Manage updates with the Download App
-
"Why does every product get 3-and-a-half starts?"
3.5 starson by Derfel64Pros: Connectivity, display, price
Cons: Not many, really
Summary: It's like a joke. No matter how cheap or expensive, responsive or defective, pathetic or brilliant, every gadget review in Cnet ends up at 3-and-a-half stars. Oh, or 3 and 4 stars. You know, in the real world, you don't expect absolutely every student to get a 7-8 mark. There will 2s and 9s and 0s and 10s.
This review is a case in point. After describing the the Transformer has the best screen, the best connectivity, and a dock that extends battery life and adds immense funcionality. It pretty much blows past any other Android tablet, and it's competitive with the Ipad 2.
On top of that, it costs *half* what the G-Slate does, and substantially less than any other high-end tablet. So? The G-slate is better because of "superior build quality". Barf.
- 4 replies to this review
-
But the iPad 2 got 4 starts.;
-
You've got to read their review of the Orange San Francisco. This is a branded version of the ZTE Blade, which unfortunately hasn't been brought to the US, but watch out because ZTE looks like the next HTC and is jumping on the Android bandwagon.
Well, this is a phone with a 3.5 inch, capacitive, 800 x 480 touchscreen, and a 600 Mhz processor. It's a typical mid-range Android phone. But it sells right now in Europe for 100 pounds OFF-CONTRACT!
I mean, there are a handful of smartphones for that price. They are all junk and cannot hold a candle to the San Francisco / Blade. There are better phones - but they cost three times as much. In fact, absolutely every reviewer was stunned by the price itself - it just didn't fit in with the rest of the phone. It would have been OK for 200 off-contract, but for 99 pounds? Incredible.
What did Cnet say? 3 stars. Again. They complained about preloaded Orange software - COME ON!!! -
I completely agree, but on an even larger scale.
I have been upset by CNet ever since they went to this "star" rating system and abandoned the old numerical system. Frankly, it irritates the hell out of me that any legitimate review site that brandishes a value upon a device doesn't use a 10-point scale to rate things.
As you suggested, I rarely EVER see anything get higher than 3.5 stars, no matter how good the product is. This Asus is by all accounts a near-brilliant product, yet it scores the same rating as products vastly different from it. And it's not limited to tablets.
If you want to be taken seriously as a review site, ditch the stars, and go back to numerical values but on a 10-point scale with the ability to use decimal points AT LEAST.
Brandon -
Totally agree. With the exception of being slightly bigger, this thing has basically all the same specs as the ipad2 and does it for $100 less. Yet the review chooses to focus on what was "sacrificed" as if it's inconceivable that a company could just be really good at designing fully featured tablets for cheap. I guess that's why I don't read Cnet much anymore.
%20user%20review%20and%20rating%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/asus-eee-pad-transformer/4864-3126_7-34467853-2.html&x_breadcrumb=8900:3126&x_arw_bkts=MAD:first_impression){kind=small}