Mobile Phone reviews

**Phil Hinton** · 14-06-2010, 9:26 PM

We are busy researching mobile phone reviews and whether they would be a valuable asset to add to the forums official editorial.

As this is a community site we would like your points of view and suggestions as to what you would like to see in terms of reviews, would you read them and what would you like to see covered in the reviews.

We are also looking for forum members who would be interested in helping produce the content and reviews. It will be unpaid and I doubt there would be any freebies on offer. Plus we would need dedicated individuals who know their phones and that could write detailed reviews. If that sounds like you then let me know via PM.

prking · 15-06-2010, 8:33 AM

I would welcome in-depth reviews of mobile phones based on actual experience. The problem with many existing reviews is that they are superficial, appearing to be little more than a re-hash of marketing material.
It would be important to me that the reviews were comprehensive and covered even the technical aspects. Far too often, reviews concentrate on browser, media, camera and calls/messaging. Never answering questions like 'Can I sync my information with my PC or on-line?'
In short I would welcome comprehensive reviews.

*achoudry* · 15-06-2010, 7:45 PM

agree with prking. reviews from people who have owned and used the phone extensively for at least a few weeks would be better than reviews from people who have used the phone for a few hours or even a few days.

davepuma · 15-06-2010, 10:19 PM

.....or from people who have never owned/used the phone in the first place. Take a look at the registration page for the iPhone 4 on vodafone. It is littered with glowing reviews, yet it doesn't come out for another 9 days. There are also some htc owner's reviews, which as you can imagine aren't as favourable. Some even claim to have used it. When? How? Sorry but I think decent reviews on phones, particularly smartphones will be hard to come by, simply as there is far too much fanboyism between Android and iPhone users and as a lot of phones are bought blind online or simply based on looks, most people won't give you an honest review as they don't like admitting they've wasted their coin on something that might be complete pony. You might get plenty of "buy one, it's well wkd" type reviews though. Going by what I've read online re. the new iPhone, the reviews are mostly written by 14 year olds or complete morons. I hope I'm wrong and you can get some honest, objective opinions though.

**Steven** · 15-06-2010, 10:23 PM

Just to clarify, Phil is talking about fully written and researched reviews. Recent examples:

Not quick user ratings or one line reviews on a shopping website

Thank you

Butters · 16-06-2010, 8:15 AM

The more in depth reviews across a multitude of products and areas the better as far as i am concerned. For me - AVF is rapidly becoming the best single source of detailed info i need for informed choice in a number of diverse areas.
"Proper" reviews by the team are often the catalyst for further user reviews and views, i would rather trust the infomation i get here than a purchased and fully sponsored specialist mag.

FallOutBoy · 16-06-2010, 6:27 PM

Sounds like a good idea to me - I always like to read reviews of products before buying, and in-depth mobile phone reviews would be interesting in my opinion. I think to have decent reviews on a trusted site like this would be very useful.

scarborian · 17-06-2010, 10:00 AM

Great idea guys!
We all like to read reviews but it has to be remembered that all reviews are subjective and what matters to one person may be a waste of space to another. We can all assess pixel sizes, frame refresh rates, miles per gallon or connectivity etc when buying a product but ultimately it all comes down the user experience of ownership.
Why not therefore offer reviews in two categories? 'Technical' for those who value such information and 'light' for those who just want to read about the reviewers general thoughts and experiences.

Regards
Scarborian

gingertilly18 · 19-06-2010, 3:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallOutBoy

Sounds like a good idea to me - I always like to read reviews of products before buying, and in-depth mobile phone reviews would be interesting in my opinion. I think to have decent reviews on a trusted site like this would be very useful.

i think that this site would be the prefect place for reviews from people who have experience with the devices, especially given the high activity in the classifieds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scarborian

Great idea guys!
We all like to read reviews but it has to be remembered that all reviews are subjective and what matters to one person may be a waste of space to another. We can all assess pixel sizes, frame refresh rates, miles per gallon or connectivity etc when buying a product but ultimately it all comes down the user experience of ownership.
Why not therefore offer reviews in two categories? 'Technical' for those who value such information and 'light' for those who just want to read about the reviewers general thoughts and experiences.

Regards
Scarborian

i like this idea, maybe under the "technical" review there can be a section for other comments from people who have also owned/used the item and comment on the review.

leebroath · 19-06-2010, 6:39 AM

I very much like this idea guys, could we please have a section under that specific mobile review for people to post comments and also have the functionality to rate the mobile that they have reviewed

Like 5 stars for "Awesomeness" right down to 1 star for "Don't even think about buying it"

Tinywerz · 19-06-2010, 7:43 AM

Great idea, it would fit in well with the current AV-Forums review suite.

I would definitely be interested in becoming a reviewer and it would be nice to see reviews from people using the product rather than the usual marketing spiel I've become accustomed to seeing on the general / popular review sites.

Dirtschmooz · 28-06-2010, 12:10 PM

Excellent Idea and would add great value to the site.

Go for it

CAS FAN · 03-07-2010, 2:39 PM

Would love to see this feature. It's always good to get another view on a mobile, especially if it's from an AV point of view (i.e. having perhaps more of a bias towards the media capabilities, screen quality etc. of the phone).

RobM · 14-01-2011, 10:48 PM

Has this idea died a death now? I did send a PM to find out more but have had no reply, but this sticky remains...?

FallOutBoy · 14-01-2011, 11:14 PM

I was wondering the same thing last week. I was interested in becoming a reviewer so submitted a lengthy Palm Pre review to Phil but never heard anything back, other than to let me know he had received it and would get back to me the following week (that was months ago)

**Steven** · 15-01-2011, 2:05 AM

To be transparent, I stickied the thread and so said act is not that of Phil or any AVF editorial staff. Certainly not intended to convey or mislead as to timescale for anything. But I apologise the thread has remained for so long. As it has been over six months I shall close but will ask Phil to look in (bearing in mind he is recovering from CES 2011 and man-flu)