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The problem I have found with the tech reviews at places like Endgadget and CNET are that the reviewers come to the review with a prejudice in favor of some particular device and thus if every feature of their favorite device isn't available on the reviewed device and better, then the reviewed device can't be great.
For example, consider the Sony 505 versus the Kindle (pre-Pearl screen) or Nook. I think most people here on MR would agree that the Sony 505 was the gold standard for screen clarity, which to me was/is the primary important feature of a dedicated reading device. Yet most reviewers, and many MR members, downplayed the 505 because (a) it lacked wireless capability and (b) the Sony bookstore wasn't as large as or as inexpensive as the Kindle store.
I'm not suggesting that those weren't important considerations; they certainly needed to be taken into consideration when making a decision as to which device to buy. But I think they were overplayed. One needs to look at the books one buys and see if they are available and at what price where, and also how often one needs wireless to buy a book. I found that all the books I was interested in were available at either Sony, Fictionwise (before B&N took over), or Smashwords and that I tended to buy several books at a time so that sideloading them rather than wireless was an occasional issue (i.e., I would load the books onto my Sony once or twice a month, not daily).
Yet for the "independent" reviewers, these were critical matters.
My experience is that the day-to-day use given by MR members with their specific devices is a much better indicator of the true quality of a device. I bought my 505 because of the consistent comments here on MR about the quality of the screen, and I in 3 years of using the 505, I never once regretted that decision.
A few weeks ago, based on what I was reading and my experience with the 505, I preordered the 950 from Sony. The big inducements were the 7-inch screen, the touch screen, dictionary support, and the Pearl screen. I have had the device and been using it for nearly a month, and I love the device. In that time, I have used the wireless twice. The wireless was nice when I bought a book from the Sony store but if it lacked the wireless, it wouldn't have mattered.
OK, I've been long-winded, but the points I'm trying to stress are that the best reviews are the experiences of MR members and that you should not give excessive weight to features that you either will rarely use or that are not important to your reading experience.
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