Chotto Shot Dangerous? Sony Issues Product Recall

Last week we reported that Sony will not be bringing the Chotto Shot camera to North America due to quality issues. We interpreted that to mean that the 1.3 megapixel resolution of the camera was insufficient to compete with modern mobile phones. It turns out that the quality issues may go much deeper than simply the image resolution of the device.

According to PSP Fanboy, the company has issued a recall on the Chotto Shot, saying that the peripheral poses a fire hazard due to extreme heat buildup. Strangely, this only applies to cameras purchased AFTER July 1st, 2008, suggesting that the company moved to a different (and lower-quality) manufacturing process. One customer received the following letter from Sony, outlining the issues with the camera:

'Due to a safety issue and high defect rate, we are issuing a product recall to anyone who has purchased a PSP Chotto Shot Camera after July 1st, 2008. Even though these units have been tested, we have been getting reports that some of these units have been running extremely hot, and have emitted a burning smell from the unit. An already dangerous and unfortunate situation, this could lead to the even more serious event of a fire starting from the unit.'

Given the scarcity of the unit in North America and the recent possibility that the device can burn your house down, we are tempted to import one just to see what all the fuss is about!

[Via: PSP Fanboy]