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Phablet Reviews: Before and After the iPhone 6
Velcroman1 writes Bigger is better. No, wait, bigger is worse. Well, which is it? Apple's newly supersized 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the jumbo, 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus are a marked departure for the company, which has clung to the same, small screen size for years. It has gone so far as to publicly deride larger phones from competitors, notably Samsung, even as their sales grew to record highs. Tech reviewers over the years have tended to side with Apple, in general saddling reviews of the Samsung Galaxy Note – a 5.3-inch device that kicked off the phablet push in 2012 – with asides about how big the darn thing was. Are tech reviewers being fair when they review the iPhone 6 Plus? Here's what some of them said today, compared with how they reviewed earlier phablets and big phones from the competition.
The press is biased towards Apple? You don't say...
These aren't reviews from "before ... the iPhone 6", they're exclusively reviews of the Galaxy Note and S3 - the first "phablets". Writers' tastes haven't changed because they're duplicitous hacks trying to find a way to hate Android; they've changed because of experience.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
This seems to be a typical sort of response from a media that tends to bias Apple products. I make no criticism of Apple with that remark, only those responsible for reviewing their products fairly. I get the feeling that a huge number of these reviewers, rather that being classical "tech lovers" if you will, are more prone to have a brand or ecosystem identity that drives their judgement about a given product or product family.
This kind of trend is fairly common across all major phone manufacturers, across both iOS and Android, and also across Apple and Google themselves. It is why I rarely take a phone review seriously, be it for a phone that I actually am interested in or one that I'm not. Having information about specs and hardware is a good place to start when deciding between two pieces of technology, but past that, a huge amount of one's enjoyment of a device can come from external factors, such as previous brand investment, ecosystem size and saturation, and even things as "trivial" as what one's friends are using.
I try not to be terribly upset when I see Apple product reviewers exhibiting these signs of bias, since a large number of Android (and perhaps even some windows phone?) reviewers do the same things. I read and watch these reviews as I would watch news about politics: with a boulder sized grain of salt. While some truth may be found somewhere in the reviewer's statements, they still can and do fall prey to human shortcomings that affects us all.
Of those that changed their tune, they commented about trying to operate the larger device with one hand. Apple moved some things around to make easier. And, it's lighter and thinner than it's 2012 predecessors - a benefit of time and manufacturing processes. Machined metal vs plastic makes a difference as well in terms of how rigid the device is and how that feels in one's hands. Again, the benefit of time to review existing products and improved manufacturing processes.
So, I didn't hear any particular fan-dom responses because of Apple vs Android. I heard that Apple's take on it was a little more refined. One would expect that over the course of two years. Samsung will do the same on their next iteration.
Being said, I am a big guy (6' 1") with large hands. The 6+ still feels awkward to me. If I opt for one of the newer models, I would, likely, go with the straight 6 over the 6+. But, I am not due for an upgrade for another year. I can wait.
Of the best new features I would like to see? Improved battery life.
Before switching to x86: x86 sucks ass! PowerPC all the way!
After switching to x86: x86 is awesome! Glad we don't have PowerPC anymore!
I've got a Note 3, and I frequently hold it up to my head to talk on it. I also gave up caring about what people think of based on what technology I use a couple of decades ago.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
It's news to Apple
I've never been convinced it's well defined.
It sometimes seems to carry some form of ironic post-modern cynicism, and some fashion sense which is either very modern or 70s/80s style in an ironic manner.
In other cases it seems to be "people who like new things".
Either way, I'm closer to the sore hip age than the hipster age, and they (fortunately) don't make skinny jeans for me. :-P
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
The rest of the world is not obliged to share your opinion, no matter how highly you think of yourself.
I, too, do not see myself using a large phone. However these large phones are hugely popular, as can be seen by their sales figures and several of my colleagues, even small sized females, happily using these phones. I respect their choice and I applaud Android for allowing manufacturers to give customers a choice of picking a phone they like instead of dictating the customer's choice to them and insulting potential customers that choose differently.
Wait, I thought hipsters were the guys who liked the new things? Like if you had an iPad and an iPhone you were a hipster, but if you had an old Android and a Lenovo laptop you were a legitimate human being.
It depends on whether a critical mass of the general population also likes said new thing. When they were the ones waiting in line all night at the Apple store, it was all good. Now that the same lines are filled with people sleeping in trash bags to immediately flip them to China's gray market, not so much.
Now that Apple has joined the phablet bandwagon, we have another problem: manufacturers are only offering their premium devices in phablet, or near-phablet, sizes. Want the "smaller" iphone? Sure, but you have to give up camera features. Most of the Android phones are in a similar boat - you can get a 4-4.5" screen phone, but you'll give up memory, or speed, or camera functionality, LTE, or any of a number of other features. Smaller screens mean lower price points and cutting corners.
Wouldn't it be nice it you really could choose a 3.5-4" screen phone that did everything else the larger models did?
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?