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Cricket Muve music service and Samsung Suede hands-on
Cricket offered us a chance at a deeper look and demo of its Muve music service this week at CES, and of course we just couldn't pass it up. First off, the Samsung Suede -- while only a feature phone -- seems to be a fairly capable device, wandering between the many sub menus within the app was slick, smooth, without major hiccups, and general usability was snappy. The Muve service rings in at $55 and brings all kinds of unlimited together: nationwide calling, text -- including unlimited global text -- picture / video messaging, 3G mobile web, unlimited full track downloads, ringtones, and ringback tones. The service will launch in Las Vegas this month -- so we'll expect some of you'll need to polish your patience skills -- and roll out to other markets during Q1 and early Q2. The intro music lineup includes some one million tracks with a major bump to two and a half million in a month or two. The show was about as loud as a jet taking off. So, as to sonic fidelity, that remains a question, but a trip to your local brick and mortal can definitely satisfy your curiosity -- that is if you're pondering taking the plunge. %Gallery-112626%
IGN + Muze = search for skewed reviews
IGN and Muze Inc. have signed a partnership forming MuzeGames, a retailer service that will provide "the most comprehensive database of games information available." You've used Muze before if you've looked up an album or a song at Tower Records, or searched for a song on iTunes, now they want to try and be your central source for game searching as well."Marketed as MuzeGames, powered by IGN, it will offer expansive coverage of nearly 45,000 video game titles, including high-resolution cover images, screenshots, trailers, and samples of game play, augmented by rich editorial content such as game previews and extensive, independent reviews." Do they mean to say they will be using IGN's reviews as independent content? Are these the same IGN reviews that always skew to the upper part of the bell curve? Their average review for all games is an eight out of ten, and they have almost as many nines as they do sixes. This breaks down to a scale that skews higher, on average for every game, making the reviews more than a bit suspect.If you're going to be influenced by game reviews then your best bet is to check out what everyone else is saying (through our handy dandy metareviews, even) and then make an informed decision. Of course, you could always take a gamble and see what your own eyes and ears tell you. Hopefully you can trust those.
