Why are tech-blogs still so skeptical and biased?

[rockstarzzz]

Initially we've heard pre-Mango, that WP lacked very basic features, Mango patched it a little, still biased tech blogs.

Then it was about app numbers, 100,000 was hit second fastest in app history, still biased tech blogs.

Then it was about hardware being outdated, Nokia and Sammy are bringing on-par hardware excluding quad-cores and additionally bringing innovative stuff like Cinemagraph, PureView, Location suits (city lens) etc.

I know it has been a sort of cold launch, we have been left for wanting more and it has been less than 24 hours since the announcement, but why am I failing to see any tech-blog that is NOT skeptical or biased?

There are blogs that have information that don't stand true i.e. "Even though there are 100,000 apps, Nokia told us most of them will need to be tweaked to work on high res" - I am pretty sure Joe showed Flixter and other apps that run and look fine on WP8 without any changes. Plus he demoed CNN app that was tweaked a little to work for WP8 home screen (also WP7.8 home screen).

There was another blog talking about how Nokia failed to bring Siri and S-Voice like voice assistant when Apple and Samsung already have state-of-art voice assistants. No mention of TellMe and no mention that WP8 OS won't be known till Oct 28, so *maybe* TellMe might have more to show off?

I've been trying to see what the general vibe is, but honestly it is cold. I know most of us knew all of it with current leaks but those pic-to-gif and object removal and stabilizer and pic-in-dark = to me all these 4 features don't exist in any other smartphone camera. May be using additional apps? I don't know but I was excited even with these 4 innovations! If a hardware partner is bringing 4 new stuff, possibly some more from the OS?

Could someone explain to me how tactical is this move when the excitement could have easily been bundled up by MSFT announcing a few features making it look big, instead MSFT is giving an open window to iPhone for a massive launch taking more customers away while WP8 isn't even launched. Then there will be 1 month wait to hit the shelf in *some countries* and then 2-3 months to go nearly global. Why? How does this help MSFT? What does this mean? I'm baffled.

Is this the reason by all tech-blogs are still so skeptical that WP8 will have some impact on launch? Its been 2 years and I am still reading anti-WP blogs everywhere.

 

[power5]

Microsoft has been hated since the antitrust bull**** years ago. Tech blogs thrive on let downs and rumors. They do not care too much about the actual stuff that is produced.

I think the iPhone 5 launch will be a let down as well. Unless ios6 is earth shattering. **** the 4s did not get a very warm welcome. Only Siri saved the day for apple. Now they are giving a 4" screen but same case design pretty much. New back material is the only real difference.

All the rumors do is create a hype that is almost always a let down on the reveal. Nokia kept saying the future is coming or something. Whats next is coming. I dont know, not a very memorable phrase in my mind obviously, but when you claim that the world will be changed, people expect a lot. I believe they delivered on just about every aspect except the style of the phone. Its identical to the other lumias. That is not what I would have expected from the hype.

 

[rockstarzzz]

To me they have got 4 classy innovations to beat iPhone (the best camera on smartphones these days?) camera of present day. Unless iPhone 5 comes with something that beats all these 4 innovative camera lense tweaks from Nokia, at least camera phone wise Nokia nailed it.

Yes, design. Although a new design would have been a hit, but instead of risking it, they sort of would have guessed Lumia design is still much better and fresher than anything that is being offered right now. Of course unless iPhone 5 comes with something super sleek.

What did not happen was - OS features. But weren't we already going ahead of ourselves expecting those added features? As far as hardware goes (what Nokia makes!) they have created something special, different from what is out there, right?

Still the blogs go bashing about how it lacks features, but why would any tech-blog writer expect OS features in a hardware partner announcement event?!

 

[aubreyq]

There was another blog talking about how Nokia failed to bring Siri and S-Voice like voice assistant when Apple and Samsung already have state-of-art voice assistants. No mention of TellMe and no mention that WP8 OS won't be known till Oct 28, so *maybe* TellMe might have more to show off?

Like you said, not all features of WP8 have been revealed. I bet TellMe will be improved with WP8.

Microsoft has been hated since the antitrust bull**** years ago. Tech blogs thrive on let downs and rumors. They do not care too much about the actual stuff that is produced.

True.

I believe they delivered on just about every aspect except the style of the phone. Its identical to the other lumias. That is not what I would have expected from the hype.

Yeah I'm ready for a new design. But I'll still get the 920 ;-)

Still the blogs go bashing about how it lacks features, but why would any tech-blog writer expect OS features in a hardware partner announcement event?!

Well why was Microsoft there then? Microsoft themselves demo'd Lenses! Plus, WPCentral themselves posted a story saying that, according to Stephen Elop, ALL of WP8 was going to be revealed yesterday. What would you expect if you were a tech-blog writer?

 

[rockstarzzz]

Well why was Microsoft there then? Microsoft themselves demo'd Lenses! Plus, WPCentral themselves posted a story saying that, according to Stephen Elop, ALL of WP8 was going to be revealed yesterday. What would you expect if you were a tech-blog writer?

Just because WPC ran a news story it doesn't mean we were seeing ALL of WP8. Maybe Stephen Elop mean we will be seeing ALL of WP8 Nokia had in their arsenal. MSFT was there was it supports Nokia and is Nokia's sole software partner, right?

