In the world of tech punditry, Walt Mossberg is the admittedly the original "uber-pundit" but David Pogue of the New York Times is also one of the most respected in the business. Both write from the layman's standpoint, while really being true geeks at heart, and still manage to maintain complimentary points of view on new products.

Take Pogue's review on the Samsung Helix - as we all know, the sister to the Pioneer Inno. In general he liked the device, with his only gripe being that you can't pause live broadcasts. Admittedly, this is a lacking feature in the new generation of XM2go. But in general, David Pogue liked the device - even if the RIAA doesn't. Pogue even went so far as to almost counterpoint Mossberg's gripe about reception (which plagues satellite radio in general):

Now, before you get all fired up, remember that any satellite receiver requires a clear view of the sky; unless you snake the external antenna over to a window, listening to live radio indoors or on the subway is essentially out of the question. (Those are excellent times to play back some of your recordings.)

He doesn't though pull any punches:

The Helix's stubby little antenna, however, is an especially dainty flower when it comes to sensitivity. Even covering it with your hand, slipping the device into your pocket, or facing the wrong way can be enough to introduce hissy static into the signal.

Still, even without being a bubbly fanboy, David Pogue's review seems a bit more fair than the Mossberg review. And in these recent days of doom and gloom for XM, a positive review of their flagship product seems welcome.

[New York Times] 

Walt Mossberg is considered one of the most influencial people in technology. He has the abilities to make or break products by a simple wave of his hand (or something like that). For those not necessarily entrenched in the tech punditry world, Walt Mossberg writes several columns (Personal Technology, Mossberg Solution and Mossberg's Mailbox) for a cute little rag known as The Wall Street Journal. And he's set his sights on the Pioneer Inno.

Overall, Mossberg gives a decent review of the unit. Very detailed and in-depth. Where he really fall short though is on the subject of reception. Here's some key snippets about this:

It's hard to overstate the reception problems that plague the Inno. We lost reception while driving through a short tunnel, walking through a row home and wandering through our office, away from the window. Even in an office with an entire wall of windows, we had to sit right next to the glass to get XM Satellite Radio reception.

Walking around downtown Washington, just a few blocks from the White House and a few miles from XM's headquarters, the Inno constantly dropped the XM signal, even though Washington, by law, has no office buildings taller than about 12 stories. Walking just a few feet into a Starbucks killed the signal altogether. When we sat down on a bench in a small park, the reception got much better, but still wasn't perfect. For a device that's primarily a radio, this is a killer flaw. Of course, you can listen to the Inno's stash of recorded music during these signal dropouts, but, when the failures are as frequent as ours were, this need to keep switching modes turns a supposedly pleasurable experience into a huge annoyance.

It occured to me while reading this that Walt Mossberg doesn't have much experience with satellite radio in general. But then I remember the old WIRED article from May 2004, where Mossberg was profiled and XM was a specific case of his "power" when he criticized XM's units. He later wrote a follow up praising XM for their redesigned units, and in fact saying "And that makes XM Radio a service I can wholeheartedly recommend."

So see, what Mr. Mossberg is trying to do here, is write the review from the expectations of the "average" listener. Not the seasoned geek. And the assumed expectation is that the average Joe Sixpack is going to consider the Pioneer Inno as a regular radio and not a satellite radio.

And I have to admit that indoor reception is the single biggest inherit problem with satellite radio. A problem that the Inno's recording/scheduling features are essentially trying to resolve - short of blanketing the country in repeaters - it's the next best thing. Afterall, people enjoy podcasts just fine (to Mossberg's credit - he doesn't) which are basically scheduled recordings.

What I just wish he would have done is not laid blame on the Inno itself, but rather about satellite radio technology in general.

Oh well, I guess when it rains... it pours. I feel for everyone at The Eck right now.

[Wall Street Journal]
[also available at SSG]