That’s justified bias. That’s relevant context derived from history and experience. Without it, we’d be reciting facts and figures, but no meaning. Megabytes and millimeters matter only after they’ve been passed through the prism of human judgment, and we shouldn’t pretend that it can, or should, ever be unbiased.
While I agree with the article, there is one thing that tends to stand out in reviews of smartphones: while non-iPhone reviews always highlight the things the reviewed device lacks compared to the iPhone, the reverse is rarely – if ever – true.
Which has nothing to do with bias, and everything with a lack of empathy. Tech journalism is almost exclusively an American affair, and all of these reviewers carry iPhones themselves. This is perfectly fine, were it not that they seem to be incapable to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and look at all the things, say, an Android user in Germany would have to give up were she or he to buy an iPhone.
I’m buying the iPhone 6S in a few months, and you can expect me to not make that mistake.
Apple’s Mac on the 90’s has very good reviews by journalist, and I remember an article of that time saying “It is because the Press, their designers, their journalist uses Apple”, so it was for sure that they are talking good of the device they used compared to the horrible monster that was the PC for they. The same applies today you have paid tech press and brainwashed tech press
One point that most phone reviews (and not only iPhone ones) seem to miss is this…
“Will this device meet the expectations of 99% of potential users?”[1]
For pretty well any phone released these days, the answer is yes it will.
That means that the reviewers have to find something to talk about in their 2000 words. This is getting increasingly difficult hence the list of things that Model A has over Model T when the device under review is ‘Model A’.
[1] IMHO, the other one percent will be mainly the minority who demand removable batteries, dual sim or removable SD cards etc.
Those features are usually considered essential in developing countries (which now form the vast bulk of smartphone buyers).
That might be true, but as noted elsewhere the audience for these reviews aren’t developing countries.
The only thing that 99% ever do is install Twitter, Snapchat and whatever IM client that’s popular in their country, so reviewers wouldn’t really have much to write about.
Reviews that I have seen – clearly different ones from your experience – most *always* spin the iPhone (or anything from Apple for that matter) in a negative light. Sometimes just subtly, other times more overtly.
Or, perhaps this is actually just confirmation bias at play and people focus in on the things that they disagree with.
It is ironic that The Verge is shouting “look at all them bias” when their coverage of non-Apple devices is nothing but a shortlist of what non-Apple devices don’t do that the iPhone does. It is like this in The Verge, it was like this when they were Engadget.
I recommend GSMArena. Much more balanced in that respect.
which includes finding articles that are biased toward their own opinions.
It’s kind of like how I read things about Operating Systems and having a leaning toward Linux improvements specifically. So when I get into arguments with coworkers who are big Apple fans, and then they try to put themselves as ‘Apple is like Linux but better’ I have to laugh.
Especially when they throw out things like “SteamOS isn’t Linux.” Most of them don’t put in the research and still think of Linux as the state of it in 2000, unless it’s servers then they are okay with using it.
But then part of that is because the Mighty Steve Jobs had discontinued the Apple Servers.
By no means do all American tech journalists carry iPhones. Maybe the people on CNET, pcworld, ZDNet and other old-net sites do but that’s not the case at places like arstechnica, anandtech, or even (shudder) the verge.
Whatever, as long as the links to theverge stops, what a bunch of useless journalists.
Edited 2015-09-24 07:45 UTC
You should check out the BLU phones. They have every price point from $35-over $300 USD, have both Android and WinPhone, dual SIMs mean you can use ’em pretty much anywhere on the planet, most have IPS screens, they are just really nice phones. Oh and did I mention they all have MicroSD slots so you don’t have to be limited to overpriced Apple storage?
The problem I have with iThings are the simple fact that many design choices are there to maximize profit of Apple instead of what is best for the customer. Need a bigger battery? Fuck you its not user replaceable. Need more storage? Fuck you no MicroSD because then we couldn’t make several hundred percent of profit selling you overpriced storage. Hell even their lauded adblocking and killing flash didn’t have a damned thing to do with the end user but locking profits into the iStore by making sure those that want to show ads have to go through Apple and making sure that flash games wouldn’t give people a way of bypassing the iStore!
