Walt Mossberg Reviews the iPhone

WSJdpatton writes "Walt Mossberg tested the iPhone for two weeks, in multiple usage scenarios, in cities across the US. His verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is on balance a beautiful and breakthrough hand-held computer. Its software especially sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry, and its clever finger-touch interface, which dispenses with a stylus and most buttons, works well, though the lack of physical buttons can be a hindrance." Digital Daily has a roundup of early iPhone reviews.

Comments

Re:Other reviews

[DECS]

I think you are referring to the billion dollar "bottled water" industry.

Yes, silly people drinking spring water from France when they could just lap out of a puddle for free. They probably also have iPods.

Walt Mossberg

[dantheman82]

Unintential stuff from his review caught on the WSJ video:

1) Smudges are definitely visible on the iPhone screen. See at location - unfortunately, we would need to read stuff on that same screen. Location 4:38
2) He mentions that on third day he was going to chuck it out the window because of the keyboard. Then, on the 5th day, it worked as good as his Treo. Ah, it's great being a reviewer...because normal people would have likely returned it on Day 3. Or maybe thrown it out the window, in which case Day 5 maybe would involve convincing the Apple Store person that this occurred during "normal usage" of the iPhone.
3) He seems to indicate that the coolest features of the phone (Internet browsing on a "real browser", email, etc.) require high-speed Internet, but the phone itself has no high-speed capabilities, and apparently is not upgradeable at all.

My thoughts:
1) Cost just doesn't seem justifiable. I'm not a Crackberry fan, and so anything bigger than a RAZR (which I use) still seems painfully big and unwieldy, and overly tied to work-related stuff 24/7.
2) Huge lock-in period with AT&T. I've never heard about AT&T having a great network in NYC metro (many use Verizon and a decent number use Sprint).
3) I'm not sure how fast EDGE is, but tethering from the laptop to a basic cell phone is cheaper and perhaps just as good.
4) I've not really seen that a phone that raises the bar instantly becomes a phone that I need or really really want. I still haven't seen the whole point of browsing through Album art and this quick music selection. I must have chosen the wrong iPod (shuffle) and still think "simple is good."
5) Ah, the phone should last a day or so? To me, I'm not so happy if the RAZR needs to be recharged before 3 days of use. I've taken it on a weekend trip with rather low battery and got decent use out of it until the next Monday. A $500+ convergence device should really last 2 days or more, I would think.
6) You have to remember one thing - these reviewers probably paid nothing for this device. When you've been selected to review a device as hyped as the iPhone, it is seen as an honor and a privilege, and because you didn't sink $500, your expectations are surely lower than the average customer. So, take these reviews with a grain of salt.
7) Finally, my own experience. I've gotten into the Apple mix with an iPod shuffle, which I really do enjoy on the whole. However, I did have a problem with faulty headphones, so they sent me a new pair. Well, they sent their in-Ear phones by mistake, which I discovered is great audio quality if I attach the Koss foam earbuds instead of those crappy gray rubber caps that come with the headphones. Not that bad, I guess. Also, I own a Macbook, and I seem to break the usual mold of minimal repairs on the thing. I'm a power user, having owned this white Macbook since last July (so Rev 2 or 3?), and my HD crashed and burned (nonrecoverable) and so that was replaced. No data recovery, and I couldn't have my old dead HD back to attempt my own data recovery. Then, I've had the outer shell casing begin to crack on the molding near the wrist wrest, and so my keyboard and the shell was replaced. I've also had an area of dead pixels in the middle of my screen which apparently is "normal wear and tear" and not covered. And, when I recently had an issue with iMovie HD losing its themes, I discovered the Apple Store Genius Bar is not stocked with all geniuses as the Apple Ads would make me think. The solution proposed by this dude...wipe your system and run system restore. His helpful advice after I told him all the crap I have installed, "Make a day of it!" Yeah, what day and who's got the time? I put the Recovery DVD in my computer and reran the installation of ONLY the pre-installed programs (iLife, etc.) and magically all the Themes came back! I'm not a genius by any stretch, but this is disconcerting. Oh, and they don't have a blue screen of death...it's a black one that appears in 3 languages...and I've seen it on a few occasions. Post crash analysis seems well-nigh impossible to do as well. All in all still happy, but I hope their quality doesn't go the way of the dodo bird.

Re:Other reviews

[porcupine8]

Aw, you're a cute widdle twoll. *cuddles you* Trying so hard! You even used big-boy words like fuck!