Re: Z88 anyone?

More a proto-tablet, I'd say, than a ur-netbook, which is why it's not included here. Or the Amstrad NC100, for the same reason.

However, the Amstrad NC200, a half-clamshell might be considered an early pre-netbook.

Re: Standards Dropping

Oh well of you insist...

Re: Re: 4KB RAM ?

I used to code the 6809-based VELA, developed by one of my profs in Leeds University's Physics dept. It had only 4KB of Ram for data-logging code.

Thanks to my Dragon 32 background, I was the only student in the department who could code the darn thing as soon as I got my hands on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versatile_Laboratory_Aid

Re: Re: Geography is a bit screwed

Absolutely correct. That section of the article was based on a quick perusal of Camputers' addresses in StreetView, which has proved effective in other instances - and is cheaper and less time-consuming than a train journey.

One to watch next time.

AI almost made the cut but was dropped because it can't make up its mind whether it would really rather be a special effects movie. But it's not bad, and based on a Brian Aldiss book, so points for that.

I, Robot was an action movie. And rubbish.

A Western in space, not serious sci-fi, and not on the list for that reason (Even though I quite like it, and Peter Hyams' other films; Capricorn One especially)

Re: Ermm...

Ahem... paragraph 6...

Re: Strange Days

That's a good call.

Re: No love for Dune?

I quite like Dune, but it's space opera, not sci-fi

Re: s/10/20/

Westworld almost made the cut. Top 20 material for sure.

Re: Re: Sunshine vs Solaris

Sunshine looks pretty, but it's an hour and a half of boredom (crew, viewer) with a 20-minute slasher movie stuck on the end.

Re: What, no Alien?

Superior space horror, yes, but not superior sci-fi. Aliens - on the subject of the franchise - was rejected because it's an action flick. Ditto - on the subject of Cameron movies - Terminator and Terminator 2.

Prometheus might have made the list but for that 'boffins mutate, lose humanity, gain amazing strength' bit in the middle.

Re: Silent Running

Silent Running was on the shortlist, but was ultimately rejected for making the author blub like a gurlie when he was eight.

Actually, it's not a bad film and would have made a longer list, if a tad mawkish.

Mind you, I can forgive Doug Trumbull for this, his directorial debut, because of the bravura special effects work he would later do.

Re: Have to agree with most of these, though Zardoz does look very daft.

Moon is very good, but was nudged out of the final list. Would definitely be in a Top 15 or Top 20.

I watched This Island Earth. Half the movie is spent flying to Metalluna, gawping at the effects, then flying straight back. Good 50s hokum, not great serious sci-fi.

Re: Oh, and one other thing: Dark Star

Dark Star is superb. But a comedy, not a serious sci-fi fillum.

Re: no rating?

We've killed ratings because they're applicable only at the time the product is reviewed. Even a week later, when new kit or an update is out, the old figure might no longer apply. You can always skip to the Verdict for a quick run down of whether we like something or not.

Re: Wot, no score?

Simple. We are no longer scoring products. Actually, we haven't done so since November 2012, but only on this and one other occasion has anyone noticed.

I decided scores, while handy for people who don't read reviews, are generally of little value. Scores are dynamic. Give a product a rating at one time, and mere weeks later it might warrant a different rating following the release of other products and/or updates for the reviewed one.

Look again at a reviewed product - as we might in a Ten... round-up - and it won't necessarily score the same second time around. That confuses some readers, if the comments are anything to go by.

So, no scores. If you feel strongly that you'd like them back, I'm open to persuasive advocacy. But for now, since one reviewer's 65 per cent can be another's 95 per cent, and both will change after a month or two, we will not be scoring reviewed products in standalone reviews.

Re: An umlaut too far

Well spotted - and thanks for the heads-up. Fixed now.

Re: Re: "G-forces are simply acceleration induced by the Earth’s gravity"

True, but the result of a slip of the editor's cursor, not ignorance. The necessary reference to freefall has been put back.

Re: Resolution???

>Is the higher resolution any better?

Not so you'd notice at a glance. Side by side with a Kindle 4, you can probably see a difference, but that can be as much your choice of font as anything else, and you'd have to be looking for the difference.

Using the Kobo on the Tube every morning, I didn't perceive a big improvement in resolution. This might annoy me if I were paying substantially more for the extra pixels, but you're not paying more.