When corps start actively fucking users to keep or increase their profits? That is when I personally start avoiding that corp, this is why I won’t use Windows 10 and why I gave away the iPhone 5 I was given, I simply won’t support a corp who thinks their profits are more important than my experience with their product.
I checked on http://www.bluphones.co.uk/index.php?route=common/home
No windows Phones and the Android ones were (where specified) running Jelly Bean or (shudder) Gingerbread.
Then the network coverage text was applicable to the US only and not in the UK yet I went to the UK web site.
Hardly enticing is it?
You should maybe do a little more research, but perhaps things are very different in the UK.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/09/21/blu-pure-xl-2015-review-blu…
http://www.cnet.com/products/blu-pure-xl/
This new phone is getting a lot of attention. If you want to check out the existing phones, you should probably look on amazon.com.
I gave you the URL. Why not use it and see for yourself?
If the data that the official UK web site uses is incorrect then who it to blame for that then?
As I said, ‘hardly inspiring’.
Perhaps we only get what they can’t sell in the US? I really don’t know. Do you?
You do know that flash eats battery because of high cpu usage, there was a good reason to not allow/enable flash.
Shouldn’t that decision be kind of up to the user? Playing Angry Birds uses more battery and CPU than making a ‘phone call, so should we remove all games?
That was rationalization.
You know, phone radio and display eat battery too.
This is a very odd comment. For any company, other than a charity or a public service, profits should always come first otherwise the company will not have a very long lifespan.
What we as customers do is weigh up how much we want to compromise on our wishlists to arrive at what any company is prepared to offer. Companies exist to make money and not to make your life complete.
>>> Thom wrote:
>>>
>>> I’m buying the iPhone 6S in a few months
Out of curiosity: How do you guys deal with so many cell phones? Do you keep swapping sim cards or do you have a different line and number in each device?
That would make calling you harder that winning the lottery, wouldn´t it
?
Regards.
Bill.
I have them all in a drawer. One day they will be like trophees in my only room.
I never cease to be amazed that Apple still garners such unwarranted positive attention. Living off of Job’s legacy will not prop up the company forever, so sooner or later the masses will finally see that the Emperor has no clothes.
Hopefully? I can dream can’t I?
Android is getting better with every release and the hardware is also improving continually. Is the iPhone snobbery still really justified? Hell no.
Apple can’t continue to win the hardware and OS race so they can only throw gimmicks and services in to keep the masses coming back. I want function, not flash.
Apple can’t win the Hardware race?
Citation please.
By all accounts their latest ARM incarnation beats 90% the competition hands down (if you care about that sort of thing that is)
From reading sites like this I get the feeling that the electonics that go into an iPhone are pretty well state of the art. Having control of both the hardware and software give them an advantage over all the Android competition apart from Google who are not really seen as very innovative in this area(hardware).
Do Apple really care about a hardware race? They have their own product path and it looks like the latest iPhone will sell in huge numbers. I guess that all those buyers (Thom included) are wasting their money and should just give it all to you?
I think the CPU is the only iPhone component that is anywhere near state of the art. The rest doesn’t seem all that special compared with other high end phones.
I’ll state again, I only care about function. I don’t need a state of the art processor. I do not feel the need to win a race that doesn’t need a winner. Fast enough is, well, fast enough.
The processor in my phone does not determine the user experience, though it could enhance it admittedly. But only if I am not having to pay a premium price for the luxury.
Everyone is entitled to buy what they want, I just choose not to participate in a race to nowhere.
I’ll admit that I find great humor in driving by an Apple store when a new i-device is released. Lots of people waiting around to get their hands on the next New Thing.
Crack for a new generation.
What would, say, a German user give up (other than a serious chunk of change) if they did get an iPhone over an Android? Honestly asking, since I’ve never been to Europe. I’m an Android user myself btw, so not being snobbish.