Hello folks! Hope you’re enjoying the start of the new working week. We’re after some input from you, because after all, you’re the reason we do what we do.
We’re wanting to change the way we write our reviews so that they’ll be much shorter and quicker to put together (increased turn around so you can make your choice quicker after the device launches). So what we want to know from you is:
- What things do you need to know about the device?
- How long do you want the review to be? (really short [450] or a tad longer [600-800]?)
- Are you happy with the average 4-6 pictures of the device that are included?
- Any other input?
Currently it can take us way too long to finish writing our reviews as they can be quite long-winded and we don’t always have the time to do that. While we’d like to do video reviews, we don’t have the equipment to do that on a regular basis just yet. So it’s over to you guys for the constructive input. See you in the comments!
Ausdroid has a great opportunity to represent the aus community with our localized gripes, i.e data capped plans from our telcos doesn’t really encourage take up of LTE… we prefer longer battery life as opposed to faster data technologies. The RAZR MAXX makes more sense than the Velocity 4G for example?
Reviews/expose of local apps (i.e banking, tv, travel, location aware apps that work in australia)
YT videos for something to display any problems – stuttering, lag, (actual) display problems – banding, etc. I also prefer a clinical ‘this is the phone front / back / sides in pics, it’s made from ‘x’, the screen is made of ‘x’ these are the other specs’ and then a review from a neutral approach and then an opinion at the end.  You could have 1 opinion from each staff member that has spent time with the phone or OWNS/USES it. This actually reminds me somewhat (!) of Anandtech where they will preface with an introduction to the technology,… Read more »
The only thing i think is missing from the reviews is the frequency bands the phone supports
What I need to know:Â CPU, Internal Memory, Expansion Slot, Screen Size, GPU
How long:Â 450 – 500 is short and sweet
Pictures:Â Can be cut down to 2 as all we need is the front and back
Other: Notification of who will have “exclusivity” to the hardware will also be nice to have as will links to the carriers page. No need to re-write plan details as we can read them in any case.
A short and straightforward review is already good.
Things like:
Processor
RAM
Camera
Battery
Screen size
Form
Other features worth mentioning (e.i. HDMI, NFC,Barometer, Kevlar, etc)
Software may not be necessary as it might be similar to other phones running the same version from the same manufacturer.
I don’t really care about the length. Though a not very long one with more straight to the point points would be great along with a comparison chart to other flagship phones or phones/tablets of the same level and one king of android as constant. You guys always have posts about specs when new phones come out so I guess just linking to it in your review is enough, there’s no need to list them out again as most people coming to check out reviews generally already know the specs, they just want to know how it fares. hum What… Read more »
Time to blow smoke up your bum’s…. I bought my first andriod, late last year, after holding off as long as I could, as I was an apple fanboy. Your site, has not only taught me everything I needed to know, plus more, but now I crave “tech news” of anything you guys want to tell. Your FB, feed is great aswell. Idea’s. It might just be my phone brower, but it seems your site isn’t optuimised for moblie viewing, if it is, Im a retard and thing nothing more of it. as for your content…. guys, pull your finger… Read more »
author of the review must use it for at least a week on a daily basis. it should be his and his only opinion on the product. standard stuff like specifications, features, UI etc can be bullet-pointed on the main things like what you guys already do. prefer to know stuff like: 1. battery life on a day to day basis 2. finger print smudge – bad or worse? 3. feel of the phone in hand, pocket, on the ear, in the car, with headset and music. 4. case/cover & accessories availability. 5. your opinion compared to a similar spec’ed… Read more »
Comparison table is the best thing for me. I like to see how the new phone stacks up against others currently in the market.
That is a comparison on CPU, screen resolution, memory, expandable, features etc.
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You could probably link off to the Verge product DB for that comparison.
oops forgot my third point.
3. There are always a million long reviews on the big phones like the galaxy nexus, which don’t always warrant it. i vote for all phones regardless of how they are marketed to get equal air time. This means possible quiet achievers don’t get overlooked and some more niche phones get a decent review.
OK here are my suggestions. 1. No more SenseUI (or any other custom UI) bashing. It gets old fast when reviewers assume users hate all manufacturer modifications to Android. I would much prefer an intelligent review of the pros and cons and comparisons. 2. i don’t know how you’d do this but I’d love more in depth reporting on screen quality, viewing angles and contrast etc. Together with the custom UIs, this seems to me to be where the meat of the differences between devices is, for me anyway. Basically, i want to know about real world functionality, not the… Read more »
Title: Â Â Â Date:
Picture:Â
4- 6 bullet point headlines
3-4 supporting points for each headline
Followed by a synopsis not to exceed 100 words
Yeh agree video review would be good.
I would also like to see gaming included in reviews
So far a lot of you guys have outlined some neat ideas to help out the already great team at Ausdroid, I do have a couple of ideas I would like to share.. Have Youtube reviews.. ok yes I understand that there is other people already doing this sort of stuff but it would be nice to see some home grown fellas take to the youtube stage and give us a video review 🙂 Also on that have a “dogfight” between two similar spec’d phones whether it would be on youtube or in written form.. Just an idea again there… Read more »
It would be nice to be clear if the device has any proprietary connectors and/or if it works with USB only, including charging.Â
Like this idea, but I would hope it’s less important as time goes on as we should all have Micro USB.
