David … come on man. You’d been so positive with your posts for the past little while. I know you lost HTC on Mobility Today, and that’s got to be frustrating, but Judie’s a nice lady who (like you) loves gadgets. She did an unboxing a while back of an Advantage (which she paid for) and it was just as bubbly as this one.
I think it if was junk, just like any of us, she’d say so. She did when the Treo 750 came out and didn’t work worth a damn and was dropping calls all the time…
Anyway, I know this is your personal blog, and it’s your opinion… but to be honest I like the happy Dave who’s shooting videos with his kids and Tony Hawk 
Lock the Dave who takes personal shots back in to closet! Promise you stuff like this isn’t going to help you get a review unit from HTC any sooner….
I think the video looks like an infomercial. Personally, I have nothing against Judie, she seems like a nice person. However, what I don’t like is that it is a sugar coated video. I would hate to see her fall into the same category as Cook. He gives glowing reviews on products just to get the product and that is not right.
I am not asking her to bash the product but at least give us some real impressions. I would hope that is what the manufacturers would like to see. Why bother having a tech site if you’re not going to be impartial. These sites seem to forget why people visited them in the first place. It is because they provided good information. Once they get the exposure and products their focus seems to change and center around getting the products to review, not provide good information to their readers.
Remember there are a lot of people who look to us for advice when they are considering purchasing an expensive device. We are doing them a disservice if we are not reporting accurately on a device. We are very fortunate to be able to get this equipment for little or no money and it is our responsibility to be honest to our readers and not worry about pissing off the vendors.
Brandon
I think you are misinformed.. When has HTC supplied us with a review unit? Every unit I reviewed that is an HTC device I purchased..
On your comment “Promise you stuff like this isn’t going to help you get a review unit from HTC any sooner…. ”
You are kidding right? Do you think Walt Mossberg worries everytime he slams a WM device? Do you think he gets worried Microsoft wont send him another device to review?
NO WAY! Comon Brandon you know better that sites cant feel like they have to kiss butt in order to receive a review unit…
David -
I honestly don’t know if HTC has ever supplied you with a review unit. I have no doubt that you’ve poured a ton of your own cash into getting the devices and reviewing them on your own. I respect your ability to do that .. I wish I had the personal funds to make that happen. Alas, that has yet to happen. One day my friend.
As for the “promise this stuff” comment - I think you took that a bit out of scope. I don’t at all think Walt Mossberg, you, Steve, or any of the other folks out there doing reviews should (or would) pull any punches while doing a review of any device or software just to ensure future review units. The comment was made more in the context of making direct (and negative) comments towards HTC in a non-review scenario. You aren’t reviewing this device, you’re making a direct statement towards HTC and Judie … device aside. Those comments, direct personal jabs are what I don’t think will land you in their graces for a review unit. If they already feel a negative attitude from you towards them, they aren’t likely to send you a review unit which you can use to continue to jab at them with.
It’s no different if I were to make a statement about CinguLAT and how bad (use a stronger adjective) their service is. I wouldn’t expect them to hand me the hottest new device…
I don’t expect you to kiss butt on any review. But at the same time I don’t think taking jabs at the company or folks they have given a review unit to outside of the review context helps.
Anyway, that was my 2 cents. More to the point of my original post was that I enjoy coming here to your personal site and seeing the cool stuff you’re doing… and to keep that stuff coming.
Finally, as for your original question - do unboxing videos do anything for me? Nope. Unboxing pictures? Yes, especially high quality images. Nothing makes me happier in an unboxing or a review than a huge amount of high quality images of the device being reviewed and some comparison photos. You can keep the videos. Bring out the Canon, Nikon or whatever you may have and start snapping.
Cheers!
Sure wish Judie had gotten into the video unboxing thing when she received her DualCor cPC. Kind of ironic that you would take a shot at the one person on the face of the earth who prevented that device from being vaporware……
John, Judie received the cPC because of my referral.. Dualcor was adimate about not letting a blogger touch it until it was completed. I personally was responsible for the entire deal to happen.
So your point quite honestly doesn’t make much sense.
I agree totally with you Dave. Watching this video is just plain pathetic!!!
Dave, after watching your unboxing/first impressions review of i Judy’s effort did I have to admit seem a little contrived. However she did state in her recently posted written review that she returned the review unit to HTC and bought her own because it worked so well for her and was such an improvement over the 6700. Pre iPhone I would have cared and I can definitely see the Mobius/MVP bubble now though. Thanks for opening my eyes to it, thanks for removing yourself from it, and forgive me for dismissing your opinions over the last several months (not that I was ever able to do that completely mind you)
Thanks a lot jfl.. I kind of had enough of the hidden gems some of these sites do. Disclosure should be done and quite honestly HTC is definitely putting devices in every mobius member’s hand.
Well the time has come to start my personal blog. Wikipedia defines the word blog, a place to provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. For me this will be a place where I share my experiences with all of you on what is involved behind the scenes of running my website Mobility Today.
MT Podcast
Mobility Today Specials
HOLY CRAP!!! Dave this is a totaly joke right? Why in the world is she getting so excited about a phone? Looks staged to me.