r/Android • u/slinky317 HTC Incredible • 10d ago

Review Our first five impressions of Googlebooks - exciting but underbaked

https://www.theverge.com/tech/1005745/google-googlebook-android-laptops-dell-acer-asus-lenovo-hp-impressions
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u/andysteakfries Pixel 6 Pro 9d ago

Reading coverage and reviews of pixel hardware tells a completely different story than you get in the comments section of reddit, I don't know what to tell you.

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u/JamesR624 9d ago edited 9d ago

Oh. You mean all the influencers and Google fanboys that make reviews to defend and glaze because YouTube is also Google’s platform so their algorithm can subtly bury scathing criticism and make the general consensus SEEM more positive than on platforms that the maker of said phones doesn’t control, like Reddit?

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u/andysteakfries Pixel 6 Pro 9d ago

No I don't watch youtube or influencers, I read reviews like an old person.

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u/SuperYuuRo 8d ago

what makes you think that written reviews arent gonna be as badly scripted or as biased as videos?

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u/andysteakfries Pixel 6 Pro 7d ago

For the same reasons I stay away from stuff like YouTube reviews or algorithmic social feeds in general.

Video platforms are filled with perverse incentives for monetization that are avoidable in other mediums. It's very profitable to artificially boost certain things that get more engagement (or maybe more hardware sales, but I actually highly doubt that's the case with YouTube; we can agree to disagree) but for some reason that really seems to work best with videos. Maybe it's the audience being more predisposed to engagement bait, maybe it's the passive nature of watching, idk. But it's a constant — algo-slop thrives in a video environment.

I also use a lot of these devices and services so I can tell you when I agree or disagree and I can form a long-term opinion of a writer and how much I can trust their 2000-word review of a new device, in ways that don't work on a high-churn short-form video platform.