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Walt Mossberg Reviews the iPhone

online.wsj.com — Walt Mossberg has published his review of the iPhone.

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  • jmacdonagh, on 10/11/2007, -10/+2There's also his video review available. In the review, he mentions voice calling! Not sure if that's just an opinion about the phone's "phone" performance, or a hint at a new feature.
  • Jammypac, on 10/11/2007, -8/+60Wow - pretty dang favorable. Glad to see that the keyboard is fine after a learning curve and that the camera took "excellent pictures".
    • jragon, on 10/11/2007, -6/+15Yeah, I assumed the keyboard was going to be the main blemish on an otherwise pretty great product. Now it looks like AT&T is the blemish.

      Apple wins.
    • consonance, on 10/11/2007, -3/+14... Because Walt Mossberg is Apple's most ardent critic.
    • olddirtycr, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8The camera is sub par in anything but amazing lighting situations
  • usproblogger, on 10/11/2007, -10/+5thanks, cool.
  • pygar, on 10/11/2007, -11/+8YEY! This is amazing! Roll on iPhone.
  • HA5TY, on 10/11/2007, -13/+4YES!! FINALLY I HAVE WAITED MORE THEN 7 MINUTES FOR MORE iPHONE NEWS!!!!1111

    lol, Thanks
  • waveman216, on 10/11/2007, -17/+5Can the iPhone hype get ANY louder before Friday?!!
  • donwilson2, on 10/11/2007, -6/+45David Pogue's review is way better.
  • mrhorseshoe, on 10/11/2007, -10/+5Walt gave it a positive review? Crap, now I owe a bud $20...
    • zybch, on 10/11/2007, -7/+4Of course he did, after all, apple only buys the best reviewers!
  • orgazmo, on 10/11/2007, -11/+6Really? He cannot think of any other tech product getting as high expectations as this phone in the last 16 years? NOTHING AT ALL?
  • Ostizzle, on 10/11/2007, -9/+22Maybe it's just me but a few of these negative points sound like things that could really become a pain in the ass after the "shiny new thing!" phase wears off.
    • bradleyland, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Care to name any? Not contesting this fact, but I'm still curious.
      • locojones, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2No picture messaging. Potential for 6 clicks to dial a phone number. There's two.
      • Ostizzle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2No copy, cut, paste is the big one for me. No video (when many other phones include this feature and it's becoming a trend). Not being able to access playback controls directly.
    • franksands, on 10/11/2007, -1/+22 year contract with AT&T. I think this is the greatest problem.
    • jbella, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I have a feeling that iChat is just around the corner. This is too obious a feature for them to leave out. I predict that we will be seeing a variety of apps released by Apple in the next few months. I just hope iChat and SSH are two of them!
  • vh1`, on 10/11/2007, -2/+20"There's no instant messaging, only standard text messaging"
    wouldn't something like meebo.com work?
  • epyon180, on 10/11/2007, -6/+25Great, the positives about the phone are pretty much anything that apple did themselves, but the negatives are all the AT&T stuff. God it's gonna hurt to give money to AT&T.
    • pimpzilla, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1"...even when you have great AT&T coverage, the iPhone can't run on AT&T's fastest cellular data network. Instead, it uses a pokey network called EDGE, which is far slower than the fastest networks from Verizon or Sprint that power many other smart phones. And the initial iPhone model cannot be upgraded to use the faster networks."
      "there's no overall search on the iPhone"
      "the lack of dedicated hardware buttons for functions like phone, email and contacts means extra taps are needed to start using features. Also, if you are playing music while doing something else, the lack of hardware playback buttons forces you to return to the iPod program to stop the music or change a song."
      "It can also receive and open Microsoft Word and Excel documents and Adobe PDF files. But it doesn't allow you to edit or save these files."
      "the error-correction system didn't seem as clever as the one on the BlackBerry, and you have to switch to a different keyboard view to insert a period or comma, which is annoying."
      "There's also no way to cut, copy, or paste text"
      "The phone...takes more taps to reach than on many other smart phones, because there are no dedicated hardware phone buttons. You also cannot just start typing a name or number, but must scroll through a list of favorites, through your recent call list, or your entire contact list."

