Straight to Video
Annoyed by menus, toggles, and buttons with inscrutable little symbols? You won’t find them here. Swing the lens arm up and this deceptively high-powered camera is ready for action. Separate buttons allowed us to take video and stills without changing modes, and by swiveling the lens unit we could film ourselves yammering on. The five-meg stills were acceptable, but the unit’s 1080p, 30fps MP4 video was what impressed us. Face detection and image stabilization help churn out footage that looks much more professional than you’d expect from such a tiny, plasticky unit, and we loved the flip-out USB plug. The Bloggie could easily become your primary videocam. Bummer: The 4x digital zoom on this model is slow (and nonfunctioning in 1080p mode).
Functions: 3.4
Durability: 3.3