Creative just announced the 3rd generation of the Vado HD. If you remember correctly, Creative launched the original Vado HD back in December of last year, so it’s due for a refresh.

So what’s new? Well, Creative has a bit of a laundry list of improvements or new features, including:

• Improved low light and bright light performance using manual exposure
• External microphone support
• Headphone output for private listening
• Motion detection mode (the camera starts recording once motion is detected)
  Still photo capture mode

This is in addition to the 4GB of storage and HDMI output that are standard on the Vado line.

Considering that this is a camera aimed at the pocket camcorder crowd, that’s quite an impressive list of new features. Honestly, the line between a full size camera and the pocket sized version is blurring.

The new Vado HD is currently available for pre-order for $179.99 directly from Creative.