      Which of these are things Apple didn't do themselves again?
  • CannedCorn, on 10/11/2007, -19/+56Walt Mossberg is an idiot. Why? He cannot see why Apple chose AT&T for their service. Obviously in the United States the service is not as good as verizon, however, think about it another way. When creating a phone with global market possibility, why would you EVER make it a Verizon / Sprint compatible phone, (aka non GSM), which is only used in the US. GSM is the standard EVERYWHERE, obviously this was the right choice for Apple, I could not have seen it going any other way.

    Secondly, EDGE is used because of the fact that these chipsets that provide quad band EDGE are mature and can consume much less power than their 3G counterparts which have not been as refined at the moment. Additionally, 3G data does not make that much of a difference unless tethering to a more powerful device because the processors in these phones simply cannot take advantage of this speed yet. I have owned a blackjack and the render time in 3G areas is the same as when I'm in edge using the phone. Furthermore, EDGE is more than adequate when you are not in wifi areas, I have owned and used many blackberrys and smartphones and yes, EDGE is not the best, but it gets the job done plenty fast while using a phone. Idiots.
    • yeahright, on 10/11/2007, -3/+13You seem to forget the earlier articles stating that Verizon (CDMA) was originally offered the chance to have the iPhone exclusively, but passed on it.
      • CannedCorn, on 10/11/2007, -8/+4I don't believe that for a second, its like this:

        Verizon: Heyyyyy Apple...
        Apple: Eww get away from me jerkass.
        (later on that evening)
        Verizon: Dude, i totally could have boned that chick.
        AT&T: Yeah whatever.
      • PhillyMJS, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11Knowing Verizon, they probably wanted to disable half the iPhone's advertised features and then sell them back to subscribers for more fees, like when they crippled the Bluetooth on a couple phones a year or two ago and got slapped with a class action suit for it. Apple probably told them to go piss up a rope.
    • thatsmyaibo, on 10/11/2007, -8/+4You're right. Everyone who disagrees with you is an idiot. I'm glad your intelligence can balance digg out *end sarcasm*

      Every professional reviewer has slammed Apples choice of ATT for the iPhone service. Do you know something the professionals don't? The bottom line is, that GSM has been around for a long time internationally and it is an outdated choice of cellular networking. They would have made a LOT more money if they crossed providers. And the choice of ATT is not only about being GSM as you seem to make it. This phone cannot work on any other GSM network, like t-mobile, either.

      • CannedCorn, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1Yeah but t-mobile blows, and their logo contains pink.
    • understudy, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Then there's that whole thing about AT&T's refusal to stand up for their customer's privacy. Instead, and without warrant, they feed it to the NSA.

      _
    • celcho, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6i'm going to buy an iphone, but the reviews indicate that pages render much faster on wifi, which means THIS processor is capable of rendering pages faster when a faster connection is available.
    • whatmew0rry, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0CDMA is used in Japan, Korea, and China, among other places...
    • bradleyland, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6I'm sorry, but your claim that load times on EDGE and 3G networks are the same because of a processor bottleneck is a plain old lie. I also have a Blackjack, and I travel weekly between EDGE and UMTS/HSDPA enabled areas of South Florida. Every data feature of my phone is made better by 3G, not just tethering. Example: Live Maps fills in almost instantly when scrolling on a 3G network. EDGE takes 3-5 times as long depending upon my connection strength.

      IE for SmartPhone plain sucks though, so your point is partially supported, but the iPhone has a full-blown web browser. Why not a full blown wireless connection? Hopping from WiFi AP to WiFi AP just plain sucks.
      • jbella, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Even with Steve Jobs there is a series of tradeoffs. My guess is that Jobs chose Edge for 2 reasons... 1) lower power consumption. I think Jobs correctly realized that having poor battery life will surely kill the iPhone no matter how many other features it has. (See the Moto Q as an example). 2) Cheaper data plan. $20/month unlimited data! Thats not too shabby. Jobs is not targetting the crackberry aficianados with this phone. His goal is to expand the range of who will potentially buy a "smartphone" and a $40/month data plan will not fly. So what to do? Go with the slower network and put in good WiFi support. It's a reasonable compromise.

