See and Be Seen: DoubleSight and Flip
Today, we’ll be going hands on with two visually-enhancing gadgets. We’ve seen USB secondary monitors before but will DoubleSight be able to stack up? And Flip, now owned by Cisco, has been reviewed positively in these pages previously, but is the new model enough of an update to impress?
The DoubleSight DS-90UC is a 9-inch LCD monitor with a slightly awkwardly protruding webcam. All major operating systems are supported- Windows Vista and XP are listed, and even Macs will work as long as they are Intel-based. No software is required- the installation is plug-and-play- and we liked the easy ability to switch between landscape and portrait mode. The suggested resolution is 1024×600, and the technical specs are decent if not wow-worthy- 300:1 contrast ratio and a 30ms mean that you don’t want to play games on it. But that’s not what it’s meant for; instead, it worked well as a side view for email when playing online games as well as serving as a nice photo screen. You can connect up to six at a time, provided that you have the available USB ports of course!
We would’ve liked it serving as a touchscreen as well, like the Mimo we’ve tried, and perhaps a bit more adjustability. The stand was pretty sturdy though, but the webcam and mic were unimpressive at best. They work fine in applications like Skype, but definitely didn’t offer the video or audio of others we’ve tested. At $150 online at merchants like Amazon, it’s a decent buy, but we weren’t sure about it’s durability. The three year warranty went a long way to both reassuring us and impressing us though.
What can you say when something looks, feels, and acts like the original? Well, mostly positive things if the original was as good as the Flip MinoHD! The second generation model brings only small tweaks to the successful formula- but nice tweaks they are. Bumping the size to 8GB, it now can hold up to 120 minutes of crisp HD video and still offers a handy HDMI out port. Audio and video don’t seem much different- they’re as good as ever, with high-quality AAC audio, but limited anti-shake or low-light capabilities. Zoom is as minor as always, a paltry 2x- typical of these kinds of cameras but unfortunate nonetheless. Internal rechargeable batteries charge via the flip-out USB connector that is a hallmark of the line, and the software is easy-to-use and regularly updated (and better than ever). The two-inch screen is nice, but still isn’t a touch screen. Controls are more responsive, perhaps even too sensitive, but use the same touch controls. Casing is sleeker than ever, rounded edges, lightweight and a bit more comfortable in the hand.
Basically, the model makes sense- but it feels like a minor tweak rather than the true product overhaul between the Mino and MinoHD or other previous upgrades to the line. The new second generation MinoHD is their current top-of-the line, and while ours was in the classic aluminum, they also offer some nice design-your-own options. It’s the best Flip camera yet, and best general-purpose camera we’ve tried, and it does offer handy tripods and cases and other accessories. It’s dummy-proof, and you can hand it off to mom (or even Grandma) without too much worry. We just look forward to the next, hopefully more revolutionary version, from Flip. At $230, it’s about $30 more for double the memory and recording time, and around $80 more than the original non-HD Flip mino- available widely online.
