Lumia 920 Review - clear bias

[umairawan]

The post been officially pulled after being active for only two hours.

 

[stealthology]

I just hope many of the readers read the comments in the review pointing out their fairly blatant bias.

For those saying that they thought the review was good, take a look at its largest competitors. iPhone 5 got an 8.8 and the Galaxy S3 got an 8.5. I know we're a bit biased on this forum as well, but honestly the phone needed to be rated a bit higher considering the innovations.

 

[a5cent]

There is no such thing as an impartial review. Each site will insert its own bias to match with the demographic of the site's visitors. Try reading about the same political event on MSNBC and Fox News. The best we can hope for is that the phones are good enough that their strengths shine through regardless.

Politics and technology are completely different fields and not comparable in the way your analogy suggests. Technology is measurable, politics isn't. I don't expect a completely bias free review, we are human after all and not robots, but at least the very basics like signal reception quality, display quality and audio quality really needs to be based on more solid grounding than what the verge offers. I linked to a review that does. For anyone with an ounce of technical understanding this should is obvios.

 

[stealthology]

Politics and technology are completely different fields and not comparable in the way your analogy suggests. Technology is measurable, politics isn't. I don't expect a completely bias free review, we are human after all and not robots, but at least the very basics like signal reception quality, display quality and audio quality really needs to be based on more solid grounding than what the verge offers. I linked to a review that does. For anyone with an ounce of technical understanding this should is obvios.

I actually like his analogy. We all have different opinions based on our biases and what's important to us. Processing speed and the like are measurable, but what about the usefulness of innovative features or design? Or the OS? etc.

CLEARLY the mainstream media at least in the US is very, very biased as firstness stated. The networks have their own agendas.

 

[Jay Bennett]

Guys the difference is that they are reviewing from a general consumer review, that includes their thoughts on the mobile OS etc. You're likely looking for a review based on the hardware as, like us, you're already completely sold on the OS & ecosystem. Our review will be up soon. On a personal note remember that we know Dieter here, and I trust him to give an unbiased review based on his own opinion

 

[a5cent]

I actually like his analogy. We all have different opinions based on our biases and what's important to us. Processing speed and the like are measurable, but what about the usefulness of innovative features or design? Or the OS? etc.

CLEARLY the mainstream media at least in the US is very, very biased as firstness stated. The networks have their own agendas.

I don't understand what you don't get. Are you saying the properties I listed can't be measured (certainly wrong)? Are you saying no U.S. websites exist that offer a more scientific approach, thereby reducing bias, than the verge (I linked to one that clearly does. Did you look at it at all? Anandtech would be another). Like I said, technology is measurable, politics isn't. At least address why you disagree with these statements before reaserting the contrary.

Subjective issues like design can't be measured, I agree, but I'm not interested in a reviewers opinion of what is beautiful either. I can decide that perfectly well on my own and have no trouble accepting differing opinions on such matters. Consequently, such factors should not impact a test score either.

Most other things need to be viewed in terms of tradeoffs. For some people Android will be a better fit, others will prefer iOS or WP. A reviewers job is to tell me about strengths and weaknesses and not make up my mind which is best for me... if WP was the objectivly worst OS nobody would use it.

 

[MaulerX]

Guys the difference is that they are reviewing from a general consumer review, that includes their thoughts on the mobile OS etc. You're likely looking for a review based on the hardware as, like us, you're already completely sold on the OS & ecosystem. Our review will be up soon. On a personal note remember that we know Dieter here, and I trust him to give an unbiased review based on his own opinion

Don't defend him. Some of the stuff he said just didn't make sense. Besides, at the end it clearly states: Tom Warren, Josh Topolsky, and Vlad Savov contributed to this review.


In other words, it was another typical collective shafting from The Verge.

 

[firstness]

What's disturbing is knowing that one review can have a large impact on the opinions of their readers, especially when they complain about something that better-informed people would consider insignificant. There's a large segment of people that actually value somebody making up their minds for them, and they read reviews for that purpose.

For the people who have a vested interest in the success of WP8 the seemingly arbitrary criticism is hard to accept, but the ability to dictate opinion will always be exploited by those who have a large audience. The site itself will gain attention and ad clicks from a controversial review, and they want to protect their own investments in the Apple and Android ecosystems.

If we want sites like The Verge to produce better reviews there needs to be feedback, in other words their reputation needs to take a hit for every bad review, ultimately resulting in less clicks.

