Editor's Notes: Love It, Hate It -- There's No Perfect Gadget In This World; Not Yet, Anyway
Everyone's a critic, so to speak.
Just about anything is debatable, simply because everyone has their own personal preferences, not to mention opinions on whatever matters to them. The same thing goes for gadgets. Mobile phones, which have graduated from mere means of communication to extensions of oneself, are targets of differing opinion, even overly high expectations. And overly high expectations, once unmet, tend to graduate into criticism and downright hatred.
Recently, we've been checked by a reader by our note on LG phones not having good enough specs to make it to our lists. In fact, the word used in the article was "dismal." We apologized, and moving forward, we will choose to use more neutral language. If we slip, do feel free to leave a comment and let us know.
We do have to admit that we are partial to Cherry Mobile for now, because of the fact that it's quite admirable for a Philippine brand to be able to consolidate a great lineup and market it aggressively (even virally). Also, we note that Cherry Mobile updates its lineup several times a year. Plus, price-wise, Cherry Mobile specs are pretty remarkable: Only Cherry Mobile powers its Androids with Qualcomm processors so far (Torque's comparable model is powered by MediaTek).
Thus, in terms of bang for the buck, we admire Cherry Mobile for stepping up to the plate.
In terms of other, established phone brands, we do have higher expectations. These established phone brands include Acer, Lenovo Mobile, LG, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, HTC, and even Motorola. We have higher expectations because these are international players. Not only that, with the exception of newer players like Acer, Lenovo Mobile and LG, these phone brands have been in mobile telephony for at least 5 years. Thus, they are expected to work seamlessly out of the box.
Unlike Cherry Mobile and Torque, which are not only newbies in the mobile telephony arena, these are also Philippine brands. Also, the models that these two companies carry are whitebox machines: meaning, these are manufactured in China, then repackaged and rebranded for local distribution. The major difference that they have from your run-of-the-mill China phones and tablets are the consistency in branding, and the local aftersales support.
That being said, these companies will not be able to please everybody. Understand that in order to keep the market price at affordable rates, there will be some concessions made. Quality may be compromised, or, if they choose to go the other way, specs may be lowered.
In the case of LG, it is then understandable why they may have kept their specs at, as we quipped, "dismal" minimum. However, it is very disappointing to note that their offerings are launched at prices upwards of 20K pesos. The same specs or even better can be had in Motorola, HTC and Samsung models for much less than their prices. And these said brands are the Android pillars in mobile telephony at that.
It is also disappointing that some models like the LG Optimus Pro C660 have a premium-leaning (though still mid-range) price tag, but the specs are trounced by cheaper models like the Samsung Galaxy Y or the Cherry Mobile Stellar.
Worse, comments like these show up on their page:
Comments like those would be understandable, even expected for Cherry Mobile models, but definitely shocking for LG products.
Let me make this clear, however: We at Android Alliance Philippines are definitely NOT against LG. I, as a writer and gadget pundit, just have different expectations based on a set of mental categories in my head. LG is a premium brand, therefore I expect more from it. Cherry Mobile is an awesome new entrant, so I expect less, and thus am easier impressed by it. In terms of the rest of the Android Alliance Team's views on the matter, we may differ in our opinions on tech. But one thing is for sure: we love the Android as an OS, an ecosystem, and as something that kicks iPhone (not to mention Nokia) butt.
We industry pundits, observers and online blabbermouths have this as one of the purposes why we blog and express ourselves: we serve to give checks and balances to companies that otherwise won't improve. More so if all they receive are empty praise. As regards pointed comments from our readers, they also serve the exact same purpose.
Moving forward, I have one last thing to say: Cherry Mobile has so much room to grow. Being an avid Cherry Mobile user and one who has witnessed how it is to be in their main support center branch, they really do have more to improve on. But we know and trust that they are stepping up to the plate. On the other hand, LG has matured. They can definitely do better than offer just that.
On a brighter note for LG, however, we discovered that the LG Optimus ME retails for only Php 6,500 in Kimstore, while the LG Optimus One P500 retails for Php 7,850. For specs, clicking the brand names/product models will lead you to the GSMArena specs sheets of these.On this link is a comparison of the LG Optimus ME and the LG Optimus One P500. On this other link is a comparison between the LG Optimus ME and the Samsung Galaxy Y.
Again, our apologies for the sharp words we used to use. We look forward to taking a more objective tone, and thank you for sending us your feedback. We look forward to getting more of these in the days to come!
To the courageous reader who dared to let us know your no-holds-barred thoughts, thank you. It is on criticism that improvements are born. We owe this one to you. :) And THAT is the reason why we publish comments, even if they are critical.
From the bottom of our hearts here in Android Alliance Philippines, thank you, and have a happy Thursday!
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Photo Credits: Droid Cell Phone
