What type of tech review do you prefer?

[anon(10092459)]

I'm asking because I found myself frustrated or disappointed with certain review styles. While I understand reviews have to have some element of personal preference involved, I am usually frustrated when a review doesn't take a device or software through it's full paces just because they don't find a feature useful or interesting to them personally. When that happens, I pretty much discount the reviewer as worthless.

I've read assorted reviews and watched different reviewer's videos. More and more, it seems to me at least, that personal preferences seem to be ever increasing and making up the bulk of the review. They just seem to leave aspects of their topic focus absent for some unknown reason.

I may be the only one this is frustrating, but I want to hear the thoughts from the community. Is this just the new wave of review style and is it your preference?

 

[belodion]

II may be the only one this is frustrating

You're not.

Worst of all perhaps, is accompanying music - often bad music - which is irrelevant, distracting, and annoying to the point of don't-bother-to-watch.

 

[chanchan05]

That's because in my opinion a lot of tech reviewers aren't tech heads. They're just random people who had enough cash on hand to get the stuff needed to start a review channel. It's pretty common to realize that you know more about the item being reviewed.
Most reviews done are on a consumer point of view, which is severely lacking as reviews come. You'd have to watch a god awful lot of videos to get a decent picture, and it's still not complete.

 

[anon(10092459)]

That's because in my opinion a lot of tech reviewers aren't tech heads. They're just random people who had enough cash on hand to get the stuff needed to start a review channel. It's pretty common to realize that you know more about the item being reviewed.
Most reviews done are on a consumer point of view, which is severely lacking as reviews come. You'd have to watch a god awful lot of videos to get a decent picture, and it's still not complete.

Maybe this is it. A lot of these reviewers ARE just random people and just seeking either clicks on articles or likes/views on their video. In the process, many just aren't doing justice to these devices and their consumers, more and more.

I mean, I NEVER hear about the Samsung Experience even though that's something I'd like to hear more about. I would like to know how full immersion of the Samsung suite of apps work well together and also how they work well with other products like their televisions, for example. Samsung Pay is never mention edmand how well it works vs other mobile pay options and their rewards program associated with it. Poor Bixby, the most misunderstood feature introduced in the last 2 years. When implemented, as intended, it can be a great tool for people on the Samsung ecosystem

If I'm looking at a Pixel review, GA and a lot of the gestures get swept by the way side as after thoughts. The AR stickers get a passing mention as well. The feed feature is fully curated, again no mention, and I use the feed every day and several times a day.

Those are just two examples, but even LG and others. I'm just not seeing comprehensive, good or bad, thoughts about software or hardware these days.

 

[chanchan05]

Maybe this is it. A lot of these reviewers ARE just random people and just seeking either clicks on articles or likes/views on their video. In the process, many just aren't doing justice to these devices and their consumers, more and more.

I mean, I NEVER hear about the Samsung Experience even though that's something I'd like to hear more about. I would like to know how full immersion of the Samsung suite of apps work well together and also how they work well with other products like their televisions, for example. Samsung Pay is never mention edmand how well it works vs other mobile pay options and their rewards program associated with it. Poor Bixby, the most misunderstood feature introduced in the last 2 years. When implemented, as intended, it can be a great tool for people on the Samsung ecosystem

If I'm looking at a Pixel review, GA and a lot of the gestures get swept by the way side as after thoughts. The AR stickers get a passing mention as well. The feed feature is fully curated, again no mention, and I use the feed every day and several times a day.

Those are just two examples, but even LG and others. I'm just not seeing comprehensive, good or bad, thoughts about software or hardware these days.

LOL. Yeah. I mean honestly a lot of members here would probably be able to make better reviews than a lot of those on Youtube. If had the money to buy every flagship yearly, I'd be doing this. LOL.

 

[Mooncatt]

I would be happy if they would just review the camera's full capabilities beyond just auto point and shooting. Even the pros like DxO are guilty of this.

 

[chanchan05]

I would be happy if they would just review the camera's full capabilities beyond just auto point and shooting. Even the pros like DxO are guilty of this.

As I said, most reviewers are just doing a review from a consumer point of view. The vast majority of consumers use only the auto mode. There was guy here who was asking for help since his S9 was blurry on motion photos. I mean, I've known for years that to get proper motion photos on point and shoots you need to set it to sport mode (Sony and Samsung at least calls it that). I already set up the camera to have sport mode on a swipe before I took my first picture.

So just like an average consumer, you'd even wonder if those reviewers understand what those modes mean on the camera other than they should use this for sport, or this for landscape.

I mean there's a thread here about a woman complaining that beauty face is gone in the S9. It's not really gone. Samsung made it a manual slider and added more filters you should combine it with to attain varied results. But she wants the one touch beauty mode. She doesn't care about the fact that the old beauty mode was so over processed that you looked artificial with a plastic skin, which several people complained about before. All she cared about was that her pores disappeared. That's the average consumer, and the video reviewers cater to that level of tech understanding because that's the majority of viewers.

 

[anon(10092459)]

I would be happy if they would just review the camera's full capabilities beyond just auto point and shooting. Even the pros like DxO are guilty of this.

This is the type of topic that I would definitely see discussed more too!

There was some review and whoever it was doing a camera/pic comparison on Samsung 8 (may have been an S9) vs 2XL. They mixed in some low light/night shots that seemed to favor the Pixel. Well a lot of the comments from users were about Samsung's "night mode" and why they didn't use that mode for the night shots. THAT would be something I'd like to hear and see more about, just as an example.

There was guy here who was asking for help since his S9 was blurry on motion photos. I mean, I've known for years that to get proper motion photos on point and shoots you need to set it to sport mode (Sony and Samsung at least calls it that).

That kind of information is so useful to know and I've NEVER seen it touched on in any review. If it were mentioned, it was glossed over without explaining the benefits of something like that, much less how it can be implemented.

 

[chanchan05]

That kind of information is so useful to know and I've NEVER seen it touched on in any review. If it were mentioned, it was glossed over without explaining the benefits of something like that, much less how it can be implemented.

For one thing, it's something common in all digital cameras, so honestly I won't expect it to be touched on a review on phones other than the reviewer saying it's present. You'd expect to find it more on camera tutorial videos.

Second, a guide that only covers the S9 camera that still didn't even explain the functions of those modes already took 20min. Much longer than the average device review videos. Honestly the only guy I know who routinely takes more than 15min in a phone review is Flossy Carter, and even if his Pixel and S9 reviews were around 1 hour, he says from the start that the review is not complete as he's not really that much of a tech head and reviews in a consumer point of view.

This means a real full coverage review will take probably 2hrs to show ALL the features.

Here's the guide I was talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTG3rJM4AnU

 

[anon(10092459)]

This means a real full coverage review will take probably 2 hrs to show ALL the features.

Perhaps this is the issue.. Time and viewer attention span. Now the video you posted, I found incredibly informative and I don't even use a Samsung. 62 useful camera tips in 20 mins was great for me, but others may not see it the same.

 

[chanchan05]

Perhaps this is the issue.. Time and viewer attention span. Now the video you posted, I found incredibly informative and I don't even use a Samsung. 62 useful camera tips in 20 mins was great for me, but others may not see it the same.

The same channel posted a 200+ tips for the S9 that is like 1 hour 20min long, and it's not even complete because this was done as a separate video. And together I still think they missed some.

 

[Morty2264]

I too find reviewers to be annoying or not as "worth watching" if they make the review predominantly about their own opinions about the phone. Yes, subjectivity will always be present in anything we do as humans; but I grew really tired of hearing things like, "The Pixel 2 isn't much to look at, etc" due to the whole bezel-mania thing.

If I was watching a review video and there was a) annoying music, b) too much bias, or c) the person was not an engaging reviewer (was monotone, didn't give pertinent or interesting information), I'd just turn it off.

 

[anon(10092459)]

I too find reviewers to be annoying or not as "worth watching" if they make the review predominantly about their own opinions about the phone. Yes, subjectivity will always be present in anything we do as humans; but I grew really tired of hearing things like, "The Pixel 2 isn't much to look at, etc" due to the whole bezel-mania thing.

If I was watching a review video and there was a) annoying music, b) too much bias, or c) the person was not an engaging reviewer (was monotone, didn't give pertinent or interesting information), I'd just turn it off.

Indeed! I think this is exactly what's going on with me too.

