Jesse, We agree then. Most magazine reviewers usually do not make 20 calls with each application. I, on the other hand, have made considerably more than that ( for apps like Webphone, Freetel, Webtalk, and Iphone the numbers are well into the hundreds). So that from your very own premise, my data would be considered valid, while spot reviews for the most part would be done using statistically insignificant numbers. As they say "your mileage may vary". But I certainly would attach more importance to reviews done by someone that had lived with and used an item for many months, rather than one done by someone having spent only a few hours testing the same product!
BTW I never claimed brilliance, just alot of experience. I wrote the opening paragraph in my previous post to qualify myself ( kind of like a resume), not to boast, or try to impress anyone.
I do not think that any researcher has had their data discounted because they were the only one to have done the research. Generally if their are questions, someone duplicates the experiment to verify the data. Please feel free to do this.
As to relying on me to tell you what your experience will be. You are right, but I can share what my experience has been, and tell you that it seems to agree well with that of the several people I talk to regularly, who do about as much testing as I do. In this context, what I relate will probably match what others will see much more closely than what one might read in a short term review done by a magazine.
Just so that you understand, my intent is NOT to bad mouth Webtalk (if it was not such a pain to fire up I would probably use it with some regularity). I was just pointing out how my views differed radically from those expressed by the author from PC World.
Numerous unreliable studies cannot obviate the results of one good study. This Jesse IS the real world!
Jesse send me some E-Mail and we can set up a time to gather some new data for you. ppasteur@interealm.com |
