captkevman

The old saying that the best tool is the one you have with you does indeed ring true, and I’ve found that since carrying an iPhone around with me all the time (pretty much non-stop since Apple issued me one in July 2007), I tend to snap a lot of photos with the camera that’s built in to it.

It’s never been the best quality camera (although admittedly, I do not own an iPhone 4), but it’s been good enough. When my initial contract was over in 2009, the iPhone 3Gs had recently come out, which included support for recording video. I had considered getting a Flip Mino pocket camcorder, but at that point, I figured, “why bother?” I had a video camera in my pocket now, so why carry around another device?

The recent demise of the Flip camera by Cisco got me thinking about that again. In fact, I had just purchased a pocket HD camcorder from a deal promotions site (not a Flip) just prior to reading that the Flip line was canceled.

But why would I buy a pocket camera when I already have one in my iPhone? Well, the iPhone camera experience leaves a bit to be desired. First, snapping a photo or video is cumbersome, at best. On my iPhone 3Gs, if I want to record myself (narcissist that I am), I can see neither the preview image to frame the shot nor the control buttons to capture it without a mirror. So for recording things like quick self-snapshots or video blog entries, it’s almost useless. And as far as video is concerned, the microphone is positioned incorrectly to optimally capture the audio from your video source: usually, what is recorded is prominently from the opposite side of the camera.

That’s why I was surprised to see the Flip killed. By most accounts, they were great little cameras (although I had not yet purchased one). And by a few other accounts, Cisco killed the Flip because they weren’t quite sure how to run that business after acquiring it two years earlier. That’s a shame.

I’ve got a Creative Vado 720p HD pocket camcorder on the way. I’m sure in terms of quality and ease of use it’ll be no Flip, but I’m anxious to see how much it gets used compared to my iPhone video camera.

I guess we’ll see in a week or so.