Direction of LTT / Feedback

[Peter Yacono]

Hi Linus & Team,

 

I saw Linus calling for feedback via twitter in regards to the direction of LTT for the near future. He tells me there will be a dedicated thread for this, but I just wanted to add my 2-cents before I go out tonight.

 

Yes, to answer your question directly Linus, I think you should make a move away from phone reviews. As you put it, the youtube blogging community is packed with phone bloggers. 

 

570,00 results come back on youtube when you type in the words "iPhone 5s Review".

Just to give you some further context, 6,600 videos come back when you type in "Define R4 Review. Probably the most popular case in the last 6-12 months.

 

NOW, Linus has to trade off between putting out the content he wants to put out, versus what's going to be picked up via our community AND THE MAINSTREAM.

 

Think about it this way ...  much like a pop artist, if they put out a rather left-of-center single, they might please just a small selection of the market. His/her fanatic fans, people into left-of-center music, possibly critics.

If that same pop artist puts out a pure pop song with lots of colourful melodies and pop-hooks, naturally their image and viewership will receive more traction.

 

Why is that important? Number of viewers should be important to LTT. It simply means more of a budget. A more diverse and complete team. More man-power and time to cover niche products, news or angles. Daily content and/or live shows. More traction from suppliers and vendors (as a youtube channel with 1+ million subscribers start to rival free-to-air tv networks, etc). 

 

I'm still not really answering the question here.

 

Personally, I think what Linus and his team does best is audio, pc enthusiast builds and parts, tech-toys and tech news in general.

 

People like MKBHD dominate the phone review market. He has recently ticked over the 1 million sub mark, and you really have to admit, his videos are EXTREMELY well polished, EXTREMELY well produced and EXTREMELY complete. I would argue, why compete with that? What else does Linus have to say that MKBHD hasn't covered? As I said, he's normally quite complete and has excellent logic.

 

So if not MKBHD, how about the next phone review/blogger. Soon one becomes a needle in a haystack.

 

Why not differentiate ones self from the rest of the market by covering niche products and niche angles. I think the audio direction of late has been great. I think it hits home with a lot of tech viewers. 

 

There will always be a strong craving from our community for enthusiast PC/mac grade stuff. Complete builds. Mobos. GPUs. CPUs. PSUs. etc, etc.

 

Tech-toys is once again, something more fresh. I loved the concept he bought to the table a month or two ago.. when we were asked to vote on Linus' concept versus Luke's.

Tech toys is BIG thing, and once again, it reaches into the mainstream market. Geeky mums and dads who haven't gotten into this community because upto now it's been quite hardware focused.

Presenting items like a nerf-gun that kills flies. What's techy/geeky. It appeals to a wider geek audience. Not just hardcore TECHIES who have a hard-on for overclocking and watercooling (well, not exactly, but you get my point). 

 

The only other thing I want to comment is video grade and colouring of late.

Sharpness and quality of the image has been exceptional for about 1-2 months now.

I've noticed that the colour grading has been jumping around a lot in the last 5-10 videos.

This is not something I do, but I'm aware of colour grading... and if I'm noticing then I'm sure heaps more people are.

 

I think the video on the bose system gave you the most neutral grade. Today's video on the M8 looked a tad washed out and lacking reds, etc.

Previous videos looked quite over-saturated.

 

As I said, I have very little experience in this area and could be way off.

 

ANYWAYS - I hope some of this helps.

 

Feel free to tack your 2 cents onto the end of this.

 

Cheers all. 

 

 

 

 

[ForeseenVisionz]

Well you know how you said linus has nothing to add to the phone area because mkbhd covers it? Well I disagree.  Sure mkbhd is amazing and I watch his every vid but he was not able to convince me the htc one m8 was an amazing phone. I walked away from mkbhds video thinking "yeh it a minor upgrade from a htc one". Then I watched linuses vid and afterwards I was having second thought about if I should upgrade from my note 3. But yea its about his point of view on the topic/phone that makes me morw interested to watch his vids sinces 99% of linuses opinions are like/close to mine lol

[ShadowCaptain]

If he stopped doing videos other people have done, he wouldn't need to make any videos

 

Components have been covered in more detail by anand/3dguru/verge/tomshardware you name it

Speakers by serious audiophiles

Games by all the gaming channels

 

I watch LTT for LINUS's view on this stuff, I want to see his approach to the product, and how he would implement it/improve it  and how the product compares to his vast knowledge and experience.

