So the Flip is dead. I have to say that I'm not surprised; firstly it was not a particularly good camcorder anyway and secondly it never did seem to fit as a Cisco product in their lineup.

Some reports I have read suggest the Flip became in a short lifetime among the biggest if not the biggest of all sellers of camcorders but I can honestly say I didn't see that in Australia. Consumers here seem to far prefer using their smart phones or indeed even their standard phones where applicable.

But why did I not think it was a good camera?

Firstly was the shape; you just simply couldn't get a decent feel for the body of a camera in the same way you can with a standard, conventional semi-barrel shape. There was no stability and, holding it always felt awkward.

Next, the lack of controls was prohibitive compared to a standard camcorder. While this might be fine for snap and shoot type stuff for anything even partially serious it was a major limitation.

And lastly and probably most importantly, the quality of footage that was actually shot was inferior to be the most basic camcorders in my opinion. Even some smart phones have better quality footage for example much maligned by my peers Nokia N8.

This doesn't make the smart phone any better or worse it has to be said, but most footage that you can see on sites such as YouTube is shall we say kindly, not very good by comparison again to even a basic camcorder. Sure a proportion of this is down to the skill of the operator but even so you cannot beat a good lens, good stability and basic controls.

I even consider that in the genre of the Flip there are better camcorders. The Sony Bloggie and the Sanyo XACTI are examples as is the new Toshiba range. The Sony model has the same frustrating shape as the Flip but I consider a far better lens system and the Sanyo and the Toshiba offerings have far superior ergonomics.

Either of these is a far better proposition if you are looking for a very portable and quite capable mini camcorder.

By David Hague

David is the owner and publisher of AusCam Online. He has a background in media dating back to 1979 when he first got involved with photojournalism in motorsport, and went from there into technology via a 5 year stint with Tandy Computers. Following that, he ran a software distribution company on the Gold Coast and was one of the first to recognise the potential of Microsoft Windows.

Moving back to WA, David wrote scripts for Computer Television for video training for the just released Windows and Office 95 among others, and was then lured to Sydney to create web sites for the newly commercial Internet in 1995, building hundreds of sites under contract to OzEmail including Coates Hire, Hertz Queensland, John Williamson, the NSW Board of Studies and many, many more.

He went back into full time journalism as the Managing Editor for Channel 7's 'Gadget Guy', Peter Blasina's publications VideoCamera and Pixelmag, before starting Australasian Camcorder magazine when these publications were shelved. He lives at Sydney's Avalon Beaches nearly on the ocean front with dog Budweiser and in his spare time is a nut for motor sport, road safety, fishing, science fiction - especially Dr Who - and technology.

David can be contacted via david@auscamonline.com