Comments on: For a gadget reviewer, I’m rubbish at advice

By: Andrew Hall

Andrew Hall — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 08:43:00 +0000

Chris, I wouldn’t be too bothered by this issue. You have a lot of knowledge and most people want some advice that will lead them to a decision in less than 60 seconds. When someone comes to me about phone advice i make very clear my subjective opinions first, so i say “Before we start, i don’t particularly like Apple products and am likely to recommend you something that isn’t an iPhone, shall we continue?” If they say no, then i reply with “then you’ve probably already made your mind up to get an iPhone, enjoy your purchase.” If not, i’ll ask them what they do most on their phone and their price range. From there i will talk mostly about Android phones since they cover many price segments and, if their price range allows it, WP7 phones as well as iPhones, discuss the differences in the OS’s, which one may be best suited to them etc as well as dispel the usual popular myths about iPhones being THE best etc.

But you know far more than me in this segment, if giving advice is hard, seriously don’t worry about it. It just means you know so much that probably coming to a decision for yourself is hard enough!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 20:21:00 +0000

Awwwww….
You made me missed my Nokia 5110… :(

By: Chris Davies

Chris Davies — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:44:00 +0000

I much prefer your explanation to mine – I just thought that I was rubbish!

By: Lego

Lego — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:14:00 +0000

The “issue” is that, you’ve seen enough gadgets in your time to form an objective opinion. Unlike many people out there who jump straight to conclusions without first considering the person’s preference and needs when trying to help them. “omgBBQ go buy this! Everything else suck”. It’s definitely a good thing! But at the end of the day they came to you for advice, and if they don’t like what they are hearing, what can you do ehh?

By: UnderDoc

UnderDoc — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:21:00 +0000

Fair enough. Different people have different needs. It’s difficult to shoehorn yourself into someone else’s horseshoes.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:07:00 +0000

Hah, try going to law school and then making a firm decision about anything, ever again.

*cries*

By: UkGuy

UkGuy — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:59:00 +0000

actually thats a bad analogy of this problem, the Horse REALLY wants to drink, but can’t decide which cool-aid flavor and manufacturer it should drink this time…

it sees everyone drinking Coke, but wonders if Dr Pepper really is the taste for it this time…. or should it play safe and get a Pepsi ;-)

By: Chris Davies

Chris Davies — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:57:00 +0000

Or you can make it drink, but it thinks it wants Coke and you reckon it should have Fanta, and in the end you just get a horseshoe-shaped bruise on your forehead.

By: Chris Davies

Chris Davies — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:56:00 +0000

I find that by purposefully breaking 50% of the things I’m asked to look at, the requests for help and advice generally diminish pretty quickly ;)

By: UnderDoc

UnderDoc — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:33:00 +0000

A safe answer in those situations is the old saying that problem is between the chair and the keyboard. It won’t make you popular, but that may be a salvation.

By: UnderDoc

UnderDoc — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:29:00 +0000

Ahh, giving advice to lay people, always a pain. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:26:00 +0000

I feel your pain. I have a rather decent size network in my house. HTPCs, backup server, Media Server, various PC’s in several rooms and wireless access through out the house. So now anytime somebody has anything wrong with their machine at all I become the official do you know what is wrong with it guy? Why does Vista do this and that? Heck I don’t know I don’t use Vista. Why wont my daughters DSI do this. Heck I don’t know I’ve never held a DSI.

How do I increase the speed of my PS3? Heck I don’t know I don’t own a PS3. Never ending…………..

By: Chris Davies

Chris Davies — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:16:00 +0000

There’s only one thing you can do: Nokia Xpress-On covers.

By: Chris Davies

Chris Davies — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:16:00 +0000

There’s only one thing you can do: Nokia Xpress-On covers.

By: Chris Davies

Chris Davies — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:16:00 +0000

There’s only one thing you can do: Nokia Xpress-On covers.

By: Brad Linder

Brad Linder — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:52:00 +0000

What do you do when they have one brown eye and one green? I have yet to find a good solution to that problem.