Sony HDR-TG1 Handycam: World’s Smallest?

I’m always very skeptical when I hear any company saying that their particular gadget is the “world’s (insert est-adjective here)”. Case in point, the latest announcement from Sony is boasting that their latest handycam, the HDR-TG1, is the world’s smallest.

The measurements are at 1.3 x 4.7 x 2.5 inches, and it weighs in at ten ounces. Somehow, the company is able to fit in a full touchscreen at 2.7 inches, as well as MS Pro Duo and Pro Duo Mark 2 cards.

Other features include a 10x Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar optical zoom lens, a BIONZ processing engine, 5.1 Dolby Digital audio recording, as well as a 4 GB worth of memory.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that it shoots video with 1080i capability. It can also do stills at 4 Megapixels.

I believe that Sony is competing against similar cameras that are small, such as the Canon PowerShot TX1 and the new Vivatar DVR565D. I guess the tiny handycam market is booming.

It is nice to know that you can finally have a handycam that fits in your pocket, that you don’t have to haul around in a separate case. However, you will have to pay about $900 for the Sony HDR-TG1.