TechCrunch: The Death Of The Spec

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by kjk

Here on MobileRead?

No. I have not seen much hate here (I haven't looked for it). Most of the conversation here is polite.

During the month and a half between between announcement and availability of the Fire, I read all there was to read. First thing I noticed was that most of the previewers -- and there were a lot of them -- had not touched the hardware. Wondering why people who had not used a Fire would bother to demean it, I started googling the 'authors' and found most had a long love affair with the iPad.

Weeks after launch, a lot of the reviews seem to be intended to show that the Fire is lacking in some way or that it is not an iPad. When you google the 'author' these people are still iPad champions.

Personally, I cannot fathom why a person in love with an iPad would even consider purchasing a Fire. Yet it seems that all of them have and most of them have blogged that the iPad is better.

Even on MR, I could not find objective reviews at launch. I decided to buy one and see what I thought. Personally, I have not found the Fire lacking. To be fair, that comes from the perspective of one who has never driven an iPad or a Galaxy. To be even more fair, I probably have less than ten hours at the wheel of the Fire. But I have watched movies using eMIT, Prime, and Netflix -- all very satisfying. I've listened to internet radio and checked my email and browsed the web. I installed the Nook app via a nonAmazon app store (which I found educational and challenging). I've downloaded documents and periodicals using Calibre -- works. I've played a couple games and texted.

I prefer to sit in front of dual 23" screens with a keyboard and mouse, but have retired to the couch with the Fire to watch TV (IMDB more than ESPN).

My wife uses the fire the most. She has dialysis three times a week and it accompanies her. We put a spreadsheet on the Fire to track her care -- it's a convenient place to track the info since she always brings the Fire with her. She likes the radio and netflix, plays games, and reads to kill her time. Zero complaints out of her. In fact, she loves the Fire. Again, never having used an iPad.

I guess you could say that my 'mini review' doesn't talk about specs (still trying to tie back to the original post). They are in there -- it's just subtle. The Fire is fast enough to play video, small enough to fit in my wife's purse, and cheap enough that I didn't have to think much about buying one. The battery lasts long enough that I didn't even think of it when reviewing the device and there is enough storage that it's not an issue -- despite four people with diverse applications sharing a single device.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Do you really think that this completely invented fact makes the conversation more productive?

I can see how that might look incendiary out of context.

ScalyFreak's previous post was a series of observations about the people she's dealt with in her job as tech support. I suspect she left out the phrase in my experience because she was answering a specific reply to that post, and all she'd been talking about was her own experience!

Wizwor:

I can pretty much guarantee that many users will say the same thing about media bias and their iPad -- that too many reviewers dismiss or belittle Apple. When we trace these patterns, it seems to me we're illustrating our own subjectivity. For whatever reason, be it ill-expressed instinct or territorial ownership, we seem to foreground points of opposition and gloss over instances of concordance.

The choice to buy a KF has everything to do with what you're going to do. If it suits your purposes and gives you a great user experience for $199, and you don't mind your content being linked to Amazon and largely cloud-based (which is where I have issues with Google as well), then you've saved yourself a lot of money, and that's an intelligent thing to do. I haven't bought a KF, a Nook Color (despite its SD slot), a Galaxy Tablet or an iPad because none of them satisfies my needs as a potential user just yet.

I would never presume to be the better user for needing a more powerful tablet with specific kinds of software and more storage space. Some would even say you're more of a realist than I am a pragmatist. But I'm a different kind of user and depend on different specs and software. And that's another reason that specs can be so important.

[wizwor]

so, we all agree -- specs aren't dead

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

ScalyFreak's previous post was a series of observations about the people she's dealt with in her job as tech support. I suspect she left out the phrase in my experience because she was answering a specific reply to that post, and all she'd been talking about was her own experience!

Precisely. We're dealing with observations and opinions here, not facts.

[MrsJoseph]

Somewhat

I went to best buy today because the 2 year mark has passed and it's time to re-up on a new computer.

I'm a part-time gamer so the specs I run are always tailored to the games I like to play...but for some strange reason I saw hardly a single spec listed on any of the computers for sale. There I am, SC2 game in hand, digging around looking for graphic card info as my husband is getting antsy. He'd already checked out the big screens so there was nothing I could send him to look at.

After 15-20 mins of going from computer to computer without help and no tags I gave up and left. We had planned to buy a computer, some new video games & zappers for the PS3. Instead I bought nothing.

[Prestidigitweeze]

I feel you, MrsJoseph (and I mean that in a non-stranger-groping sort of way).

One reason BB doesn't like to talk about specs is because their models are often under-spec'd. Their Samsung Series 7, for example, is cheaper because its specs are inferior to the standard iterations available elsewhere, but they'd rather you didn't notice that.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

There I am, SC2 game in hand, digging around looking for graphic card info as my husband is getting antsy.

I bought a laptop last month and I looked in the shops first. Same problem: the graphic card info was missing for most, and if it wasn't missing, it still wasn't any good. So I ordered online.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by wizwor

No. I have not seen much hate here (I haven't looked for it). Most of the conversation here is polite.

During the month and a half between between announcement and availability of the Fire, I read all there was to read. First thing I noticed was that most of the previewers -- and there were a lot of them -- had not touched the hardware. Wondering why people who had not used a Fire would bother to demean it, I started googling the 'authors' and found most had a long love affair with the iPad.

This is not a conspiracy. Something like 90% of tablets sold are iPads. People who review tablets are probably going to compare it to the iPad.

