Given the simplicity of the Flip camcorder, I wasn’t surprised to see Jason Fried praising it. He did so to a large extent by quoting a New York Times review.
The key quotes about the product include “the Zen of Flip,” “it’s a blast,” and “the video equivalent of a Kodak point-and-shoot camera.” The key quote about product development is this one.
Somebody at Pure Digital must have sat through countless meetings, steadfastly refusing to cede any ground to the forces of feature creep.
Funnily enough, it was the lack of a particular feature that prevented me buying a Flip the first time I saw one. After commenting on this over at Jason’s place, I found that the feature I missed has crept in to the new Flip Ultra.
The feature in question: a tripod mount. I’m tempted to get a cute little orange Ultra. But looking at the deals available, I’m even more tempted by one of the competing point-and-shoot camcorders: the RCA Small Wonder.
What to call the competitors? Flip killers? Flipoffs? Flipalikes?