When Toshiba announced this year that it would sell camcorders, it wasn’t the first time the company was late to enter a market. After all, it was one of the last major PC manufacturers to jump on the netbook bandwagon. But as we saw with the mini NB205, Toshiba’s Editors’ Choice-winning first netbook, being late isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Indeed, the Camileo (pronounced cuh-mee-lee-oh) S20, the company’s debut pocket HD camcorder, corrects many shortcomings of other pocket cams on the market, introducing optical zoom and shipping with a tripod for steadier shooting. And yet, it falters in some ways. Is it worth your $149?
Design
Whereas pretty much every other pocket camcorder on the market has a candy bar shape, the S20 sports a vertical pistol shape, made popular by Sanyo. At 4.4 ounces, the S20 is significantly lighter than the 6.1-ounce Flip SlideHD and a bit lighter than the 4.5-ounce Sony Bloggie MHS-PM5.Unfortunately, the S20’s glossy finish feels slippery beneath the fingers, and the part of the camcorder you hold onto has a narrow, straight-edged shape. It would be much easier to grip if there were rubbery accents or indentations for your fingers. Toshiba did add finely raised dots to the S20’s metal underbelly, but they’re not bumpy enough to make the camcorder easier to hold. Lefties take note: the fact that these raised bumps are on the left side of the camcorder, where the right thumb would be, suggests the S20 was designed for righties (all of the candy bar models are ambidextrous).
One boon to the S20 is the large, swiveling 3-inch screen, which is easy to see even in sunlight. Most of its ports and buttons are located on the slim edge opposite the one with the lens. These include a dedicated record button; a zoom rocker; a playback button, and two soft keys, marked with left and right arrows, that you’ll use to (awkwardly) navigate the on-screen menus. There are also covered A/V, HDMI, and mini-USB ports. The camcorder’s clumsy ergonomics aside, one of the things that makes it a good value anyway is that it comes with both an HDMI cable and, uniquely, a tripod.
Also unlike other pocket camcorders, the S20 comes with a mini-USB cord that connects to an AC adapter, although you can also charge it by simply plugging it into your computer’s USB port.
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