Samsung VP-X105L Miniket (512MB)

By Robert Dubbin, CNET.com
Feb 16, 2006

Though the Samsung VP-X105L hints at great things to come for tapeless camcorders, it also proves that those heady days haven't quite arrived yet. It offers an extremely compact design--it's smaller than you'd think--and a novel external camera attachment that can be mounted on your head or shoulder to chronicle extreme sports. Unfortunately, the VP-X105L's video quality leaves much to be desired, making this camcorder a realistic option only for those who value the experience of taking videos more highly than that of watching them.

Design
A fetching design is one of the Samsung VP-X105L's hallmarks--while testing it, no fewer than a half-dozen different friends and close relations gushed "cool camera," "ooh, where'd you get that," and other variations on same. Indeed, the VP-X105L deserves the attention; dispensing with MiniDV has allowed Samsung to shrink the camcorder into a petite number, with few of the weird bumps and none of the Velcro straps that characterize heavier camcorders that use larger media.

	The camcorder's included external camera attachment is almost as large as the camcorder itself.

Those prone to dropping expensive electronics will appreciate the VP-X105L's rubberized black-and-blue body, which gives the camcorder a solid, no-slip feel. What's more, the combination of small size and a good grip makes this device well suited to long shoots; since it's physically equivalent to holding one of those battery-powered minifans in front of your face, your subject will likely tire of being filmed long before you're ready to put the camera down.

	This is the minimalist camcorder's entire set of controls.

Partially owing to the VP-X105L's smallish feature set, the camcorder's controls are quite simple and easily mastered after a couple of minutes. A spring-loaded switch turns the camera on and off, and switching from video to any other mode is as simple as repeatedly sliding the switch back to the On position. The zoom controls also serve as up and down buttons when you're within a menu and are located (along with the Enter and Back buttons) within easy reach of your thumb at the top of the camcorder. The menu system is well designed and simple to navigate, though you'll have to hunt through a couple of levels before you find the setting for enabling the external camera.

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