 

I really like the variety, some products I dont enjoy, some I do. But if it was just motherboard and graphics cards reviews I wouldnt bother watching. I want to see products from all over. 

 

I love technology. and I am glad I have found a youtube channel this is as enthusiastic as me about products out, and future products, no matter the market segment they are from

[micedits]

Honestly I love Linus' personality I will happily watch his videos regardless of whether MKBhd or any other tech youtuber I follow has made the same video just as I feel he often has a unique view on something. It is also very good to hear a range of views on something.  

[DavidTheWin]

You could maybe slow down with them, say only do the phones that you are particularly interested in for example. Your reviews of most phones have been pretty excellent so far, it would be a shame to not continue it. Completely stopping them altogether though isn't ideal in my opinion, you could just review one that has say the first 1440p screen or one that has a really nice camera innovation or whatever new feature that's interesting.

[Sklomp]

I do enjoy the videos of the phone focused reviewers, but Linus adds a more out of consumer perspective that I miss in 90%+ of the reviews. Even MKBHD does not touch the "how normal people use it" way of perspective as much as Linus who uses it for some time before even making his final thoughts. 

 

I will miss the phone reviews as he stops with them!

[kameshss]

I watch MKBHD or Adam's Review videos on Unboxing and other Technical related reviews,

But Linus doing it differently, When he goes with a review He fully going with the Super technical things in the Products, I LIKE THAT THING from him, No other YouTubers are doing this,

I even miss some of videos from MKBHD or Adam's. But i won't miss anything from LinusTechTips or NCIXCom videos, You are really doing great @LinusTech !!

Keep going on!        B)  :wub:

[Peter Yacono]

Great points guys. Linus is very lucky to have such a dedicated and passionate audience behind him.

 

I agree, I think less is more when it comes to phone reviews. I didn't necessarily mean stop them, but as some of you have suggested, but perhaps the landmark releases only.

 

I agree too. I think the M8 looks like an epic phone. If I wasn't so stuck in my way with iphones, I'd definitely buy one.

 

I just wouldn't choose to focus content around *a lot* of phone stuff (and to be fair, he hasn't really in the last 3-6 months). 

[renz62]

I don't know, man... But whenever I search for any tech stuff I make sure I put the word "Linus" on the end of every Youtube search. I just can't watch properly when it isn't Linus explaining it to me.

[A/C]

I have to disagree. If I want to find out about tech I trust Linus's team to deliver, I trust their reviews and opinions (mostly hehe). I still haven't had the time to look at the video, but I will as soon as I get the time.

 

I value LTT team's opinion very much as I can relate to them and I know how the guys think. The other revievers aren't that close to me so I don't "trust" them as much...

 

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is: any LinusTechTips video is good and the more the better. That said I wasn't a fan of the gameplay videos, as I don't really feel the need to look at those.

 

In the couple of years that I've been following the channel I haven't had any major complaints about it, only the minor remark about the gameplay videos. The best addition by far lately is the techquickie.

 

To summarize, you can sign me up for any future tech reviews, no matter which it is: phones, GPUs, MOBOs, earphones, gamepads... anything!

 

EDIT: This is exactly what I was thinking:

 

Well you know how you said linus has nothing to add to the phone area because mkbhd covers it? Well I disagree.  Sure mkbhd is amazing and I watch his every vid but he was not able to convince me the htc one m8 was an amazing phone. I walked away from mkbhds video thinking "yeh it a minor upgrade from a htc one". Then I watched linuses vid and afterwards I was having second thought about if I should upgrade from my note 3. But yea its about his point of view on the topic/phone that makes me morw interested to watch his vids sinces 99% of linuses opinions are like/close to mine lol

Honestly I love Linus' personality I will happily watch his videos regardless of whether MKBhd or any other tech youtuber I follow has made the same video just as I feel he often has a unique view on something. It is also very good to hear a range of views on something.  

I watch MKBHD or Adam's Review videos on Unboxing and other Technical related reviews,

But Linus doing it differently, When he goes with a review He fully going with the Super technical things in the Products, I LIKE THAT THING from him, No other YouTubers are doing this,

I even miss some of videos from MKBHD or Adam's. But i won't miss anything from LinusTechTips or NCIXCom videos, You are really doing great @LinusTech !!

[E.Beadle]

My answer is YES. Do cell phone reviews. I love your audio reviews. 

