About a week ago I replaced my VX8700 cell phone for the all new EnV2. It’s a good thing I was within the month limit because it might have been difficult replacing the VX8700 after a month. Some notable features over the VX8700 is obviously the keyboard, a standard headphone jack, mini USB port and the micro SD card slot is easily accessible. I would have preferred to have the phone use standard SD cards although it might have made it a little bigger but I don’t think it would have been a problem to have a USB port that uses the same wires as the PSP and the Aiptek HD for example. It’s one extra thing that you may have to purchase if you want to hook your phone up to your computer.
I’ve heard that people were complaining about the original EnV because of the way the camera sticks out but LG made it better with this one because the phone can now lay perfectly flat. The inner screen is bigger which makes it easier to browse the web, read messages and take picturesbut the outer screen is much smaller which might be a problem for some people who rather take pictures with the phone close. Luckily I’m perfectly fine using the inner screen although I'd rather use my Aiptek A-HD+ to take pictures and videos.
Several days ago I got myself the successor to the Aiptek A-HD that I brought to the Azores this past January and my first reactions toward the A-HD+ were negative because the lowlight capabilities is not only worse than I expected but you can see that the original A-HD is better. At first I thought I had a faulty unit which prevented me from doing this samples review earlier thinking that it wouldn’t be fair but I found out that other users are having the same problem. It can probably be solved with a future firmware update.
The A-HD+ costs $170 and BestBuy has a special for $150 for the week. The version that has auto focusing and a 3X zoom, the Aiptek Action HD costs $200 at WalMart. Just like the originals, there isn’t a stabilizer and the clips are recorded in the .mov format.
As far as playback capabilities, you should try playing the clips first without downloading the software that came with the camcorder. The computer I’m using has only 512MB of Ram and a 128MB video card so I had no choice but to use the software especially for the 1080 30p and 720 60p clips. It has no problems at all playing back 720 30p clips.
A good percentage of YouTube users shoot their videos using either a cell phone or a digital still camera and most of them produce terrible looking images. They should be getting something like this instead and since it has a 720 30p mode, its also perfect for sites like Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc. Obviously if you have the money, you should get the more expensive HD camcorders such as the soon to be released Sony TG1 which can also fit in your pocket easily although there is no 720p mode. There are other HD camcorders that are in Aiptek’s price range but they only shoot up to 720 30p.
These were shot in automatic mode and I'm showing both good and bad looking shots on purpose.
Set 1 Here is a couple of HD examples shot on different HD settings.
The imager of the A-HD+ is 5MP but there is also an 8MP photo mode so here is a couple of photo sizes to let you see for yourself if you think it's marketing or not.
Clips A1, A2 and A3 are set to auto white balance. Clips T1, T2 and T3 are set to Tungston lighting.
The cameras exposure options are -2, -1, 0, +1 +2 Clips A1 and T1 are set to level 0 Clips A2 and T2 are set to level 2 Clips A3 and T3 are set to level 2 and Night Shot activated.
Is there anybody who tried both an A-HD and an A-HD+ not noticing a difference in the lowlight capabilities?
This was shot at the Boston Common on the day that I posted my first set of clips. It’s not the first time I ended up videotaping an event without knowing it was going to be there.
As you can see, my name is Paulo Teixeira and this will be my very first attempt at Blogging so please excuse the site looking unorganized at first.
My Grandmother had been getting very week so last January I went to Sao Miguel, Azores to visit her. I do own a Sony HC1 but because of an accident that happened to the camcorder, I was forced to buy an Aiptek A-HD for $150. Sadly, I couldn’t afford anything better.
Here is a small sample of photographs that I took while I was over their.
If you want to see much more photos as well as 720 30p videos then click on these links.
Just be warned that it may take you a while if you plan on downloading everything. Also, I’ve included both good and terrible looking shots.
If I were to ever get the money, I would go their again this summer with a Sony EX1. Never mind trying to afford a plane ticket, but trying to afford the EX1 and a powerful laptop may take me a while. That’s over 10 grand!
