Reviews: What do you guys like?

By Scorpus
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Help us tailor reviews to you  

172 members have voted

  1. 1. What type of reviews do you enjoy most at Neowin?

    • Windows software
      27
    • Mac/Linux software
      9
    • Mobile hardware (eg. tablets, phones)
      6
    • Mobile software (eg. apps and games)
      1
    • PC video games
      2
    • Console games
      1
    • Cool gadgets/peripherals
      14

  2. 2. What reviews should Neowin do more of?

    • Windows software
      36
    • Mac/Linux software
      17
    • Mobile hardware
      25
    • Mobile software
      19
    • PC video games
      27
    • Console games
      11
    • Cool gadgets/perhiperals
      37
    • Other (please comment to let us know)
      0

  3. 3. What type of review do you like most?

    • Short for a quick read
      18
    • Long, in-depth and detailed
      42

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

Scorpus Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Hey everyone,

We're looking to post more reviews here at Neowin, but first we'd like to know what reviews you guys like, and what we should do more of.

Hopefully this will allow us to focus on the specific areas that you guys will read and enjoy.

Please feel free to comment below if there are any areas not covered in the poll that we should tackle :)

Note: PC components and hardware is something that we are not considering for reviews (due to our demographic, difficulties, time, etc.)

Thanks,

Tim

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Grand Master

Scorpus Veteran

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On a tech news site, you are NOT reviewing such things? What is our demographic if not tecchies? Confused!

Well things such as graphics card reviews, processors, RAM, etc. we simply do not have the resources (powerful computers) to produce, and generally Neowin is a more software/Windows focused community. Gathering hardware and going to the effort of thoroughly testing these items would be not worth it really.

Grand Master

Nick H. Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

I voted for more PC and Console game reviews. Even looking at the gaming section of the Neowin site, there aren't really reviews of games, just mentions of upcoming games or additions to games that are already out.

I also voted for in depth reviews. The main reason being that the reader can skim through the article if he wants that way. Without doing his own research elsewhere though he can't read extra information in the article if it's not detailed...if you see what I mean.

Grand Master

Dick Montage

Posted
Posted
Gathering hardware and going to the effort of thoroughly testing these items would be not worth it really.

I'd assumed:

1) Reviews would be of items provided by the manufacturers. MANY review sites work this way - sure used to...

2) If a user has an item and wants to review it - surely that would count. Eg, the awesome review that someone did on here of the Samsung Galaxy S2...

Just my thoughts anyhow...

Grand Master

Scorpus Veteran

Posted
  • Author
  • Veteran
Posted

I'd assumed:

1) Reviews would be of items provided by the manufacturers. MANY review sites work this way - sure used to...

2) If a user has an item and wants to review it - surely that would count. Eg, the awesome review that someone did on here of the Samsung Galaxy S2...

Just my thoughts anyhow...

I fully understand.

1) There is a lot of behind the scenes work that goes in to preparing a hardware review, and as Neowin is not known for component reviews this would be more difficult than if we were AnandTech or Tom's Hardware. Then comes the actual testing process, and of PC components we simply do not have the adequate hardware test beds, knowledge or time to provide a thorough review that could compete with other established hardware review sites. Reporters here, such as myself, are not full-time so we do all reviews in our spare time, and hardware reviews are particularly time-consuming

2) User reviews are always welcome for anything in our section for that. This poll is mainly for front page items written by staff, and mobile hardware and devices is something we actively pursue reviewing when possible

Grand Master

Simon Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Regarding length, there's a sweet spot - short reviews don't actually give you idea of what it's like to use the product, but long reviews tend to get caught up on specs and things like that - which I could get if I went to the manufacturers website. A long review is good if the content is original and offers a perspective you can't get by talking to the manufacturer ;)

Grand Master

+Audioboxer Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

Reviews on alternatives to ...

Such as alternatives to iTunes, alternatives to Utorrent, alternatives to Nero. The forums do a lot of this, but main page would be good. If you're not happy running with the alternative to line, maybe just reviews of lesser heard/open source/free software to compete in the crowded markets.

More game reviews, these seem to be a bit sparse. PC/Indie/XBLA/PSN games don't cost too much and would be good to review to spread the word of smaller lesser heard games. You're unlikely to have too many people care about a review of Call of Duty on the mainpage (other than to bitch about the score), but reviewing something hardly anyone has heard of sparks good discussion and interest.

What about free PC games even? I stumbled across quite a lot of free point and click adventure games today.

Grand Master

Scorpus Veteran

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  • Author
  • Veteran
Posted

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone, it really helps.

Myself (and hopefully other writers) will definitely be looking at doing more game-related reviews and more cool gadget reviews, while still pursuing Windows software and mobile hardware.

Veteran

Mystic Mungis

Posted
Posted

Reviews on alternatives to ...

Such as alternatives to iTunes, alternatives to Utorrent, alternatives to Nero. The forums do a lot of this, but main page would be good. If you're not happy running with the alternative to line, maybe just reviews of lesser heard/open source/free software to compete in the crowded markets.

What about free PC games even? I stumbled across quite a lot of free point and click adventure games today.

I like the idea of those two, recently I've been looking for loads of alternatives to programs so would be nice to get news about new ones :) There are loads of free games now and a lot of them are actually really good so hearing news on them too would be awesome :)

Grand Master

Sir Topham Hatt

Posted
Posted

I like: Windows / Mobile Apps / Cool Gadgets

I Want More Of: Cool Gadgets / Mobile Apps

Short or In Depth: Depends what it is? For a new mobile phone, an in depth one woudl be best. For an app or a mobile game and even cool gadgets, you only would need a couple of paragraphs.

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