Cell phones are used as audio / communication devices. and Linus will already have a foot in this when it comes to understanding what goes into a build of a cell phone.  Pllus they can share with the community other things that we may like for our cell phones. 

Smartphones are nothing but a hand held computer. just the same as a tablet. its a traveling smaller rendition of a laptop. which is a portable version for a dekstop. 

All of the above are tech related. it is called Linus Tech Tips for a reason.

[Serotheo]

I love Linus's Phone coverage, it is absolutely different from every other phone review just like some other reviewers have their own signature style Linus has his own, given that arguably every review is "unique". However, Linus's reviews really strike a difference compared to others.

He presents Pros & Cons in a simple manner and yet videos may be long sometimes he focuses on key points in simplicity and concision, often making the video feel much shorter than it is. He covers what some others can't with breadth in knowledge coming from a perspective that is more general in knowledge in regards to technology rather than only the phone space.

As a previous example I made in a FB comment, just like how Erica Griffin may cover perpetual depth in each device she reviews head to bottom - Linus, covers devices in a longer, more realistic use period of the casual person. He's not the person pushing mobile technology to its very edge, the power user, rather he gives us a great perspective that sometimes as techies we miss out from more technical reviewers - I'm not saying Linus is simple and not technical but rather his coverage in this category is more enlightening and not so aggressively approached to the review form.

Linus's reviews, though not the fastest or the most crazily edited as some others, are a breath of fresh air.

Where do you need to focus Linus? If the time spent reviewing these devices doesn't warrant the time then don't review them - especially if your viewer base doesn't care. However, don't take it to mean that your phone reviews are terrible - your audience may just be prescribed to your content as being mostly PC coverage, sadly not all of us want only this category of content.

I welcomed the phone reviews when I saw them and was overjoyed seeing them come, but I'm just as sad to see that they'll likely come to a close.

That was a long post.

EDIT: Cleaned up some stuff.

[A/C]

Also, since there aren't any new GPUs or mobos being released right now, I think the time spent reviewing phones and other tech the way you do is time well spent. Also, I loved the gadget reviews, like the AR drone and some other handy-dandy gadgets... I kinda miss those, along with the "professional" unboxings 

[Carpenoctem]

I liked the video over all and I think he should keep making them.

 

I also agree that the phone area is overcrowded so perhaps it is worth to make less reviews and make them count more, i.e. I am not interested in any phone that comes out, but the mid-high end one only.

 

What was maybe missing in the review was a little more time spent about real use comparisons against other similar level products.

 

+1 for me

[ste1164]

I enjoy the phone reviews. Linus focuses on computers mainly so most of his knowledge lies there. Every phone reviewer will just be looking at phones so they get quite technical about the devices as linus does with computers. I prefer the more "normal" view Linus imparts when he does his phone reviews.

[TrueZarken]

My answer to Linus is yes. Keep doing phone reviews.

 

Marques Brownlee is good, but so is Austin Evans, SoldierKnowsBest, TechnoBuffalo and The Verge to name a few. They all give different perspectives on the product and as ForeseenVisionz said (paraphrased) 'Marques Brownlee made me think it's a minor upgrade, Linus made me have second thoughts about upgrading my current phone.'

 

It doesn't hurt to have more than one opinion. :-)

[Trip]

Please do not stop this kind of content. It's pretty much like Facebook forcing me to go download the messenger app because they're removing the messenging feature from their standalone tab (ok yes I know the negative connotations behind the word forcing, not being forced to do anything). 

 

I don't want to HAVE to go elsewhere because linustech doesn't do phone reviews, I prefer this style of video, hell I even prefer linus' voice and enthusiasm compared to most of the other tech reviewers. It's quick, concise, balanced and accurate all traits associated to good Journalism, which this undoubtedly is, and I don't want to be forced to make a move to start subbing to other channels.

 

HELL!  I'm sad that the unboxings have stopped, I loved those I liked knowing about motherboards and graphics cards and cpus and memory in such depth,  it was  educational to me, that's how I learnt about PCs, about overclocking about power management. 

 

But honestly, the first phone review I ever saw of the HTC One on this channel 

convinced me to buy the phone I am currently using to type this out, and I have been waiting for this to come out to send the review to my less tech savvyfriend because i know the quality of the review will be exceptional

 

I'll leave it at this, I bought the HTC One because the LTT community suggested it, I swapped out to apollo, swift key and others because the community suggested it, I've bought components and technology because of unboxings and good reviews on here. I've advised so many people to get HTC Ones because it's a good phone but that was only because these videos provide me with such good support to this day. 5 of my friends use HTC Ones under my suggestion and because of videos like these. 