        The unfair thing about most iPhone comparisons is that it seems that people tend to compare the iPhone with EVERY OTHER PHONE in the world, instead of more fairly comparing it to individual phones. (Well, phone X has a better camera, and phone Y has 3G and phone Z has just as much memory as the iPhone.)

    • pimpzilla, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0EVDO is MUCH faster than EDGE, even on smartphones. I own a Samsung i730 and have reviewed many smartphones using various 2G & 3G chipsets. I constantly use the internet on my i730. It has WiFi, but I never bother to turn it on. EDGE, on the other hand, is frustrating at best and near useless for anything but emergency use. The lack of 3G is one of the three main reasons I won't be buying this generation of iPhone (the others being lack of a hardware keyboard and no contact search. With over 2000 contacts in my contact list, that's sort of a big deal).
      • ThinkBox, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2mr...... pimpzilla, i doubt you review hardware
    • Tippis, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"When creating a phone with global market possibility, why would you EVER make it a Verizon / Sprint compatible phone, (aka non GSM), which is only used in the US. GSM is the standard EVERYWHERE, obviously this was the right choice for Apple, I could not have seen it going any other way."
      First of all, no. "Non-GSM" is not a US-only thing -- it is, in fact, increasingly the standard in Europe and Asia. GSM still exists as a legacy network, but it's being left behind when moving to faster, more modern networks.
      Secondly, Apple could have gone the same way as everyone else who's doing a phone for the global market: you include the capability for *both* GSM and 3G...
  • informality, on 10/11/2007, -6/+42Just look at the image of the iPhone next to its competitors. You can see just what Apple hath wrought.

    There is simply no competition.
    • 2kude, on 10/11/2007, -15/+4That's called marketing. There are many devices that already do what the iPhone does, they just don't have the "i" prefix.
      • TheRealDeal, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1It's called Astroturfing......what you are doing.
    • celcho, on 10/11/2007, -3/+11and they look like *****, and work like *****. congrats, and enjoy our piece of ***** windows mobile device.
    • arkavat, on 10/11/2007, -2/+0you are comparing it with wrong phones.
      look at O2 or i-mate phones. They know how to use windows mobile
      http://www.my-xda.com/alreadyHaveOrbit.html
      • AceTracer, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1I had a T-Mobile MDA, which is not too different from those, and I sold it after one month. Still Windows Mobile, still *****.
  • Zanick, on 10/11/2007, -10/+39Sucks that you can't use songs as ringtones.
    • mrpither, on 10/11/2007, -8/+2that's actually a good thing with the shtuff that passes as music to some people...
    • PunkFenixJT, on 10/11/2007, -5/+4Well hopefully a software update will change that, because thats disappointing to me as well.
    • celcho, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5i bet they'll add this feature, although i can't imagine why they didn't have this out of the gate. i mean it is annoying and i'm sure apple will have some good ringtones, but still it's such an easy feature to implement, why wouldn't they do it?
    • randomgeek, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5The RIAA would ***** their pants if you could do that.
    • jmchez, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3It's a great thing! Some musical chime of sort of another is recognizable but never even close to being as annoying as the stupid songs and sound effects people use now days.
    • MadOtaku, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1You honestly want a whole song as your ringtone? Really? Maybe I'm just spoiled by the 30 sec ringtones I make by cropping songs.
    • ScrumFritter, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Yeah, it's annoying - I love rocking out to OK Go just before answering a call, :p, and no, that was NOT sarcasm.
  • d5042d, on 10/11/2007, -17/+13iPhone SIM is hardwired. A important point that all the reviews so far are to lame to point out. All these people assuming someone out of the first 3 million users are quickly going to hack a way to unlock the phone are going to be very disappointed. Cant even change the SIM assuming someone does find a way to unlock it.
    • zybch, on 10/11/2007, -7/+5Of course none of the early reviewers are mentioning this. Apple has pretty much paid them (free pre-release phones) to omit such facts that make the iPhone look less than stellar.
      • zeromind, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Sorry but that is a silly thing to say. I'm sure all these reviewers have plenty of phones. They get paid for their reputation at reviewing. They are not going to sell their reputation in order to play with an iPhone for a couple weeks. They gave honest and balanced criticism. Not everything was good and not everything was bad. On the whole they like it. For version 1.0 of a brand new product, I would say that is pretty good. Microsoft usually takes version 3.0 or better before it is usable.
      • d5042d, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1Only a handful of writers had access to the iphone for these pre-release reviews. They know they have to cater to Apple's ego to again be privileged to get pre-release apple kit. The writers know that pre-release reviews like this ensure tons of people read what they write.
    • nixfu, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3I thought that Steve Jobs at WWDC showed the SIM card coming out of the top.... your working on OLD news my friend.
      • d5042d, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1Yeah and Steve removed the battery while levitating 3 foot off the floor. The hardwired SIM is how they are able to do the activation online instead of in the store. And it keeps ATT happy as they know the phone cant be unlocked. I assure you my information is current ;-)
    • tinygibbles, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11no, the sim tray is on the top. it pops out with a paperclip. however, you have to put in a cingular sim since it's locked to cingular.
    • d5042d, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2your basing that on speculation relating to pictures of a pre-release iphone. Never has apple mentioned that the SIM can be removed, in fact they have been very smug about not being able to use it on any other network than ATT. Read all the activation information, about how a new users can pick one up and activiate online not in the store (notice no mention of inserting a SIM). I would love to see a picture of a SIM actually being inserted or removed but you wont find one ;-)
    • DPimp1262, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4If you have any doubt that the sim card can be removed just look at pogue's review. There's an interactive part where he explains all the parts and one of those is the sim card slot at the top of the phone.
    • d5042d, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1..
    • DazWiLLiE, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6http://www.nytimes.com/ref/business/20070627_POGUE_GRAPHIC.html (click on SIM Card Slot) Now, shut up already

