Review Shenanigans?

Posted by ClamDown on August 25, 2012 02:46 pm 40

When reading the Microsoft Wedge Mobile Keyboard and Mouse review I, and other commenters noticed a pretty blatant inconsistency in the scoring.

How does a hardware product that doesn't ship with software get a 6 for a software rating? There is no mention of software features in the review. What gives?

What about a similar Apple hardware product to compare? The Apple Wireless Keyboard. Notice anything different?

None of these keyboards have a software score! Interesting. But there is still something else begging for attention.

Verge Score

The Verge makes note that they reserve the right to adjust the final score however they want. But really, moving the score too far from the subscore averages would be quite dishonest unless there were some major factor contributing to the decision. These keyboard don't exactly have any controversial factors, so let's assume a score based on the subscore averages.

Apple Wireless Keyboard Score: 8.7

Average of the subscores: (9+7+9)/3=8.3333

Microsoft Wedge Mobile Keyboard: 7.7

Average of the subscores: (9+8+8+6)/4=7.75
Average of the subscores without software: (9+8+8)/3=8.3333

For the Apple keyboard to achieve a natural 8.7 from subscores, it would need an additional 10.
(9+7+9+10)/4=8.75

Am I calling The Verge "bias"? Not really. I know they have a bias, like anybody. But that's not a problem. I'm sure nearly every contributor from every big tech blog uses a MacBook Pro primarily. But can we at least get fair reviews?