TechTV review

[Mullet]

This should be a good view for those who ordered already. Should also be good for those who put the Axim on their short list; i.e. people like me.

http://www.techtv.com/news/story/0,24195,3407911,00.html[/url]

[Rirath]

You've got to love TechTV's "reviews". Vague barely begins to describe it.

[Foo Fighter]

You've got to love TechTV's "reviews". Vague barely begins to describe it.

Not only are these reviews often vague, but also full of errors. I see this article has been updated to correct an error that I e-mailed them about. The earlier review said the Dell Axim has a "brushed metal case". It now reads.."Featuring a sleek, plastic case (coated in a strengthening magnesium finish)".

Can't TechTV's reviewers tell the difference between metal and painted plastic? :roll:

[Mullet]

It wasn't the print review I was refering to. I was under the impression that it would be on the TechLive TV program. This was to get a better feel for size, etc. I could be wrong though. Either way the program has since passed. And if your comments are refering to the TV program my appologies.

BTY, this is my first PDA purchase and my thought process goes something like this: I have to get the 300 mhz Dell because the price is so good and the reputation of the company is impressive. If I don't like it, at least I didn't shell out too much coin. I was considering the Viewsonic for a while, but the Dell price is too good to ignore. Especially since I have a 1GB CF+ card that will be compatible with the Dell (please correct me if I am wrong...it says CF+ Type II and is an IBM microdrive). Thanks.

[Sanjay Srikonda]

the thing is, most reviewers don't PAY for their review products. They're given them for free to do reviews and also to make reviewers write more appreciative reviews. Is this fair? Not particularly, they should be asked to buy them, and also deal with the shipping/tech support, issues that most of us mere mortals go through. When a reviewer calls up a company regarding an issue with a product they've been sent for review or are reviewing, they are more often than not given preferential treatment by the company because the company wants a good review.

Any review you read has to be taken with a grain of salt.

Of course, all this said, I'm not saying ALL reviewers don't pay for their products, some don't some do. The ones I would rather trust are the ones who DO pay for the products they receive just like anybody else and don't identify themselves as a reviewer to the company to get preferential treatment.

[Jason Dunn]

Of course, all this said, I'm not saying ALL reviewers don't pay for their products, some don't some do. The ones I would rather trust are the ones who DO pay for the products they receive just like anybody else and don't identify themselves as a reviewer to the company to get preferential treatment.

Problem is, who can afford this? I know that Steve Bush was big on buying devices for reviews, and frankly I don't know how he did it - there's no way I could afford to buy every device that comes out to review. As an MVP I was lucky enough last year to get a couple devices, but this year that has changed and we no longer get devices - so I'm in the same boat as most of you: buy a device and hope it lasts a while. :wink:

[Foo Fighter]

...there's no way I could afford to buy every device that comes out to review.

Me neither, but there have been a few times where I've owned damn near every PDA under the sun. Any new shiny object that catches my fancy. It's like a drug addiction. :?

[Sanjay Srikonda]

I know that things were tight all over, but I didn't realize that not even long-standing reviewers weren't getting things. I mean can't companies say, hey you can review them but you have to return them within XX days?

Learn something new every day

[Jason Dunn]

I know that things were tight all over, but I didn't realize that not even long-standing reviewers weren't getting things. I mean can't companies say, hey you can review them but you have to return them within XX days?

Depends - both Dell and Viewsonic have promised me review units, so we'll see what happens. I've never received review units from HP, Toshiba, Casio, or any other OEM. I need to work on my OEM relationships more evidently, but it's hard when companies like Toshiba won't even respond to my email messages.

I was mostly speaking about buying the devices, which is what you were talking about - if I get a review unit from Dell on loan, I get "reviewers treatment", not the "Joe Consumer" treatment you wanted. Ultimately, I wish I could do the latter. Maybe the advertising market will pick up in 2003. :?

[Sanjay Srikonda]

I used to work for DoubleClick in its heyday, now THAT was an advertising market.

I didn't mean to disparage reviewers. I make 99.99% of my buying decisions based on reviewers' opinions. Without you guys we wouldn't know which end is up half the time because manufacturers just sometimes don't tell us the real skinny on their products.

And this site is probably the first one I look to for information on what's new in the PPC industry.

[ThomasC22]

the thing is, most reviewers don't PAY for their review products. They're given them for free to do reviews and also to make reviewers write more appreciative reviews. Is this fair?

I agree that it may not be fair but I think it's the way it has to be. Companies want their products out there and it isn't really their job to protect the journalistic integrity of the reviewer they give it to. More though than price I think the real issue is availability, reviews want early units and only the manufacturer can give that to them.

[ThomasC22]

I know that things were tight all over, but I didn't realize that not even long-standing reviewers weren't getting things. I mean can't companies say, hey you can review them but you have to return them within XX days?

Learn something new every day

Well, here's how I see it...

If I'm Dell or Viewsonic, I'm pretty much going to ignore sites like this at first for a couple reasons:

1 - PDA's are moving out of the frindge. Which means the consumer press (Consumer Reports, CNet, etc...) become more important than Grass root sites. The target audience is largely the average consumer now.

2 - It's assumed we already know. A site like this (or PDABuzz, Brighthand, et al) is going to have people who already know what the specs mean and about how big the average size is. Therefore, treating reviews as a form of marketing, it makes more sense to pander to the mainstream media because they sell to a much larger audience who is much less informed. Tell me that isn't a marketers dream!

2 - The Reviewers are too smart for their own good. In other words, if Jason Dunn a guy who's been working with PPCs since before they were PocketPCs reviews a unit, he's liable to find flaws that "joe-blow CNet reviewer" would miss. Maybe even flaws that the company themselves didn't know is there (which I remain convinced is what happened with Toshiba and the XScale fiasco). Meaning an overall less positive review (albeit more honest) than they would have gotten from a mainstream source. At least with no unit, no one knows one way or the other.

So, with those factors I mind I think you're seeing the PDA companies going more and more to the mainstream media first and ignoring the grass-root community that got the PDA industry here in the first place (although, in all fairness, most of the companies around now weren't in the PDA market when that happened).

[Rirath]

Maybe even flaws that the company themselves didn't know is there (which I remain convinced is what happened with Toshiba and the XScale fiasco). Meaning an overall less positive review (albeit more honest) than they would have gotten from a mainstream source. At least with no unit, no one knows one way or the other.

Though on the other hand, they know to offset issues like size where the less informed reviewer may spend 3 paragraphs harping about it needlessly.