Weeks after launch, a lot of the reviews seem to be intended to show that the Fire is lacking in some way or that it is not an iPad. When you google the 'author' these people are still iPad champions.

It is lacking in a lot of ways. And this is probably the most important thing for reviewers to point out, since it was not clear at all how the fire would run. With the big question for a lot of people (myself included, as I had one on preorder for a while) was whether the Fire was going to be something like a smaller iPad. Or, put another way, could you spend $200 and get something smaller but generally equivalent to the iPad? Or were there other tradeoffs.

Personally, I cannot fathom why a person in love with an iPad would even consider purchasing a Fire. Yet it seems that all of them have and most of them have blogged that the iPad is better.

You need to get over the idea that because a reviewer like the iPad, he or she is biased and incapable of objectively reviewing another device. The iPad is completely dominant in the tablet world, and you would be hard pressed to find a reviewer who *didn't* like it. And, as I mentioned above, the no. 1 question about the Fire was how it compared to the iPad. (With the No. 2 question probably being how it compared to the NC).

Even on MR, I could not find objective reviews at launch.

There were plenty of objective reviews on launch, especially on MR, whose denizens are not overly fond of Apple products, by and large.

[I decided to buy one and see what I thought. Personally, I have not found the Fire lacking. To be fair, that comes from the perspective of one who has never driven an iPad or a Galaxy. To be even more fair, I probably have less than ten hours at the wheel of the Fire. But I have watched movies using eMIT, Prime, and Netflix -- all very satisfying. I've listened to internet radio and checked my email and browsed the web. I installed the Nook app via a nonAmazon app store (which I found educational and challenging). I've downloaded documents and periodicals using Calibre -- works. I've played a couple games and texted.

It's good that you like the Fire. But this doesn't mean that the reviews pointing out shortcomings with the the Fire were wrong. In fact, most of the reviews I read pointed out certain shortcomings, but also noted that it was find for certain uses, and certainly a good deal at $200. And also more convenient to carry around than an iPad.

I prefer to sit in front of dual 23" screens with a keyboard and mouse, but have retired to the couch with the Fire to watch TV (IMDB more than ESPN).

My wife uses the fire the most. She has dialysis three times a week and it accompanies her. We put a spreadsheet on the Fire to track her care -- it's a convenient place to track the info since she always brings the Fire with her. She likes the radio and netflix, plays games, and reads to kill her time. Zero complaints out of her. In fact, she loves the Fire. Again, never having used an iPad.

I guess you could say that my 'mini review' doesn't talk about specs (still trying to tie back to the original post). They are in there -- it's just subtle. The Fire is fast enough to play video, small enough to fit in my wife's purse, and cheap enough that I didn't have to think much about buying one. The battery lasts long enough that I didn't even think of it when reviewing the device and there is enough storage that it's not an issue -- despite four people with diverse applications sharing a single device.

Yes, I think your mini review is definitely a non-spec review. And the reason why non-spec reviews are popular: they are actually useful to normal users who care about what they can do with the device in question.

[MV64]

With devices becoming increasingly similar, specs are going to become essentially the only selling points companies have to use in marketing.

[HappyMartin]

Originally Posted by MV64

With devices becoming increasingly similar, specs are going to become essentially the only selling points companies have to use in marketing.

I dont agree with that. marketers will have to come up with a USP(unique selling point) to differentiate their products from the competition. I believe specs are the least likely of all available options to be used. It is more likely they will differentiate on design, price, ecosystem, os, customer support and various other even less tangible things.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Yes, I think your mini review is definitely a non-spec review. And the reason why non-spec reviews are popular: they are actually useful to normal users who care about what they can do with the device in question.

Unfortunately every single thing he mentions in his mini review is also true for virtually every other 7" device on the market.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by HappyMartin

I dont agree with that. marketers will have to come up with a USP(unique selling point) to differentiate their products from the competition. I believe specs are the least likely of all available options to be used. It is more likely they will differentiate on design, price, ecosystem, os, customer support and various other even less tangible things.

Who cares about performance

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Unfortunately every single thing he mentions in his mini review is also true for virtually every other 7" device on the market.

Actually, it isn't. In fact, it might not be for the Fire. That's the problem. Absent specs, you have to take the word of the reviewer that the battery lasts a long time or the device fits in your pocket or performance is snappy.

[ScotiaBurrell]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

Somewhat

I went to best buy today because the 2 year mark has passed and it's time to re-up on a new computer.

I'm a part-time gamer so the specs I run are always tailored to the games I like to play...but for some strange reason I saw hardly a single spec listed on any of the computers for sale. There I am, SC2 game in hand, digging around looking for graphic card info as my husband is getting antsy. He'd already checked out the big screens so there was nothing I could send him to look at.

After 15-20 mins of going from computer to computer without help and no tags I gave up and left. We had planned to buy a computer, some new video games & zappers for the PS3. Instead I bought nothing.

What is a part-timer gamer?


Reviews are there to help you. Specs are there to help you. Some people want help. Some do not. Nothing to argue about.

I stop caring what reviewers say when I get device into my hands.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by ScotiaBurrell

What is a part-timer gamer?


Reviews are there to help you. Specs are there to help you. Some people want help. Some do not. Nothing to argue about.

I stop caring what reviewers say when I get device into my hands.

Part Time - meaning I am not hard core and I only play when I get the itch instead of daily.


The problem I was having is that there was no one to help me and no spec information listed in an easy to locate place. Add in the fact that most computers in-store are running in "demo mode" and you get a lost sale.



Hey, does this make me a pirate? I was going to buy something but I decided not to... *snicker*