These handles tended to fit the shape of my hand better. You can't see it, but they have an ample tang called a rat-tail. For a slicer, this works just as well as a riveted-handled knife. I let my testing tell me what a good slicer is all about. It's just terminology.
Longer blades are often cumbersome.
Shorter blades can't cut long slices from large pieces of meat. That taper pulls you off-course when you're trying to cut thin slices. You don't need a thick blade for that either. I prefer rounded tips because spear tips can easily gouge thin slices. The only real plus to a spear tip is that you can jab it deep to hack out big chunks of meat.