    • totorototoro, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Wow, dude, embarrassing. Do some ***** research before posting. Makes you look less like such an idiot.
  • abbazabba, on 10/11/2007, -12/+4iPhone shcmiPhone
    http://www.myspedspaced.com/noiphone
  • digitallysick, on 10/11/2007, -9/+7From the article

    "Missing features: The iPhone is missing some features common on some competitors. There's no instant messaging, only standard text messaging. While its two-megapixel camera took excellent pictures in our tests, it can't record video"

    Can't record video??? are they serious?? this was the main reason i have held out on getting a blackberry. You spend 500 + dollars and you can't even record video. I have a sony eircsson w810i, i can take pictures, record video, and its quadband. I like it, only reason i would ever change it was for something with a full qwerty style keyboard/pad
    • akirakurosawa, on 10/11/2007, -5/+5then don't buy an iPhone you dumbass.
    • c5kirk, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6I can relate... Love my Macs and was really looking forward to the iPhone but just too many shortcomings for me to put down my money.
    • keylargodave, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7I've owned phones that can record video for two years now (Motorola V551 and Samsung Blackjack) and I've taken video exactly once. And the video sucked.
    • dogarms, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1why would you compare a w810i to a blackberry? one is a personal use phone with a media slant, and one is a full-blown professional business phone. they're not catering to the same markets. don't compare apples and oranges.
    • AceTracer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I couldn't care less if it took pictures -or- video. I have a digital camera that does that much better than any phone can.
    • catullus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1full internet on safari = IM over meebo and other web apps
  • jdill, on 10/11/2007, -4/+3Is it just me or do all the reviews that came out this evening seem like they were written by the same person? I thought they were a little disappointing and didn't really offer anything new.
  • uncleboogie, on 10/11/2007, -3/+15No voice dial? This is such a simple feature. With so many new cars having BT hands free calling, you will have to get the iPhone out punch up the number? Just give me the same device minus the phone.
    • epyon180, on 10/11/2007, -6/+2?

