Flip SlideHD Review: When Good Enough Isn’t Good Enough

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Today Cisco officially unveiled the latest addition to the Flip family: SlideHD. (I hinted at a new model back in January, by the way.) Flip products have always been simple to use and the SlideHD doesn’t venture too far off the reservation.

What’s unique about this particular model is the 3-inch resistive touchscreen (recording and viewing) and revamped design. But it isn’t quite what we all expected after the Cisco buyout. Cisco is touting this one as the world’s first “shoot and show” video camera, which it is, I guess, but I expected it to be Wi-Fi-enabled. Maybe we’ll get that in the next update.

When you slide the screen out, it props itself up at a 45-degree angle and reveals a touch-sensitive strip that allows you to flip through videos. You can perform the same functions by flicking the screen. The SlideHD shoots 30fps at 1280×720 and has 2x digital zoom. It boasts four hours of HD recording and 12 hours of HD storage with 16GB of built-in storage. HD footage captured on the SlideHD is decent, but not great. Autofocus within a couple feet is non-existent.

It seems as if the design and focus of this product took a step back compared to the Mino HD. It’s bulky and feels somewhat cheap with an all-plastic body. I wouldn’t ever dream of putting this in my pocket because it wouldn’t fit. Why wouldn’t you equip this with Wi-Fi? Camera manufacturers like Nikon have been doing this for years. Cisco is synonymous with networking. Linksys is already in the portfolio. What gives, Cisco?

Pick one up now for $280.

Flip SlideHD Product Specifications:
Color: White/Silver and Personalized
Recording Time: Four hours
Storage Time: Up to 12 Hours
Memory: 16GB
Screen: 3 inch transflective touch screen
Video Resolution: High Definition; 1280×720 (30fps)
Video Format: H.264, MP4
Battery: Internal Li-ion rechargeable
Battery Life: up to 2 hours
TV Output: HDMI Widescreen
Zoom: 2x digital
Audio: Stereo speakers, headset jack