except in thickness, that is). Via gsmarena.com

Nokia N79 Eco, Nokia cell phones News

In addition to shipping without a charger, the Nokia N79 Eco will come in a smaller box, which allows for further energy and waste savings. To round things off Nokia will, for each N79 Eco sold, donate £4 to the WWF (a global conservation organisation). It is likely the phone will be pre-loaded with 'power of we:' content - already available to existing users through Download!

The Nokia N79 Eco costs the same as the regular N79 in the online shop - £319. However, aside from the obvious eco-benefits, it does come in the Petrol Black colour (compared to Canvas White/Seal Gray), which should make your N79 stand out from the crowd.

The smaller box may not sound terribly significant, but when you operate on the scale of Nokia the little things really do add up. For example between February 2006 and the end of 2007, Nokia shipped 250 million phones in smaller packages resulting in 5,000 fewer truck journeys and saved 100 million Euros. In 2007, Nokia saved 15,000 tonnes of material (that's about 55,000 trees) and 100,000 m3 of water (that's around 18,000,000 toilets flushes).

Currently you can only pre-order the Nokia N79 Eco from the Nokia UK Shop, there is no indication of when it will start shipping. It is likely to be made available in other regions, perhaps through the various Nokia flagship stores.

On the pre-order page, there's also a link to a survey to gather consumer opinion about the idea of selling phones without chargers and other accessories, but we would also be interested in hearing your opinion in the comments thread.

Clearly there's scope for leaving out other accessories too. How many people really need a paper manual? Would downloading connectivity software from the Internet be a serious hurdle? How about the PC connectivity cable or headset? Personally I like the idea of the Nokia N79 Eco, but I imagine it will require a real cost saving to push most consumers into buying a 'reduced accessories' version of any phone. Reasonable prices (i.e. lower profit margins) on standalone accessories would also help - it's not as if the charger really costs £15 after all.

Of course, if you subsequently decide you do need an extra charger after all, you can further burnish your green credentials by buying Nokia's energy saving charger.
Rafe Blandford, All About Symbian

Nokia N79 Eco, Nokia Cell phones, Nokia N79 Reviews

Nokia N79 Eco cell phone is Unlocked quad-band GSM cell phone compatible with 850/900/1800/1900 frequencies and US 3G compatibility via 850/1900 UMTS/HSDPA plus GPRS/EDGE data capabilities

Nokia N79 Eco has 5-megapixel digital camera with Carl Zeiss Optics, autofocus, digital zoom and Flickr support; DVD-quality video capture (640 x 480 pixels at 30 fps)

Nokia N79 Eco has Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g); A-GPS for navigation with Nokia Maps app; Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity for both handsfree communication and stereo music streaming

Nokia N79 Eco has MicroSD expansion (up to 8 GB); access to personal email; full PIM features; FM radio with built-in FM transmitter

Nokia N79 Eco it is Up to 5.5 hours of talk time, up to 370 hours (15.5 days) of standby time

Nokia N79 Eco in News
Following in the footsteps of the N79 Active comes another Nokia N79 variant, the N79 Eco, which is available for pre-order through Nokia's UK online shop and ships without a charger. Customers are expected to retain the charger from their previous Nokia device. The concept is part of a trial to save energy and reduce waste and is part of Nokia's power of we: strategy. Read on for stats and the full scoop

Nokia N79 Eco, Customers' feedback
This is my first Nokia, and my first unlocked phone. I've had the phone for a little over a week and these are my impressions:
It's built really well. It feels solid and the screen seems pretty scratch resistant so far. The buttons are also really nice and the number keys are god for texting. From my research it seems to be a characteristic of N series phones. The design is clean as well. It seems well thought out and there's not much missing (an external play/pause button would be nice, but it comes with an inline remote to plug your earphones into), but nothing extra that I could do with out either.

It looks great. I got a white version (even thought the product description says grey) which I actually prefer. There is also a black version of the N79 that has been released recently as well. The changeable backs are cool (I received the white, red and brown covers), but I don't know how much I will change them personally.

The features as you've read in the product description are incredible. And honestly it does all of them well. The music player is good. The camera is decent (Not the best 5 mp pics I've ever seen, but for a phone the pics are awesome, and it has an automatic flash). I wasn't expecting a whole lot from the video recorder, but the quality really surprised me, in a good way. The gps is awesome. You get a 90 trial of the turn by turn voice navigation, I'm not sure how much the subscription costs, but if it's not outrageous, I would absolutely spend money for it. The FM transmitter is a really cool feature, I travel a lot and am in a lot of rental cars and it works like a charm. At this point in time this phone seems to have about every feature out there. It's pretty amazing considering it's size.

I've never used a symbian phone before and there is a bit of a learning curve. It took me a few days of moderate use to get comfortable with it. The N79 was a bit buggy out of the box. I was also disappointed with the software support for Macs. You have to buy a plug in for iSync to work (not yet supported) and even then it recognizes it as an N95 8GB, but it does work. I hope there will be more Mac support in the near future. Nokia has recently released a firmware update and with the amount of things that were improved, it makes you think that Nokia kinda rushed this phone out the door a little. After I updated my phone the OS is much more solid and a little faster and more responsive. If you purchase this phone, updating the software should be your first order of business.

I can't think of anything else I could possibly expect a phone to do that this phone doesn't. I chose this phone over the N82 because of the looks and because it supports US 3G unlike the N82. The N82 supposedly has a better camera, but for me I'd rather have the 3G. Fly Pan Am