I am still surprised and flattered when someone asks my opinion so that is probably why I said yes when I was offered the chance to evaluate a cell phone handset for a major cell phone manufacturer. As the blogger/podcaster I did not really do my homework. I assumed that the company was asking me because I do a travel podcast. So I assumed the handset was one of their new video enabled phones which I was anxious to try out. That was not the case. The phone was a music player phone aimed at a young audience. This is not the sort of product that I blog about. I am not the sort of blogger/podcaster that writes for their target audience so it was obvious that they did not do their homework either.

When I finally got around to trying out the phone I was also surprised that the music library contained some surprising choices. Am I a prude? Yes, probably I am. I was not expecting that their list of music genres would include a very Anglo-Saxon word for the sex act. I was expecting to see words like rock, pop, or blues. When you are sending a phone to someone to review who also happens to produce a bible study podcast I also wonder about the wisdom of songs with artist labels like “Anti-Christ”.

I don’t feel the need to slam the phone or the phone’s maker because I think this mismatch was partly my fault for not asking more questions. I also feel no need to endorse the phone as I think this is a product that might be a bit “off-brand” for me. A little more homework on my part or theirs might have prevented what was a waste of time and what could have been a PR disaster.