Tech Blog: WANTED: Unbiased Review Needed (prizefight?)

I accidentally deleted my post last time regarding my comments on the recent Prizefight Video by CNET TV. Okay, without further ado, let me go directly to what I think about their head-to-head review of N95 versus iPhone. The review and scoring were BIASED. In fact, it was based on the preference of the video editor herself. Listen carefully to her last statement when she said..

“…you may call ME an apple fan-girl but when “I” stack up the features THAT MATTERS TO ME the iPhone comes out on top”

I wrote them and asked what is their objective when presenting a battle of 2 electronic devices in their Prizefight video? I never received any feedback. I asked because I do watch most of their video reviews and I love reading (or watching for this case) some video feature-by-feature comparisons of two gadgets. I trust what they (CNET TV) can say about a certain gizmo because they have the privilege to play around with the actual unit. But hearing their recent review on these two gadgets is totally frustrating. I once believed that their PrizeFight video section is where they keep the viewing public informed (especially those who’s been planning, saving some bucks, and having a dilemma on which gizmo to get) about how certain gadget match up with another of its level so consumers can draw out a wise decision on which gizmo worth every hard-earned penny.

Like what the video editor said: (back track to her initial statement)
“..because hey, if you’ve got over 500 dollars to spend on a brand new cellphone, you better pick the one that’s right for you.”

Now, I’m starting to doubt their reviews.


Here’s how the clash of the titans were presented

*** N95 vs iPhone ***

1. SEXINESS

She scored 5 on the iPhone and 3 on the N95. On this part, yes I agree. Definite you’ll find lots of people drooling over someone who have an iPhone.


2. INTERFACE & NAVIGATION

She scored 5 on the iPhone and 4 on the N95. On this part, I can still agree. The touch interface of the iPhone is truly intuitive and innovative. While N95 still uses few mechanical buttons to navigate through the phone. The dual slider is one thing to note though, but not too much to wow about.

Btw, on this round, don’t forget the ability to do one-hand operation, especially when creating an SMS. After all, I believe it’s one of the main reasons how the mobile phones have evolved so quickly. Can the iPhone be operated one-hand for composing and sending text messages?


3. FEATURES

She scored 4 on the iPhone and 5 on the N95. Wait a sec, iPhone gets a "4" on features? C’mon!

Let’s list and score ‘em one by one:

a. Camera
iPhone = 2mp (NO flash), NO front camera for video calling
N95 = 5mp (although images created not comparable to 5mp Digicam, but hey, isn’t it we're comparing it to the iPhone? Hehe). This camera has most of the features a digicam has and it also function as barcode reader! Hmm, can I give N95 a 6? Too bad scoring is up to the highest 5 only, so let’s do this the other way around..

For this round I’m giving N95 a “5” and the iPhone a “3”

b. Built-in GPS receiver
iPhone = none
N95 = yes

Need I say more? For this round I’m giving N95 another “5” and iPhone a “1” (I’m just being nice because I would’ve given iPhone a “0” because NONE equates to Zero, right?)

c. FM Tuner
iPhone = none
N95 = yes

Same score as above. N95 gets a “5” and iPhone gets a “1”

d. MP3 Player
iPhone = enhanced iPod
N95 = average MP3 player

Okay, for this round iPhone is striving to win back the crown. I’m giving N95 a “3” and the iPhone a “5”

e. Standard 3.5mm Earphone Jack
iPhone = yes
N95 = yes

She mentioned that “iPhone’s headphone jack is recessed and not all headphones are gonna fit!” Well, too bad iPhone because apart from the fact that you can fit any types of standard 3.5mm earphones to the N95, you can actually perform 8 different ways to listen to music! See for yourself by checking out this link for the live demonstration

For this round I’m giving N95 a “5” and the iPhone a “3”

Btw, did I mention that this headphone jack also functions as video out? I tried connecting it to a projector and output is pretty decent. Also while on the call, you can try and use the wired remote then attach to it any speaker and you’ll be able to let other people hear what the other party is saying (this is good when you’re with your family and a member of your family from abroad calls you and want to say "hi" to everyone.. instead of using the phone’s loud speaker try connecting it to your home speaker, hehe, sweet)

Now let me recalculate the score. For this round I’m giving N95 a “5” and the iPhone a “2”

f. Storage Capacity
iPhone = 8GB
N95 = 160mb internal memory, and an expansion slot for microSD (currently 2GB)

I heard that Samsung/SanDisk has developed a 4GB microSD already for N95. Not long, they’ll introduce a 8GB capacity. The iPhone is limited to 8GB only. But the question remains, using the same model of the phone, will N95 be able to handle high capacity micro SDs? Let's leave that to the finnish company to answer.

