Year: 2011

Nick Bilton:

>The F.A.A. and other groups seem to be running out of reasons we can’t use digital e-readers on planes during takeoff and landing. Maybe their next response will be: “Because I said so!”

Isn’t that the current reasoning? ((We are being told what to do by idiots, I swear.))

Elliott C. Back:
>I’m personally convinced that eBay hates its sellers, an ironic proposition that seems to undermine its primary business model of creating an online marketplace.

He’s not alone. I used to sell on eBay all the time and stopped once they made it nearly impossible to leave negative feedback on buyers — eBay caters to the buyers thus forcing sellers to take on more risk. I refuse to buy and sell on eBay because of this.

File this under: a case that looks cooler than it probably is once you get it.

His review is definitive in my mind. It is the best Galaxy Nexus review I have read and very comprehensive. Here’s his statement on 4G usage and battery life:

>Think about that. If you’re on a road trip and want to use the 4G LTE network to provide you with driving directions, your drive had better be shorter than 4 hours because *even when plugged into a car charger, the battery will not last.*

That’s a pretty solid statement on what 4G will do to battery life and something that every potential buyer **needs** to know.

Now let’s compare and contrast Blanc’s assesment with [Joshua Topolsky’s review of the same device](http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/16/2638466/galaxy-nexus-review-verizon-lte) on 4G and battery life. Here is the most damning thing Topolsky says about battery life:

>Even though the battery life takes a clear hit, I don’t think it’s necessarily a dealbreaker on this phone.

So if you buy the phone that Topolsky is reviewing you take a moderate battery hit with 4G on. If you buy the phone that Shawn Blanc rigorously tested you get a phone that sucks down battery power like it is going out of style — one that is almost not useable while charging with a low powered car style charger.

The problem: both reviewed the same damned phone.

In response to my [earlier slaying](https://brooksreview.net/2011/12/failure/) of Topolsky many have said that we should have “no bias” in reviews, or that a “good reviewer” presents the case for the reader to decide. Topolsky tried to write the no-bias-you-decide review. Blanc wrote a review with opinion, facts, and bias (since it is from a perspective of never using Android and being an iPhone lover).

Which review do you think is more accurate just given these battery life statements alone?

MG Siegler writing about the potential consequence to Google of having Android be an “open” platform if Amazon strikes a default search deal with Microsoft:
>This would mean that Google would be making essentially nothing off of each Kindle Fire, even though they created the platform on which it runs. And this matters because the Kindle Fire is poised to be the most successful Android tablet — it may very well be already.

I am actually very surprised that Bing isn’t already the default search engine — my guess is Amazon wanted to sell millions of tablets to gain a better negotiation position, which is really smart.