 

[stealthology]

Guys the difference is that they are reviewing from a general consumer review, that includes their thoughts on the mobile OS etc. You're likely looking for a review based on the hardware as, like us, you're already completely sold on the OS & ecosystem. Our review will be up soon. On a personal note remember that we know Dieter here, and I trust him to give an unbiased review based on his own opinion

Dieter is the one who made the video in their review, right? It's funny to note that his video had a complete different tone than in the written review. Good choice in friends.

 

[a5cent]

snipped

While that doesn't address the issue we've been discussing, I completely agree.

 

[Coreldan]

Verge has different reviewers.

This..

Some I've seen are really great, but seems many of the reviewers hold a strong preference that often show in their reviews. Like Topolsky with the Surface review. It wasnt a thorough bad review, but many of things were just stupid.

I used to hold Verge as one of the go-to places for reviews, but the place seems so damn inconsistent now depending what the reviewer is a ****** of. I guess there might be some fairly unbiased guys too, but havnt met any for a while. This review'ish thing of Acer W510 seemed fairly well made to me though, guy named David Pierce, Acer Iconia W510 preview: a week with a true Windows 8 PC | The Verge

 

[cgk]

wait.. someone was such a crybaby they wrote a review of a review?

:lol:

Leaving that aside - after watching the video I don't see what the problem is.

 

[crystal_planet]

Guys the difference is that they are reviewing from a general consumer review, that includes their thoughts on the mobile OS etc. You're likely looking for a review based on the hardware as, like us, you're already completely sold on the OS & ecosystem. Our review will be up soon. On a personal note remember that we know Dieter here, and I trust him to give an unbiased review based on his own opinion

Yeah, I get that, but their does seem to be bias there and a strange rating system that is a quite unfair. They gave the iPad mini a 9 for example for no good reason at all, and they score way too much on ecosystem, when that's out of the hardware manufacturer's hands. Why not just continue to give Apple products the highest ratings if that's the case?

 

[1jaxstate1]

Bwahahahah. It may be time for that person to log off the internets for a month or so.

wait.. someone was such a crybaby they wrote a review of a review?

:lol:

Leaving that aside - after watching the video I don't see what the problem is.

 

[1jaxstate1]

Sites like The Verge are the only sites I trust for unbiased reviews. No way, I mean no way in ****, will the WPC review be less that a 9. The phone could reboot 10 times in a row, but it will get nothing less than a 9. It's just the way fans sites vs tech site works.

 

[Winterfang]

Well guys the thing is, until Microsoft has a great Ecosystem and lots of quality apps, is hard to give it the same score as the iphone or top notch android device.

Let's say the ATIV ends up exactly if not a bit better than the Galaxy 3. It's still going to get a lower score and it deserves a lower score.

In Windows Phone 7.5 we suffered from underpowered phones and unbaked OS. Now we have great phones (back before Nokia rubbed me the wrong way I only had one complain, where's the cool phones? I didn't stop that until I saw the ATIV and the 8X just immediately won me over) and a good OS but we still lack the tight integration Android has and the thousands of quality apps Iphone has.

I will personally be weary of recommending the ATIV over the GS3 to anyone, because Windows Phone still lacks things people want, is not a complete OS and the phones suffered because of that.

 

[aubreyq]

In reality, how many customers in carrier kiosks and stores actually make their phone purchases based on the review they read on The Verge, anyway? Let's get real, here. I bet you that 80-90% of the time, if it's not an iPhone or a GS3, the customer bought what the sales clerk convinced them to buy.

 

[ncxcstud]

The way I look at it, the review was good. Sure there were a 'unfair' jabs at the 920, but on the whole it was quite positive. I still think review sites should just do away with numbering systems. Stick to what Engadget, Joystiq, and Kotaku do. Write a review and then in the wrap-up write the pros and cons.

If it was just 'the words' and no arbitrary numbering system it would've been great.




I still love the Kotaku format - Should I buy this or not? Yes or no?

 

[aubreyq]

i still think review sites should just do away with numbering systems...write a review and then in the wrap-up write the pros and cons...if it was just 'the words' and no arbitrary numbering system it would've been great.

this.

 

[SuddenlyDinosaur]

Well the video review was pretty nice. Very objective nothing unusual.

Complained about the thickess and weight
Love the darkshots, love the bright ones.
Love the video, loves the camera
Loves the screen
Dislikes the OS.
Dislikes that there's compromises and lack of definitely date.

I never thought that I'd see the day that I agreed with Winterfang, but I do.

This review was pretty fair.

And he's right about having different reviewers. That's why it's not important to concentrate on the score, but on the actual review.