Samsung Targets Flip With New Pocket Camcorder

There are “Flip killers” and then there Flip killers. And Samsung is definitely aiming at the latter with its new HMX-U10 camcorder. It borrows heavily from the Flip’s upright, boxy design, but with a curvy twist. And unlike the Flip Ultra HD, the HMX-U10 records 1920 x 1080 HD video, not the lower quality 720P found in the UltraHD. It also snaps 10-megapixel still photos, sports a 2-inch LCD, and at $199 it costs the same as the Flip UltraHD. Look for it in September.

Samsung also revealed details on two new standard definition models with very powerful 52x optical zoom lenses: the SMX-K40 and SMX-K45. They record 720 x 480 standard resolution which can be “upscaled” when the camcorders are connected to an HDTV with an optional HDMI cable. The K45 ($499) packs 32GB of internal flash memory while the K40 ($329) records directly to SD/SDHC memory cards. These models are due in stores in August.