Tablets are another matter though… in fact I think a proprietary connector(*) should be specifically called out as a bad point as most manufacturers simply use them to raise some extra revenue on the side (USB cables do not cost $15/$20!).
(* that would be anything that you can can’t get from a generic compute store, or something you can only  get from the original manufacturer)
A concise specs list to start would be great – it quickly introduces the hardware. This can be expanded with a side column comparison to current top-tier leaders. An intro pic showing the full profile of the device with any included accessories on the side also helps tell what we can expect from the localised version of the package. The main body could include short takes on the primary features of the device, contrasted again to the category leaders. This may or may not include the usual suspects like the size, display, performance, camera and audio/reception quality. I reckon if… Read more »
I would like reviews on how device work stock or as is from a telco. It is important how the telco bloatware effects performance. Some of us are not prepared to root and rom and void warranty.
While specs are great for comparisons, I would like to know if it is sluggish compared to other stock devices. Maybe a rating.
I know other people have said that they don’t need device specs etc. because they’ve often read them on other sites. But personally, I use this site as my main go-to site for Android stuff, so I find specs and more traditional “review” type stuff to be super helpful. For me the most useful parts are full device specs and some way of comparing it to other devices on the market, to help me make the most informed decision. Long reviews are fine, as long as they’re broken up into smaller sections with clearly visible headings, so we can find… Read more »
I agree with what others have said. Â Australian localisation is the key. Â Perhaps a rundown of carrier bloatware, etc.
I will normally know all the technical specs before I even read the review, so when I read a review I am more checking for your opinion and analysis on the phone – I’d generally want to know if it has anything peculiar or wrong with it.  If it does have something wrong then I’d want to know if it is bad enough to warrant avoiding the phone altogether.  I am also interested in Australian-specific issues with the phone like how the screen goes in direct Aussie sunlight 🙂 I’d like to know things like: * How good the screen… Read more »
for me to be honest, there are often already reviews of “the device” on other sites, i think this site’s real strength could be reviewing the device from an australian perspective.  What does this mean?  Who knows, but maybe some suggestions: – test Telstra, Voda, and Optus SIMs on it.. – tell us about 3G/4G, – reception, – if there’s any streaming apps included test if they work in australia.. things like that maybe?  i’m sure you can come up with more.  This is why i subscribe to your site – it talks to me about devices i’m interested in… Read more »
1) What things do you need to know about the device? – Will it work on Telstra LTE – Battery Life on lite, medium, heavy use. – Side by side spec comparison with the latest hero phones from Samsung and Apple (the market leaders right now in terms of market share). 2) How long do you want the review to be? (really short [450] or a tad longer [600-800]?) Tad longer 3) Are you happy with the average 4-6 pictures of the device that are included?More pictures please.4) Any other input? – How to root the device (Link to XDA).… Read more »
I think comparison to flagship phones available in the Aussie market is a good idea.
Battery life is difficult to assess in the time the guys get to write the review, especially if they have to go back and do the test several times in several different ways. (Would be interesting if Ausdroid were to write an Android app to simulate low/med/hi battery usage so the device could be left alone for a few days).
It might be an idea to lead the discussion with some suggestions – at the moment its “should we write less” and “should we post more photos”. 🙂 That being said… In most cases, Ausdroid isn’t going to be first to review a device. I’ll have already read about the build quality and hardware design at The Verge or Engadget or any number of other sites. This isn’t to say that it’s not important to bring up, but if you’re looking to cut word count that’s probably a place to look. Specs-wise, perhaps it would be good to link to… Read more »
I think a scoring/grading system would be useful. Maybe ranking each area of the phone and then an overall score. Makes it easy for comparing devices.
I’ve always thought that network speed tests were pretty irrelevant – sure, you can download a bajillion gigaquads per nanosecond on Carrier A, but will everybody else? What about people who think Carrier A are the scourge of the earth and prefer Carrier B or Carrier C? Secondly, benchmarking. It’s pretty pointless. If you must do it for the comparative numbers, ditch Quadrant, because it’s just not relevant. For example, Quadrant gave me scores in excess of 3k for my Optimus 2X… which made the phone look like an utter beast on paper, but in reality it was a complete… Read more »
My personal feeling has always been that short attention spans are a problem for long reviews, which on the surface suggests that short reviews are the way to go.
BUT, if you split them up into sections, in such a way that the reader can easily scan to the parts that matter the most to them, a long review is still reasonable. Example:Â http://www.themotorreport.com.au/53573/2012-skoda-fabia-77tsi-road-test-review-australia
To me the speed at while reviews come out is secondary to the quality of the review. Â I’ve been happy with the length and content of the reviews so far.
It’s just not viable for us to take that long to turn around reviews though. Quality will still be there 100%, we just need to bring them down to a size that contains all the information readers want.
What things do you need to know about the device?- Basic tech specs (including physical dimensions), anything that can’t be described easily on a spec sheet, and how it compares to market leaders.How long do you want the review to be? (really short [450] or a tad longer [600-800]?)- Depends on the device and amount of hype. For example, the Galaxy S II I’d want a nice long article, but for some fairly unimpressive soft-launched LG phone, shorter is all that’s required. Are you happy with the average 4-6 pictures of the device that are included?- That’s plenty. No need for… Read more »