I read a piece today whereby the original designer of the One That Started It All, the original IBM PC, said that the PC as we now know it has done its dash. Yep, the used by date has clicked over and we should all move on. Nothing to see here folks.

He maintains that the PC was a device for its times and those times are not a-changing as his Bobness warbled, but are gone. We need a new toy to amuse us in the digital stakes and he reckons – at least for his use – a tablet is the way to go.

Now I have heard this argument before, and reckoned that any number of reviewers have said the same thing, usually with a shiny new Apple iPad tucked under their arm. Me? I am of the opinion that any new device needs a good solid thrashing in the field of actual and potential use before an informed opinion can be made, and not merely a ten minute ‘my-tablet-has-more-apps-than-your-tablet’ game in the playground.

I had a two week play with an iPad. And I didn’t like it. And before any Apple fans accuse me of bias, of being anti-Apple, and threaten to write rude words in lawn with weed killer (first you have to find me and then discover I don’t have a lawn anyway, just a bloody big paddock), I didn’t say it was a bad device. I said I didn’t like it. It is too heavy, bulky and proprietary FOR WHAT I WOULD USE IT FOR.

Got it?

I also had a look at the Telstra T-TAB. Good price. Android based but it just felt – well – flimsy. Finally, for this experiment, the Samsung Galaxy TAB, the 7” was put through its paces.

At first Android drove me nuts; it just was too un-Windows like, I couldn’t get it to synch to Outlook (being Google driven an’ all), battery life was pretty grim, it had a proprietary USB cable/charger I kept misplacing and I just couldn’t see how it could be used in this biz.

Then it dawned on me. The Galaxy TAB is NOT a computer in the sense that my desktop PC, full size Acer Ferrari or HP Mininote are. These are devices for being creative; the Samsung Galaxy TAB on the other hand is a device for being much more … ah … passive with. Think reading, listening, watching.

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