In Android Polices private chat room deep in the bowels of a place known only to a select few Android Police writers conversations are often had over what makes a phone good, and what makes a phone bad.
And, of course, views on this issue vary. Some have a strong preference for stock Android, and anything attempting to subvert or otherwise break Android the way Google intended it (unless Googles intentions sucked) is a waste of time. Others are more concerned with how it works: is it smooth, fluid, and functional? And, of course, there are the typical arguments about SD cards, removable batteries, and plastique.
With any newly-announced phone comes the time for the passing of judgement: is there a dealbreaker? That is, would a particular flaw (or feature, as the case may be) actually be a reason to not buy a phone? As anyone in any tech blog comment section will tell you, literally every single smartphone on the market has dealbreakers. All of them.
That is such a backward-ass way of thinking, and excuse my bluntness for saying it, but its utterly counterproductive.
I am not without fault when it comes to this. Ive reviewed high-end smartphones I simply couldnt recommend. Most of those reviews I stand by steadfastly, because I honestly believed a phone was not enjoyable to use. That really is my benchmark at the end of the day: did I like using the phone? One or two, though, give me pause.
Since writing for Android Police, Ive conducted 19 phone reviews. Which seems like a lot, to me at least. And while I may get a reputation as a negative Nancy, I consider 10 of those reviews to land in the Positive category pretty definitively. Only 4 are outright Negative, and the remaining 5 come down in the sort of Meh area. That means Ive liked more phones than Ive not liked or been ambivalent about combined! Hard to believe, I know.
And Ill say that even of those I outright panned (DROID Incredible 4G, Xperia TX, Meizu MX 4-Core, DROID Charge), I really only feel like one, the Xperia TX, might have deserved a slightly easier time. I harped on the build quality pretty hard, but Ive held worse phones, and now that it has a Jelly Bean update, Id be curious to see if the experience has improved. I just did not like using it at the time. The app push sync was unreliable, battery life was subpar, and the camera was a total stickler to use.
Anyway, back to dealbreakers. Some of the ones I hear often are SD card or a removable battery. That is, lacking those things is basically smartphone sacrilege. Sometimes, though, theyre a little more eccentric. Maybe you absolutely 100% need an MHL-compliant phone for HDMI out. Or an unlockable bootloader is necessary. And perhaps you just cant live without a video app that pops out and floats over the UI.
The thing is, though, none of the aforementioned things (including SD cards and removable batteries) are actually necessary to have a good experience on a modern smartphone. Im sorry, they just arent. Theyre only necessary if
To put it a little more succinctly: just because a particular phone is the best phone for you, does not make it the best phone for me. Or really anyone else. And just because another phone lacks the things you need doesnt make it a bad product. It makes it a phone that isnt good for you specifically. Thats really all youre saying. They are two very different things. No one reviews a Range Rover and says its a terrible car because it gets relatively low gas mileage and doesnt handle very well if those are you concerns, why would you even consider it? Thats what really gets my goat: people who know full well they wont like a phone because it wont suit their personal needs, but go on ahead and shit all over it anyway like its actually objectively terrible. And again, sure, Im guilty of this as well sometimes.
Im writing this right now because Im going to start working on my review of the HTC One this weekend. Spoiler alert: I like it kind of a lot.
But, I can already see the 5-10 comments not simply lamenting the lack of a removable battery, an SD card, or whatever new software features Samsungs packed into the Galaxy S4, but absolutely blasting the phone because of these things. Im not trying to stop those comments with this post, because frankly, who could? The internet will be the internet. Its going to happen. But Im not going to respond to them, even though in all likelihood one will rise to the top with DISQUSs wonderful voting system. And feeding that "discussion" (yes, that word needed sarcastic quotes) would be about as useful as debating a moon landing hoaxer.
Fear not, though, SD card enthusiasts your ire will get to me at least a little bit. And thats primarily because I take pride in the evaluation I give a phone. I want to convey my feelings accurately and impartially, and issue a relatively definitive judgment on a product. I want to be able to say This is a good product, This is an OK product, or This is a bad product. I find it very disappointing to get to the end of a phone review and discover a non-conclusion. I want to be conclusive.
Im also not saying there arent objective, rational reasons to dislike a phone. Of course there are. No one likes bad battery life, or a display that looks poor. No one likes a camera that takes crappy photos. I cant think of anyone who yearns for a slow phone, or one which is poorly constructed. But even the Xperia ZL, which I roundly Mehd a couple weeks ago, is still a decent phone. I didnt hate it! I promise. But I did look at it on the merits, and it was very difficult to understand why it was any better than its competitors when it is clearly inferior to them in some big ways the screen is worse, the battery life is worse, the camera is worse, the speed is worse, and the build quality wasnt anything outstanding. And thats why it got a pretty "meh" review you have noticeably better options at your disposal, and I cant go recommending something knowing that those options exist. I want to guide people to the great phones, not the ones that you can live with. People got upset anyway, because, well, internet.
The fact is, I like the HTC One. I very much predict that I will like the Galaxy S4. I also like the Optimus G Pro, which Im currently testing out as well. Every single one of these phones has / will have flaws objective ones. I will probably like one of them more than the others, and I already have a good idea which one its probably going to be. But please, dont tell me I'm wrong for liking something because I cant use both of the cameras to record video at once, store all 50GB of my pirated movies, or flash a ROM to stock. You're perfectly welcome not to buy it for any of those reasons, but claiming that makes it bad is hyperbole, plain and simple, and I'm getting a little tired of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment