Toshiba Camileo S10 pocketcam: the $200 1080p Flip-killer?

It's been a while since we first caught wind of the mysterious Toshiba Camileo S10, but the pocket camcorder has finally broken loose, and it's looking like a pretty solid competitor to the Flip Mino HD and the Kodak Zi6 -- it amps up the video resolution to 1080p and also takes five megapixel stills. That's pretty impressive for a pocketcam spec sheet, but the best part is the price -- if this thing lands Stateside for close to the £130 ($181) UK pricetag, we'd have to find reasons not to snap one up. Pocket-lint got a few hands-ons photos of the little bugger, check 'em out at the read link.

Read - S10 announcement
Read - Pocket-lint hands-on

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 14th 2009 9:37AM]

You know you've made it when they start using your product in a killer article; e.g., "Zune: is it an iPod-killer?"

[Marc1972 Posted Mar 14th 2009 10:40AM]

The specs on this are slightly worse than the new Aiptek GVS, which has an 8MP sensor and 5x OPTICAL zoom plus image stabilization. The GVS is priced slightly higher though.

I own an Aiptek Action HD which has 3x optical zoom. I'd forgo zoom, however, for stabilization. Also, unless you're on a Mac, .Mov format is a bit of a pain. I find that I have best results converting it to MP4.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 9:44AM]

I think a lot of these entry level HD camcorders are the same inside - all made in China. The Aiptek range is the same as the Toshiba (AHD100 720p=Toshiba Camileo 720, AHD300 1080p=Toshiba Camileo Pro? etc). The S10 seems to be like the latter two but with video stabilisation and a very compact design. The P30 is a pistol-grip design, again identical to the S10 but with a proper optical zoom (but suffers auto focus problems).

The S10 is very very small like a wide mobile phone; smaller than I was expecting but feels well built and looks classy. The TFT screen is great quality (much better than the shot in the preview) and better than the Aipteks I've seen.

Video and sound quality is identical to Aiptek but it loses out slightly in low-light performance; I think due to the super compact size of the lense?

The menu/control system is not very intuitive though compared to the Aiptek AHD300 which a first time user can naviagate easily as it has a larger range of buttons. The Toshiba also disappointingly seems to have been stripped of some of the simple features that the Aiptek has; eg control of auto off timer, it can't be used as a camera via a TV (toshiba only for playback), "play-all" for video playback etc. Digital stills on the S10 are so-so but on the Aiptek AHD300 it does a good pass at being a digital still camera with a proper flash light.

Digital stabilization doesn't seem to add much smoothness, it seems to affect quality more than anything and is best set to off IMO.

But despite all this, the compactness and the quality design makes me want to keep it!!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 26th 2009 9:49AM]

Re Information Central's comment on battery life; the S10, like the P30 and most of these Toshiba/Aiptek camcorders uses the NP60 battery so spares can be used as backup.