The successor to Pure Digital’s Flip Ultra has now officially been announced. The new Flip Mino is on sale at the company’s site, on Amazon and at Walmart.com.
As a happy owner of the Flip Ultra, I immediately started reviewing the specs to see if I should give in and upgrade. The biggest reason I could find would be to get the improved microphone. Audio quality is the Ultra’s weakest point. But on another issue, I’m very glad to have the earlier Flip version. The Flip Mino has a non-removable lithium ion battery. One of the best things about the Ultra is never having to wait for it to charge. As long as I have a spare set of AA batteries, I have power. Not so with the Mino. That’s a feature I don’t think I’m willing to give up.
As for other changes, the Mino now supports the Mac without additional software, and its USB stick pops out of the top rather than the side which causes my Ultra to block valuable laptop real estate. It looks like the USB stick still comes out of the middle of the Mino, which is a little annoying because it means the bottom of the camera can’t rest flat on a table surface. Fairly minor issue, but I’m a little surprised it wasn’t fixed.
All in all, the fact that the Mino is smaller than the Ultra, has a better mic and directly supports Macs means it will probably be the choice for most newcomers to Flip. For me, I’m happy with my Ultra. In fact, I just bought a new case for it. Pics to come.