Re: This is going to sound really negative..

Thanks for your thoughts, Anonymous. No offence taken.

BTW, the Ars review runs to more than 5800 words. I think El Reg's reviews need to be longer, but I think that's stretching it, even for the Nexus 7.

That's very gracious of you, Baron - cheers.

The real thanks should go to the guys who developed the Liberator and were happy to take the time to be interviewed about it.

Re: A tale of two rants

I can respond to the Vizplex point, because I wrote the review. That seems a minor point, but as I've said in another response, error reports will only be seen if they come via the 'Send a Correction' button. It's fixed now.

I disagree about the 'fluffy' comments inasmuchas not everyone knows how to read a response chart especially the ordinary consumers Reg Hardware reviews have been aimed at. A frequency response chart will tell you what you will hear, but not necessarily how good it sounds. Colour rendition, however, is less subjective and worthy of more scientific evaluation, I agree.

Re: Re: Since You Asked

I take your point, and we considered doing just that at one point, or rather assigning a base level of 50% for 'works as it should' giving us scope to push the score up for stand-out kit and room below for poor offerings.

Trouble is, readers generally seem to assume that such a score means that the product is crap and therefore not worth reading about. We have never inflated a score in order to get readers, but at the same time we don't want to make a product seem worse than it actually is. So if a product is good, it should get a good score.

The problem is, most products today are good, and what lifts one above another is not technical quality but the benefit a given users sees in that one product.

For this reason I'm in favour of dropping scores altogether, but I'm willing to be persuaded otherwise.

Re: Re: That iPhone 5 review.

This is getting off topic, but two points.

First, the pricing. We can't read all of a story's comments in case of an error. We try, but there aren't enough hours etc. But we do see all messages sent by the 'Send a correction' link at the bottom of each page. But it's fixed now.

Second, you can disagree with the review, but there's no reason why a reviewer shouldn't say a product is breathtaking if he or show believes it is. Not my review, so not my words, but even though I'd probably agree with most of your views of Apple the company, I do think the iPhone 5 is gorgeous. If Dave Phelan is even keener on it, that doesn't make him wrong. Or that we were wrong to allow him to say so.

Now, back to the task in hand...

Re: I once bought a product based on a Reg Review

I'd say that's - in part - what the Comments section is for. Most writers keep an eye on these and respond to questions, though we don't (can't) force them to do so.

We always welcome comment from folk who've used a bit of kit and have hints, tips and - yes - corrections.

Re: +1's

For the record, almost all reviews samples are sought from vendors or their agents. El Reg has no budget at the moment to buy product.

Occasionally we buy stuff for personal use and review it because it's the only way to get hold of the kit. We will in future make this clear when this is the case.

Re: Review Redux

Posting advance notice of reviews is often not practical - and it gives our competitors an advantage - but I like the notion of giving you folks the opportunity to ask questions ahead of time. I will give this idea some thought as to how it could be done. Thanks.

Re: Hmm

Follow-up reviewage is a good notion, but often impossible from a practical standpoint: vendors don't let us hang on to the kit for long enough.

No, sceptics, we don't get to keep all this stuff.

It also tends to appeal only to folk who have bought the kit or, six months ago, thought they might do so. Few others care if our past experience of trying is anything to go by. Likewise when we look at old kit with new firmware. Never say never, though.

'Real' pictures are very definitely on the agenda, though

Re: Since You Asked

We are indeed looking at revising the scoring system - and then publishing it.

To be honest though, when 90 per cent of what we look at does what it says on the clichéd tin, it's hard to see scores changing much unless we start applying very subjective criteria.

Re: Numbers are objective. Opinions depend on point of view.

As a general point to all raising the notion of comparisons, I hear what you are saying but it occurs to me that we'll end up hearing nothing but 'why didn't you compare it with X???'

With the best will in the world, any given reviewer is unlikely to have tried all the rival products in the same category as the kit he or she is looking at.

But I will see how we can develop this further. Thanks for the feedback, folks

Re: Quality writing (i.e. better proof reading), evidence for opinions and statements, more balance.

Thanks for that, Phil. Some very useful pointers.

Small point: the Google Drive piece wasn't intended as a review per se, more a piece describing the writer's (exasperated) experience with the software. You're right about the pictures, mind.

Re: Re: Cambridge Z88

It's on the list.

