When I think Kodak, I think quality pictures and quality products. The Kodak PlayTouch video camera wasn’t among those.
The HD video camera is a completely touch screen video camera that can capture HD videos on the go as well as 5 megapixel pictures with a few clicks of your fingers. It’s a great little number to throw in your purse and use at the playground or at the school play. However, I’m not impressed with the quality of the videos, pictures or the product.
In the video I’ve created, you can see that the product looks great, but it feels very breakable. It creaks and cracks when holding it and the USB is really difficult to unlock and feels breakable.
I loved the idea of something that could rival the Flip. I think competition is the only thing that makes products strong, better and more awesome. I was so glad to see a camera that showed the battery life, offered a rechargeable battery and had a large screen that allowed me to record the movies, but also stay in the moment. A lot of the ideas behind the PlayTouch are great. The ability to sync the videos to YouTube and Facebook were certainly a plus for me, plus having a device that can also take pictures is a real no brainer for a mom. This device is also small enough to carry in your purse, diaper bag or even stow in your pocket.
After taking a look at the flash card I put in the camera (downfall is not a lot of built in memory and no included card), I didn’t keep any. Without a flash, the quality of the photos I took in our just wasn’t that great for me to considering not trashing them. So, I don’t have any to show.
It also took me a little while to figure out that if I held the camera vertically, I got a vertical video. If I wanted the wide screen video, I had to horizontally, which I sometimes forgot about, resulting in a vertical video.
All-in-all, not a huge fan. Kodak is a leader in the camera market and I would expect a little better quality from them. I have a Kodak point-and-shoot digital camera and I love it. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the PlayTouch.
And now the fine print: Kodak provided me with a PlayTouch camera to demo for several weeks. I was no compensated in any way for this review and the opinions stated here are my own.
