Pure Digital Flip Ultra Camcorder Review

The Pure Digital’s original Flip camcorder, released earlier this year, created an unusual amount of buzz by positioning itself well below the price point of traditional point-and-shoot camcorders. For the first time, a company truly succeeded in taking video away from the computer-savvy and making it safe for the technophobe. Pure Digital follows up with the Flip Ultra (Specs, Recent News, $149.99) (1GB version $149 / 2GB version $179), offering second-generation video processing, a slimmer profile, and an iPod-like choice of colors. The Flip delivers on its promise of simplicity, but that comes at a cost. The camcorder offers absolutely no manual adjustments except a 2x digital zoom. Worse, the picture quality goes from poor to abysmal, particularly in how it handles motion. Considering that significantly more robust MiniDV camcorders can be had for less than twice that price (some less than $50 more), you really have to ask yourself, “How much am I willing to sacrifice for ease of use and portability?”













The Front (4.00)
The Flip Ultra is simplicity at its finest. Up front, you’ll be greeted by a tiny 2X digital zoom lens with a built-in stereo microphone embedded to its right. The front also doubles as the battery chamber. Shift the battery latch on the bottom to “unlock,” press on the front panel, drag it down, and lift it off to reveal two AA batteries wedged within a shallow chamber on the left side. Keep in mind the Sony NSC-GC1 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $199.00) Net Sharing Cam and the Aiptek high definition A-HD both have built-in rechargeable batteries.

The Right Side (2.75)
You’ll find the rectangular power switch and a wrist strap hook at either end of the Flip Ultra's right side. Welcome to the minimalist world of modern tech design: part Jonathan Ive and part Mies van der Rohe.

The Back (3.50)
The master control panel is located in back. Here you’ll find a 1.5-inch LCD screen smack dab in the center of the rectangular gray area. Above the LCD screen is a long strip of holes representing the playback speaker. Below the LCD screen is the Flip Ultra’s steering wheel—a four-way directional pad with a record start/stop button placed in the middle. Playback and Delete buttons are located on either side of the directional pad.

The Left Side (4.75)
Here’s where the Flip Ultra gets its name—the ultimately cool spring-loaded USB arm. Just push down on the switch with the arrow button and… wha-ching! Time to transfer some video clips. When you’re done YouTubeifying your masterpiece, simply unsheathe the Flip Ultra from your USB drive and snap the arm back in place. The only other feature on the right side of the Flip Ultra is an A/V-out jack.

The Top (2.75)
The top of the Flip Ultra consists entirely of smooth, shiny plastic. Bask in all its glory.

The Bottom
New to this Flip is the introduction of a tripod mount, and we’ll be the first to tell you this thing looks a bit out of place on our professional tripod. The battery latch is located to the left of the tripod mount.