Re: A great story about a long-forgotten computer, but...

Well spotted. It's 16 lines, of course.

Re: Keyboard layout

This is one of a number of non-Qwerty keyboards considered for the Liberator but rejected. At the time, since the planned users would not have been keyboard users, there was no need to use a typist-friendly keyboard layout.

More on this in part two.

Re: Backlight???

Absolutely. The Glowlight Nook uses the same approach. But since most folk will still call this a backlight, I think we can afford not to be too pedantic about it.

Re: Odd

The Paperwhite isn't available in the UK, and wasn't even announced for UK availability when this review was produced.

Now it has been: http://www.reghardware.com/2012/10/12/amazon_prices_up_paperwhite_for_the_uk/

All e-readers can handle a variety of non-DRM files - Reg readers know this. I think they're more interested in broader DRM'd content compatibility. Ditto most ordinary punters who buy books online, the vast majority of which are DRM'd, alas.

http://www.reghardware.com/2012/01/02/commodore_64_30_birthday/

We've already done it.

BTW, it also took a long time to arrive over here, despite coming so long after the US launch, in December 1981. I know, I was gagging for one, but the advance order failed to materialise, so I got a Dragon instead. Not as advanced a machine, but I can't say it ever held me back.

Re: Tests?

This is a review of domestic consumer kit, not a government science lab evaluation, so we approach it accordingly.

Second guessing what punters *may* connect in close proximity to a powerline adaptor - UPS, hairdryers, USB power adaptors, toasters, lawnmowers, whatever - testing these situations and publishing the numbers is likely to yield a very long list of numbers 90% of readers are not interested in, and about which some bright spark will grumble that we didn't test with the brand of curling tongs he uses.

Fair point, other reader, about stand-by power consumption. I didn't measure it; I will make sure we do so in future. Devolo quotes "under 0.5W".

Re: Some factual errors

Reg Hardware style (generally) is to present acronyms as they are pronounced. Thus 'Risc' because it is pronounced 'risk' not 'r-i-s-c'. Likewise 'Rom' but 'CPU'.

'ARM' is not 'Arm' because it is a trademark.

And yes, I'm sure you can find inconsistencies if you're nerdy enough to look for them.

Re: Price

According to iTunes, the price is free. That's the case today (17 April), when the review was queued up for publication (11 April) and when the review was written (10 April).

Sorry, but we can't check the price of every single app we review every morning on the off-chance the supplier has decided to charge for something.

As always, then, caveat emptor.

Re: Interference

It's not meant to be a scientific test. It's meant to look at a circumstance most of our readers are likely to be in: operating a powerline LAN at a home in which there are also radios tuned to mainstream UK stations.

I have seen demonstrations showing powerline interference to DAB and FM, but I have never seen it demo'd across a range of products. So, was it a faulty adaptor, a duff product line or symptomatic of PL adaptors in general. I've seen no evidence to confirm the latter.

I've also yet to see any evidence that the interference, where present, reaches distances that really will impact other radio users to any greater distance than the same room, or produces any greater impact that all the other general interference on those bands.

I am not a radio engineer, though, so I keep an open mind. If it's clearly demonstrated that there's a real problem here, not a few folk getting annoyed because they think there's a problem, Reg Hardware's attitude to these gadgets will change.

Regarding DSL interference, I'll be honest: I can't comment - I don't use ADSL.

Re: Best ever?

Don't forget, folks, if you want to talk about GoT - or any other fantasy show on telly or on film - you can create your own threads in El Reg's brand new Reader Forums:

http://forums.theregister.co.uk/

See you there.

Re: Question not answered in the review...

I'd pay the £79 for the better screen, yes.

Re: Re: BBC and C64 both had strengths, but in clearly different areas

IIRC, the BBC Model B was £399 at (near enough as makes no odds) launch, while the C64 was £299.

Re: Can someone please explain

Because, Barry, there's content that will be available from Netflix that will not be available on iPlayer, which is generally limited to what was broadcast in the previous seven days.

But Netflix is not the only source of this material. You can buy it on DVD or Blu-ray too.

Some of it is on - dare I mention the word for fear of what it'll do to you - iTunes as well.

Re:

You'll be asking for free DVDs next...

Re: Do you need a TV licence to watch BBC shows via netflix?

It's 'old' BBC content, so no it's not covered by the licence fee. No more than a DVD is.