 

DONT STOP! 

[adamdidthis]

Yeah keep doing them, it's not like you sit there doing them all the time. I enjoy all of your videos, you even manage to make you terrible jokes funny.

[Mercuryboarder]

I like the idea of reviews for the landmark devices.

That way we're kept apprised of new and truly innovative or useful phone tech without wasting Linus' time with frequent reviews of what is fundamentally the same product. If we're particularly curious about a certain device we can always check the other review channels or beg for a review in one of the many LTT feedback locations.

As an aside, I also find it maddening to go from watching LTT reviews to watching an unscripted, poorly focused video of someone's hands continually locking and unlocking a device while they regurgitate information we've known since the device's announcement.

I don't really care what Linus talks about as long as there's something in my subscription feed when I get home from work.

[Morriswr01]

I watch nearly all of Linus' videos with the intention of getting a different perspective/ opinion on tech. Sure Mkbhd and others cover all the specs/ improvements in a phone etc. However i feel like Linus gives an opinion and view which is much more personal and down to earth than many other tech youtubers whom leave me unsatisfied at the end of their video and feeling like i havent got the full picture of how good/ bad a product.

 

Personally i think that Linus should continue with his phone reviews as they are much more in depth and personal to me like i previously mentioned.  However i would NOT like to see the  LTT channel move into solely consumer electronics videos as i like the balance his channel has right now and the frequency at which he posts certain videos more specifically his phone reviews. The frequency of these videos means that i am really looking forward to his phone reviews more than i would any other tech channel as i know that he has spent time with the phone and not rushed just to get a review like some tech channels. 

 

Like i said his videos are much more personal and provide a perspective/ view that no-one else has making me respect his opinion much more. 

 

I love every video he makes phone reviews especially and would miss them if he stopped posting them

  

[origx36]

KEEP MAKING PHONE REVIEWS

they are great

[pauloforte]

I also watch almost every video released from Linus Media Group. I enjoy the clear, concise, unbiased (most of the times, although when it is biased he makes it a point to disclaim everything so that we are informed about his own personal opinions) reviews.

 

I really liked the One M8 video. It sums up everything that is important to know about the phone that we can't easily get anywhere else and gives us a clear view about what is really important to a normal user that wants to really USE his/her phone and not just the I-got-this-really-expensive-piece-of-bling-I-use-it-as-an-overpriced-messaging-device crowd...

 

That being said, I compare this to the time when Slick did his Blackberry 10 road test against his Android experience. It is something that I couldn't find anywhere else in that depth and from a tech-savvy person who uses their phone accordingly and really tipped the scale for me for getting an Android instead of the new Blackberries.

 

I think that one review like this every once and a while on a device/mobile technology that is either 1) interesting on a tech-savvy point of view, 2) covers a niche in the tech youtuber market as someone in this thread already said, or 3) is just something Linus or anyone else in the team wants to talk about, would really be the sweet spot. As long as it doesn't hurt the quality of the other reviews LTT we're used to.

 

Cheers, guys!

Keep up the excellent work!

[ShadowCaptain]

I would him to do more i-switched series, it's great to see what its like live with  a particular device for a period of time. 

 

A device can look great for the first few hours, buts its usability and build quality can only be analysed over time.

 

13" retina pro iSwitched? I would totally love to see that

[amr-213]

i think linus video has a unique style that i think no one else has and i like it and i think he should continue doing phones 

[virtualTune]

I honestly rarely ever watch the Phone reviews, simply because I have a phone, and unlike PC Hardware that is upgraded every couple months, I don't look at the newest phones until I actually need a new one. I do however think that his phone reviews are better than his audio reviews. I simply don't trust Linus' non-expert opinion as much as I would watching established audiophiles. When it comes to PC hardware I always trust Linus and Luke! In a perfect world, I would like the team to get away from everything non-PC and rather do longer videos much like TTL does. I am asuming that I am by far not the only enthusiast who frequently watches both channels. With the right coordination, overlaps could be avoided and thus 20+ minute videos of all major releases would be available either on OC3D channel or on the LTT channel. 

On a side note, I would like to see more guest appearances on the WAN show. Last year it was vey nice to watch the show and always hear more than just Linus' opinion and something like a discussion. Even if you invite people again that were already on the show before.