Sony has unveiled the world’s smallest Full High Definition Handycam (HDR-TG1).

Great for city breaks when you don’t want to be weighed down, the HDR-TG1 slips effortlessly into a purse, bag or jacket pocket. Little bigger than your mobile phone, it’s the smallest, slimmest, lightest camcorder ever to feature 1920x1080 Full High Definition recording with crisp 5.1ch surround sound.

'Sony was the first to introduce a travel-sized camcorder with 8mm technology in the 1980's, and it revolutionized the travel and electronics industries,' said managing director, Sony Gulf FZE, Osamu Miura.

'This new model is a great example of our expertise in miniaturisation, as well as advanced imaging technologies with features like face detection.'

It’s also the world’s first camcorder that features a body using pure titanium – a material that’s 40 per cent lighter than steel and twice as strong as aluminium.

The tough titanium shell is finished with a Premium Hard Coating. This extra-strong protective layer shrugs off everyday scratches – whether active sports or hectic holidays – ensuring the HDR-TG1 keeps its stylish good looks.

This new model incorporates face detection technology for both video and still images, a technology also shared with select Sony Cyber-shot digital cameras. It can identify up to eight faces in the camcorder's 2.7-inch touch panel LCD screen, and automatically adjust focus, exposure, colour control for natural-looking skin tones, and when photos are taken, flash control.

The model also allocates more encoding bits to a detected face during the encoding process for the best possible picture when people are the subjects.

The camcorders’ elegant, pared down lines are complemented by easy, intuitive operation via the LCD touchscreen. Record, Movie/photo mode and zoom can all be accessed via a conveniently-placed thumb lever and buttons. With ‘Quick On’ mode activated, the TG1 is ready for action within a second of flipping open the touch panel LCD screen.

Recording on Memory Stick PRO Duo media means there’s no need to carry bulky tapes or discs if you’re out for the evening or spending a weekend away and want to capture your favourite moments. An optional 16GB Memory Stick records up to five hours 55min of full HD movies (LP mode).

Despite its tiny dimensions, the Handycam TG1 makes no compromises on recording beautiful, detail-packed Full HD images. Sensitivity and low-noise performance are assured by the ClearVid CMOS Sensor that features Exmor derived from technology found in Sony professional camcorders and Alpha digital SLR cameras.

It’s complemented by the powerful BIONZ image processing engine that maintains superlative image quality for video and stills shooting alike. Thanks to the speed and responsiveness of the BIONZ processor, high-resolution 4.0 mega pixel still pictures can be taken with photo mode, and 2.3 mega pixel still pictures can even be taken during HD video recording.

Also powered by the responsive BIONZ processor, D-Range Optimiser technology adjusts dynamic range for more natural reproduction of high-contrast and backlit scenes with strong highlights and shadows.

Sound quality is just as important as great pictures. 5.1ch digital surround sound quality is enhanced with an automatic Zoom microphone function that focuses sound capture on any specific subject the camcorder zooms in on.

After shooting, Visual Index, Film Roll Index and Face Index make it easier to track down your favourite scenes on the large, easy-view touchscreen LCD.

Files stored on Memory Stick can be burned to DVD at the touch of the ‘Disc Burn’ button using the supplied Handycam Station. Alternatively, files can be backed up to your computer’s hard drive. After transferring files to your PC, supplied Picture Motion Browser software makes it easy to organise and browse images by date in an intuitive calen