I recently watch a couple of poor reviews on the Pixel 2/2XL. I say poor because neither reviewer took the device anywhere close to it's full capabilities. Seriously, the touched on probably 30%-40% of the devices features and then proclaimed their opinion to be that the phone to be (paraphrasing) "just okay".

It's like, you didn't even fully utilize everything to come to that "opinion" in a 10 min video. It's the music, the bias, all the things you mentioned that are getting more and more a bit jaded with that style of review.

 

[Rohn59]

My biggest pet peeve with device reviews is when I'm researching a budget device. Whether it be a handheld, laptop etc. A lot of reviewers want to compare a budget device to a high end device. I don't want to know how a Huawei Mate SE compares to a Samsung Galaxy S9. I want to know how it compares to other devices in its price range.

 

[Morty2264]

Indeed! I think this is exactly what's going on with me too.

I recently watch a couple of poor reviews on the Pixel 2/2XL. I say poor because neither reviewer took the device anywhere close to it's full capabilities. Seriously, the touched on probably 30%-40% of the devices features and then proclaimed their opinion to be that the phone to be (paraphrasing) "just okay".

It's like, you didn't even fully utilize everything to come to that "opinion" in a 10 min video. It's the music, the bias, all the things you mentioned that are getting more and more a bit jaded with that style of review.

For sure! I need to watch a bunch of reviews in order to get objective snippets from each one. As you've said, sometimes it's not even them touching on many of the phone's features - they only discuss a couple and turn talk about bezels.

Their opinion of bezels in the video is fine, but people who are watching want to know how the phone works and what it is like to use it. Show them how it operates and let them make up their own mind about the bezels.

 

[LeoRex]

You're not.

Worst of all perhaps, is accompanying music - often bad music - which is irrelevant, distracting, and annoying to the point of don't-bother-to-watch.

Don't forget the slow, panning shots... Always with the slow pans.

 

[Mr Segundus]

I used to watch all the major YouTube tech reviewers (MKBHD, iJustine, Super Saf, etc.), but they all say the same things essentially. They have their own idiosyncrasies, but the same message is constantly being said among all of them. They're concerned with views and not really about the devices themselves.

A pattern I've noticed between the reviewers:
* slow pan shots of a device
* upbeat tempo music that can be louder than the voice of the reviewer
* so much hype and ballyhoo
* reviewer is too excited for the product
* very little constructive criticism of the devices

 

[Ry]

If I didn't want to hear opinions, I'd just read the spec sheet.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

My preference is for analysis. Sites like anandtech were my favorite for reviews, because we got an in depth analysis of the display, of the camera, of the capabilities of the hardware, etc. They also would compare the results of their measurements with a variety of devices, and not just a select few. As an example of the opposite, DisplayMate seems to only analyze Samsung and Apple devices for mobile, so there's no way to get the goods on how the V30 compares, etc. DisplayMate also publishes conclusions and headlines that are contradicted by their measurements, but that's another issue. DXO Mark consistently misses major devices and now, with their new rating system that favors multi-camera over single, they no longer have a wealth of devices to contrast against.

But, alas anandtech.com is dead for mobile reviews, so lately I'm getting data from phone arena, tom's guide and others and having to do the analysis myself. If I'm doing that much, then for reviews I'm fine with opinions with the exception of one thing. If a reviewer says, regarding a photograph or display, 'x is more accurate but y looks better', that reviewer is instantly discrediting themselves. I'm fine with, 'x is more accurate but I prefer y'. Better is a statement of fact, but if a reviewer uses it as a statement of preference, then they are blurring the lines between their opinions and facts and are harming the field of journalism.

 

[LeoRex]

I used to watch all the major YouTube tech reviewers (MKBHD, iJustine, Super Saf, etc.), but they all say the same things essentially. They have their own idiosyncrasies, but the same message is constantly being said among all of them. They're concerned with views and not really about the devices themselves.

A pattern I've noticed between the reviewers:
* slow pan shots of a device
* upbeat tempo music that can be louder than the voice of the reviewer
* so much hype and ballyhoo
* reviewer is too excited for the product
* very little constructive criticism of the devices

Oh, you forgot about the X vs Y videos that end with "Which is better? That's up to you! Let us know in the comments!"

Then why the bloody blue blazes have I been watching you for the last 10 minutes?