For this round (let’s forget about the successor models first and focus on what currently is in the market), I’m giving N95 a “4” and the iPhone a “5”

G. What about the OFFICE and other Productivity tools?

IPhone = didn’t say anything about the ability to create or browse office documents (at least nothing was mentioned in iPhone specs from Apple website)
N95 = this is not just for yuppies but for business professionals too! This feature is innate to N95

For this round N95 gets a “5” and iPhone gets a “2”. (Please do tell me if this sounds unfair, and provide an explanation please. Just take note, we are comparing here the “current” models of the phone and what’s built-in, please don’t give me an explanation that “they are developing an enhancement” because that’s another story.)

H. Other

Can iPhone use MP3s as ring tone? I heard you cant
Does iPhone have 3G? I’m definite there’s none. N95 even uses HSDPA
Does iPhone have built-in games? I heard there’s none
Can I replace battery of the iPhone in case the one I got is faulty (perhaps after a series of recharging cycles)? I bet you can't!
Let's leave all of these to Mr.Jobs to answer.

Okay fine, let’s not widen the hole in the ground for this sexy phone to bury itself and let’s tally up the scores:

5 3
5 1
5 1
3 5
5 2
4 5
5 2
Sum of 32 for N95 and 19 for the iPhone
Feature-wise, we get the average as 4.5 for N95 and 2.7 for the iPhone.

Round 'em up..
N95 gets a “5”
iPhone gets a “3”

So now tell me, how did iPhone scored “4” on this round again? Oh, N95 TKOs iPhone you mean.. if I hadn't been nice about the scoring? hmm.. yup, I believe so.


4. CONNECTIVITY

Quick run down:

iPhone: WIFI, Bluetooth, EDGE
N95: WIFI, Bluetooth, EDGE/GPRS, IR, 3G and USB OTG.

I tried connecting N95 to a PMP via USB cable and it was recognized as hard disk, isn’t that amazing? I also tried connecting N95 to a home microDVD with USB slot, and it could read all the MP3 in the phone. Now this can be counted as another way of listening to MP3s stored in your gadget.
I wanted to do video-call with my girlfriend so I can get to see her eventhough we're far from each other.
I wanted to download rich content fast, good thing my phone supports 3.5G

Hmm, once iPhone gets here, I’ll spend some bucks to get one and try out these stuff. But I can somehow foresee that I’ll get frustrated. hmmmm.

Huuwhat? You gave N95 a “4” and the iPhone a “3”? Do I need to repeat myself here? Or maybe I can come up with another video on the “various ways to connect to N95”

For this round I’m giving the N95 a “5” and iPhone still an average score of “3”


5. PERFORMANCE

Well, I may have to agree with your review on this.
The N95 gets a “4” while the iPhone gets a “5”
Now, what’s the overall score?


Round 1: N95 = 3 / iPhone = 5
Round 2: N95 = 4 / iPhone = 5
Round 3: N95 = 5 / iPhone = 3
Round 4: N95 = 5 / iPhone = 3
Round 5: N95 = 4 / iPhone = 5

21 / 21

Woah! It’s a tie! Sorry, I just stack up the features these two devices are claiming it can do, not what matters to me :) And if I have not been so nice about the scoring, iPhone will just have to admit defeat and come up with another fully featured phone that lives up to its claim.

Well, anyhow, no doubt both phones are great. But then again, it’s a matter of preference. So this brings me back to my earlier post.. “are you after the features or after the uniqueness of the mobile phone?” As the saying goes, “you cannot judge the book by its cover.” You must read through it to appreciate it.

That’s all folks! Ciao! c”,)

P.S.
(here's the actual video of Nokia N95 vs Apple iPhone from CNET's PrizeFight. Well, for what it's worth.. she's cute)

(here's a tabulated feature-by-feature comparison from cnet asia. just count the number of red & green rows then score 'em. red means cons while green means pros)