Still looking for a sexy, less-expensive alternative to your dad’s super pricy camcorder?

 

If you haven’t checked out a Flip Video camera, there’s no time like the present. Small as smartphones, the new Flip Mino and Flip MinoHD cameras – available in late October -- are jam-packed with applications for users who want to make a big video splash on YouTube, MySpace (News - Alert) and Facebook.

 

Coming soon for late October’s trick-or-treating crowd, the latest of the Flip Video series – the first Flip devices on the market since Cisco purchased Pure Digital in May for $590 million in stock -- sport built-in rechargeable batteries and pre-loaded software that works on any Mac or PC so users can upload videos directly to social-networking Web sites. 

 

“You have this tremendous platform,” Simon Fleming-Wood, senior director of marketing for Cisco (News - Alert) consumer products, told TMCnet. “The new Flip Mino, which we’re launching with new flip software that allows you to upload to the iPhone, is Facebook (News - Alert) integrated. You can easily share any video.”

 

Both devices weigh about four ounces.

 

The basic FlipMino, retailing at $149.99, comes with 2 GB of on-board memory that records up to 60 minutes of video, a no-glare display screen and the ability to watch videos instantly on TV. Featuring a few more bells and whistles – like an HDMI output to an HDTV and 8 GB of on-board memory that records up to 120 minutes of video, the Flip MinoHD will be available for $229.99.

 

In April, Pure Digital Technologies Inc. introduced the second generation of its Flip Ultra line, with standard and high-definition models that sold for $150 and $200. Together with the original Flip Video camcorder ($130) and sleeker Flip Mino brands ($230 HD, $180 SD), the Ultra line forms a family of camcorders that have sold more than 2 million units since 2007.

 

 “Flip is supposed to be synonymous with simple,” Fleming-Wood told TMCnet. “It’s packaged in a way that you’re not required to learn it to use it.”