I feel we need to know shortcomings of a device. I am suspicious of a device that has no faults.
In the case of a phone when paying more than 1000 for phone one needs to know the problem areas of the device. This is especially true here in Canada where the rule of thumb is to add 30% on top of a US price plus there is of course 12% tax on top of that.
You have to go into a big purchase decision fully aware of any shortcomings in a device. After all most people do not need a new phone every year or two and can make due with their existing tech. Its want vs needs and that has to be weighed against the plus and minuses of the device being purchased.
If I’m doing a review, and I choose to leave out my negative points simply to keep things positive, and someone buys that product based on my rose tinted review, and then discovers those negatives themselves, I’ve done them a disservice. I know that people use my opinion as a part of their own buying decisions and in many cases that means big money is on the line.
I totally understand that sometimes reviews can be a bit filtered by a perspective that’s perhaps a bit jaded due to years of exposure to similar traits (good and bad) in today’s devices, but I can’t in good conscience keep things utterly positive if there are also some negatives to share. I feel like that’s the purpose of a review: Take the good, take the bad, determine an overarching recommendation (buy/don’t buy) and that’s that. My 2 cents.
I personally I like the format of “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” for reviews. Even if you have to stretch for some of them, the language used would inform you on its relative importance. And I don’t agree with the sentiment in your review, at least I have enough information to check another review and try to confirm and cross-reference various aspects.
(This is also why journalists across all media have a inclination to inform you about both sides of an argument. The facts themselves will speak for themselves, no cheerleading required.)
I agree that the tech is getting better, but costs for similar tech are going up way faster than the tech is improving and they are removing features as well. As such, the bar of the reviewer also gets raised and thank you @JasonHowell for holding their feet to the fire.