The Verge totally stole my Smartphone Rankings methodology. Praise the Lord!
Submitted by brian s hall on 20 December, 2011 - 01:50
Tags:
Back in 2009, when I started this site, it was patently obvious that no matter how well done, or how well intentioned, smartphone reviews sucked big hairy donkey balls (which are the worst kind of donkey balls, by the way).
What was missing was:
- a simple, obvious numeric scoring method
- such a method applied to all core factors that matter to a smartphone *user* not the reviewer
Thus, my SMARTPHONE RANKINGS was born.
For each smartphone reviewed, I provided a brief overview of the device and listed its OS. Then, a 5-point scale across each of the *nine* critical factors -- for users:
- Design
- Network/Call quality
- Usability
- Affordability
- Productivity
- Fun
- Content
- Third party offerings and support
- Desire (because, let's face it, we're all slaves to marketing and trends, if just a bit)
It was this smartphone rankings methodology that allowed so many good Android devices to get very high scores -- thanks to "affordability" and "third party" support and other factors, and why many of my favorite devices, particularly those from Blackberry and Nokia did so poorly.
For two years I said other sites -- particularly Cnet or GigaOm or TechCrunch -- should adopt this system. Because without it, their isolated device reviews were worth very little; almost nothing to the casual reader/buyer.
No one heard my cries.
Till now. The Verge has essentially introduced my methodology almost wholesale, offering a 10-point scale across seven factors.
Am I pissed cause they totally stole this from me and offered no credit?
Only a very little. First and foremost, I'm a writer. Smartphone reviews and scoring takes time. Time I can better spend writing. Given the massive writing staff, technical support staff and number of readers, I think the method I created will find a very happy home with The Verge. That makes me happy.
I think my smartphone rankings will now retire.