Small, portable video cameras like the Flip and Sony's new Mobile HD Snap Camera are unique in that they offer quick recording at high resolutions. They won't replace a fully-featured camcorder for video enthusiasts, but the average consumer will probably like the simplicity these offer.

I recently reviewed a few other options in a previous article here, but these two weren't part of the mix at that time. So, I took a week to spend some time with these and get an idea of what they both have to offer. Here's how they paired up against each other.

The Flip Ultra HD is portable and sturdy, but certainly not as small as the Flip Mino HD or Sony's Mobile HD Snap Camera. The Ultra HD has a bit of a clunky feel to it, though I did like the rubberized exterior, as it made it easier to hold, even with hands that were a bit sweaty. The chrome sides, on the other hand, are a design flaw because they need to be wiped of fingerprints all the time.

The Ultra HD has a 2" screen in the back, 8GB of internal storage (which is good for two hours of high-definition footage) and is powered by two AA batteries. There is an HDMI output on the side, but no cable is included to connect to your HDTV. This is notable, given that Kodak and Creative include an HDMI cable with their respective pocket cams. The Flip records the footage in 720p resolution at 30 frames per second.

Sony's HD Snap Cam is definitely the smaller of the two, and feels nice to hold. It has a 1.8" screen in the back, uses Memory Stick Duo cards for storage and runs on a rechargeable lithium battery. There is no HDMI output, but you can connect the Snap to an HDTV using the composite cables that come with it to view your clips in high-def. One of the coolest features in the Snap is the lens that can swivel 180-degrees, so you can shoot footage easily from any angle, including self-portraits. It can record footage at up to 30 fps in 1080p or 720p. 

The big selling point with the Flip is that it offers good video quality and performance with next to no learning curve involved. This is still largely true, as you really only need to work with a couple of buttons to get things done. Image quality is slightly improved from the Mino HD, and colours seem to be a little more vibrant when compared to Sony's camera. But the Snap handles fast-moving action a little better, as I noticed a little more fluidity to the clips I shot.

But where these two really deviate from each other is in the controls. The original Flip became famous because it was so easy to use. The same button started and stopped recording, while there was one button for playback and another for deleting unwanted clips. It was simple and effective, and the Flip Ultra HD is no different in that regard. But the Snap has been unnecessarily complicated by Sony, thanks to more buttons on the back and menu options that hurt the immediacy of shooting clips. For example, the record/stop button is the same as the navigation button. There are separate buttons for shooting still photos and video clips, and you even get five different scene modes (when toggling the menu button on the side): Auto, Backlight, Lowlight, Landscape and Sports. Just a side note: you can only capture still photos on the Flip by using the software afterwards - a plus for the Snap.

Having some choice is good, but the problem with all this is that it takes away from the simple process of turning the device on and recording something in seconds. Under Sony's setup, you would almost have to turn the device on beforehand just to set it properly.

And when it comes to the included software, which makes uploading to YouTube very easy, both are decent offerings, though the Flip gets the edge because it works with both Windows PCs and Macs. You can also upload quickly to sites like, MySpace, Photobucket, Shutterfly, Picasa and Dailymotion, should that interest you.

In the end, either of these would be a pricey proposition at $249.99 for the Flip or $229.99 for the Snap. Sony seems to have overdone it a bit with the options, perhaps under the assumption that more is better. But realistically, with pocket video cams, less is more and that's why the Flip remains so popular.