A curse on the name of Bloggie
Out of curiosity, I trekked to the Sony Style store today to see whether they had any of the cameras that had been announced at CES. Luck was sort of with me, as they had both of the new “Bloggie” cameras out on display.
I’m particularly interested in the MHS-PM5K - the kit version of the MHS-PM5 that comes with a 360 degree lens - but there was no indication of this model in the signs next to the two they had out on display, or the three that were inside a glass display case.
I will say this; I was surprised at how thin the MHS-PM5 is; it’s 19mm thick according to the spec, 5mm thinner than the previous model. It’s not much bigger than my iPhone.
Though the video display on the back of the camera is pretty big, the actual video image is small. Much of the display shows other information about the camera operation, clip duration, etc. Of course, the camera itself isn’t that wide, so there’s not much they could do about that, but the small size display is something to consider. And while the tilt lens is kind of interesting, the lack of an optical zoom would probably annoy me.
Still, I was curious about the PM5K, so I asked someone by the glass case about it, and here is where it gets awkward, because the MHS-PM5 might be a short series of numbers and letters, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember them when the person asked me if I wanted help.
“Ahh…do you have the kit version of the …uhh…” I waved in the general direction of the display models, “the bloggie camera.” I added quickly. I might not have said that last part very loudly as there’s something about the word bloggie that - unless you have a four-year old - you don’t expect to be saying to someone. And of course, because I kind of mumbled it, the person didn’t understand. Either that or they weren’t aware of the new name.
“The what?”they said.
I took a breath and tried again.
“The Bloggie,” I said, “the new camera,” and I waved in the direction of the cameras.
“Oh yes, we’ve got those!”
“The Kit version?” I asked.
“The what?”
I explained about the Kit version having an extra lens, and the sales person clearly had no idea about it, but did a search and said “Oh yes, we have two,” and then a pause, “oh, they’re both out on display,” and she peered at the three behind the glass case as though looking to see if they were labeled. “We don’t have any then,” she finally said.
“Do you now when you’ll be getting some?”I asked.
“I don’t,” she smiled a little embarrassed. “They don’t tell us that kind of thing, but probably in ten days?” she said, hopefully. She gave me the phone number of the store and suggested I try calling.
I just don’t know if I want to call up and ask if they have a Bloggie. I mean Bloggie? Really? What was the matter with the previous name: Webbie? It wasn’t great, but Bloggie just seems worse. If the Webbie was an unpopular name, do they really think that Bloggie will be any better? And even if the previous models didn’t sell that well, I detected no great groundswell against the Webbie models on the internets.
And if Bloggie doesn’t work, what will the next series be? The FacePicker?
I’m particularly interested in the MHS-PM5K - the kit version of the MHS-PM5 that comes with a 360 degree lens - but there was no indication of this model in the signs next to the two they had out on display, or the three that were inside a glass display case.
I will say this; I was surprised at how thin the MHS-PM5 is; it’s 19mm thick according to the spec, 5mm thinner than the previous model. It’s not much bigger than my iPhone.
Though the video display on the back of the camera is pretty big, the actual video image is small. Much of the display shows other information about the camera operation, clip duration, etc. Of course, the camera itself isn’t that wide, so there’s not much they could do about that, but the small size display is something to consider. And while the tilt lens is kind of interesting, the lack of an optical zoom would probably annoy me.
Still, I was curious about the PM5K, so I asked someone by the glass case about it, and here is where it gets awkward, because the MHS-PM5 might be a short series of numbers and letters, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember them when the person asked me if I wanted help.
“Ahh…do you have the kit version of the …uhh…” I waved in the general direction of the display models, “the bloggie camera.” I added quickly. I might not have said that last part very loudly as there’s something about the word bloggie that - unless you have a four-year old - you don’t expect to be saying to someone. And of course, because I kind of mumbled it, the person didn’t understand. Either that or they weren’t aware of the new name.
“The what?”they said.
I took a breath and tried again.
“The Bloggie,” I said, “the new camera,” and I waved in the direction of the cameras.
“Oh yes, we’ve got those!”
“The Kit version?” I asked.
“The what?”
I explained about the Kit version having an extra lens, and the sales person clearly had no idea about it, but did a search and said “Oh yes, we have two,” and then a pause, “oh, they’re both out on display,” and she peered at the three behind the glass case as though looking to see if they were labeled. “We don’t have any then,” she finally said.
“Do you now when you’ll be getting some?”I asked.
“I don’t,” she smiled a little embarrassed. “They don’t tell us that kind of thing, but probably in ten days?” she said, hopefully. She gave me the phone number of the store and suggested I try calling.
I just don’t know if I want to call up and ask if they have a Bloggie. I mean Bloggie? Really? What was the matter with the previous name: Webbie? It wasn’t great, but Bloggie just seems worse. If the Webbie was an unpopular name, do they really think that Bloggie will be any better? And even if the previous models didn’t sell that well, I detected no great groundswell against the Webbie models on the internets.
And if Bloggie doesn’t work, what will the next series be? The FacePicker?
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