What I did like about the whole thing is Joe clearly started off with defining what he wants to reveal. He mentioned clearly that WP8 features are going to be withheld for an event later in a month or two. But he wanted to talk about a few features that flow well with Nokia had to show. Probably only revealing what additional "camera features" WP8 OS will have, since Nokia's announcement seemed to depend hugely on their Camera first, then screen, then location services and then battery and processor. Only thing that made Nokia stand out was camera features. Everything else is only to match and be on-par with what already exists, provided Google Maps = Nokia Location suite capabilities. If not, then location suite seems to be a good highlight too. But probably MSFT doesn't have any OS enhancements in that area as it is probably replacing Bing Maps with Nokia Maps anyway?

As a tech-blog writer of course you would clearly want to put out what the event was - a hardware launch and talk about how Nokia hardware is SO different and above-par in its camera capabilities and looks (beauty?) than current handsets out there, no?

 

[db4williams]

Two words: applebots & fandroids! That is the reason of the bias and skepticism. The are drunk on drinking the cool-aid from Apple and Android.

Just my .02!

 

[cckgz4]

Just wait until review time. They'll show their true colors

 

[Alex_Hong]

I'm not sure though. I'm still skeptical. Despite the camera tech on Nokia being extremely interesting it might only sway a windows phone buyer from samsung, or htc, over to Nokia. It might still be hard to sway people from other platforms over. Apps is still a problem seeing as despite having a good amount of apps. We can never have enough apps until you can get every latest iOS, android apps over on WP.

People are still skeptical probably because we still know so little about the improvements WP8 will bring.

Part of the reason might also be that people might not be that receptive to changes. If a particular platform works for them, they are more likely to just stick with it. Which can be a problem for any other platform as well. BB10 included. I recently demoed my Lumia 800 to a friend who was always checking her facebook on her galaxy s2. She uses it for very basic features, emails, sms, whatsapp, facebook, twitter, taking photos and whatnot. I thought that since she is a heavy facebook user, she would like the tight integration of it in the OS. Plus i mean the phone looks good, and the OS is simple to use. The first thing she asks me, "Is that a Motorola?". She haven't even heard of Windows Phone prior to me showing her, and she was still more inclined towards the S3. So if you were to ask me as well if WP8 will have an impact at launch, i would be skeptical as well.

Plus, can you imagine that in my country, iPhone news is being reported on our major network's news. Even rumours, and of course the recent Apple winning the lawsuit against Sammy. Apple news is seen as newsworthy to them, can you imagine??? Compared to other companies, not even a whiff.

One of the reason why WP8 might not make an impact might be because there isn't even much awareness of WP in the first place. Also, as far as not tech savvy consumers are concerned, WP8 will look similar to WP7 other than the homescreen. They don't care about the NT kernel, the new features, the security, and other background stuffs.

Also it does not mean that if a product is good, the product will be successful. There are too many factors at play. I'm guessing it will probably not be an instant hit for WP8, rather, it will take time to slowly convert people over. So I think Microsoft will have to play the long game instead, be patient and keep making the OS more solid and feature rich. Eventually people will give it a try, or perhaps one of their friends will have one and it would be able to impress more people via word of mouth.

 

[bear_lx]

two words: Applebots & fandroids! That is the reason of the bias and skepticism. The are drunk on drinking the cool-aid from apple and android.

Just my .02!

+1

 

[rockstarzzz]

I'm not sure though. I'm still skeptical. Despite the camera tech on Nokia being extremely interesting it might only sway a windows phone buyer from samsung, or htc, over to Nokia. It might still be hard to sway people from other platforms over. Apps is still a problem seeing as despite having a good amount of apps. We can never have enough apps until you can get every latest iOS, android apps over on WP.

People are still skeptical probably because we still know so little about the improvements WP8 will bring.

Part of the reason might also be that people might not be that receptive to changes. If a particular platform works for them, they are more likely to just stick with it. Which can be a problem for any other platform as well. BB10 included. I recently demoed my Lumia 800 to a friend who was always checking her facebook on her galaxy s2. She uses it for very basic features, emails, sms, whatsapp, facebook, twitter, taking photos and whatnot. I thought that since she is a heavy facebook user, she would like the tight integration of it in the OS. Plus i mean the phone looks good, and the OS is simple to use. The first thing she asks me, "Is that a Motorola?". She haven't even heard of Windows Phone prior to me showing her, and she was still more inclined towards the S3. So if you were to ask me as well if WP8 will have an impact at launch, i would be skeptical as well.

Plus, can you imagine that in my country, iPhone news is being reported on our major network's news. Even rumours, and of course the recent Apple winning the lawsuit against Sammy. Apple news is seen as newsworthy to them, can you imagine??? Compared to other companies, not even a whiff.

One of the reason why WP8 might not make an impact might be because there isn't even much awareness of WP in the first place. Also, as far as not tech savvy consumers are concerned, WP8 will look similar to WP7 other than the homescreen. They don't care about the NT kernel, the new features, the security, and other background stuffs.

Also it does not mean that if a product is good, the product will be successful. There are too many factors at play. I'm guessing it will probably not be an instant hit for WP8, rather, it will take time to slowly convert people over. So I think Microsoft will have to play the long game instead, be patient and keep making the OS more solid and feature rich. Eventually people will give it a try, or perhaps one of their friends will have one and it would be able to impress more people via word of mouth.

Hasn't this been a story since October 2010? Surely in two years things should be looking better, no?