      If a car has bluetooth hands free, the whole point is that you don't have to get your phone out. The car does the voice dialing itself.
      • dvsbastard, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Ummm... If your phone does not support voice dialing, there is nothing that a bluetooth interface will do to help it...
    • celcho, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4i agree this is a stupid feature for it to be missing.
  • gurty, on 10/11/2007, -5/+0He also mentions it with sync with Microsoft's Exchange Server
    • supershawn, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Not really. It can't use "push" technology...there are limitations. Not favoring or faulting, just pointing that out. The 2nd revisions is rumored to use push technology.
    • tinygibbles, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3It must use OWA like blackberry webclient. If my email checks every 5 minutes do i really care about push? me no.
  • ProAm500, on 10/11/2007, -6/+34Honestly, the fact that the Iphone doesnt record video is inexcusable......
    • zeromind, on 10/11/2007, -3/+10Honestly, all cellphone cameras suck and video is even worse. Crayon drawings by my seven year old are more entertaining than video from a phone.
    • JoeDiggsIt, on 10/11/2007, -4/+5Honestly, when have you taken a cameraphone video and been like "I need the world to see this!"
    • celcho, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7it's nice to have, though, and how hard is it to implement since most all have the capability.
    • dvsbastard, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I MMS videos fairly often... Although video recording on a phone isn't exactly a prime function, in this day and age missing such a feature is plain stupid...
    • jbella, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Does it have anything to do with the fact that the sensor is a 2 MP sensor? Do you have to have a seperate sensor to to standard def video? I would think that a video made up of 2MP frames would be too large. Can these sensors adjust their resolution? I suppose the software can scale the video down dynamically...

    • ProAm500, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Its a basic feature that to me seems like cellphone 101. Think about it, though cell phone lens all pretty much suck, you always find yourself whipping out your phone to record a little clip here and there. Theres a lot of basic features that the Iphone doesnt have, and only Apple can get away with saying "with updates" those features will become available.
  • mobilehavoc, on 10/11/2007, -11/+5Mossberg is known to be in Steve Job's pocket, I'm shocked he didn't have an orgasm over the phone. Wait for more non-biased reviews from the blogger community to make any decisions
    • totorototoro, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2"non-biased reviews from the blogger community"

      LOL. Dude, ***** Bill Gates could give it a thumbs up and you'd still find fault in it. We get it, you don't like Apple or the iPhone. WE GET IT. jesus ***** LOL.
  • Jerryskid02, on 10/11/2007, -4/+10Finally someone talking about the iPhone that isn't totally biased to one side or the other (Apple hater/lover). A decent review and what I guess I expected it to be. It's the first generation of a new electronic device which means there will be bugs/things it need to improve on like any other first generation electronic device. But like he said, I think it will raise the bar and push all major companies along in development. Once the price drops in about 25 years and the bugs/upgrades are worked out, I might seriously think about getting one.
  • azzageddi, on 10/11/2007, -3/+8I'm actually glad to be living overseas for this. By the time it arrives in Japan, the iPhone will have had all the bugs shaken out of it, and a lot of missing features will have been added. Always wait a year or two before buying new tech.
    • jhuebel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1One that note, the iPhone will require an immediate OS update from what I hear. So those bugs may be squashed sooner than you think.
      • locojones, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1You live in Japan and you want an iPhone? Kids in that part of the world are watching satellite tv and having 4-way video conference calls on their phones, and you want to pinch photos? Get real.
    • XYZ1, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2But if you always wait a year or two the tech isn't really new anymore...
    • snowrider221, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I'm sure they have better phones than the iPhone for you over there RIGHT NOW, let alone in a year when its available in Japan.
    • Satorikun, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Feature-wise, a lot of Japanese phones have the iPhone beat. But, the user interfaces are horrible thus making the user experience all the more tedious. They'll have to update it so it can: 1.) record video, 2.) act as a train/subway pass 3.) kiosk or supermarket prepaid cash card, 4.) play games.

      I'll probably get one next year when they come here to Japan. Can't wait.
    • azzageddi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I really hate text-entering on Japanese phones, but then I'm an old PC email-using fogey. The only complaint I really have is how almost all of them have been tinkered with to keep you from just loading your MP3s onto your phone. Most music-playing phones force you to either buy music from the phone company in a proprietary format (AND pay for the download), or rip music from a CD. No transferring already-ripped music from your hard drive. Very, very annoying. I finally gave up and just bought a separate MP3 player.
  • darny, on 10/11/2007, -3/+11a great review of a seemingly great product, first hints that it is living up to the hype. now why is the damn stock price tanking??!!??
    • JoeDiggsIt, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Because of all you bastards who are screaming "THe iPhone SUCKS!!!!11!" at the top of your virtual lungs. If you don't want people to pre-judge the iPhone as amazing then dont pre-judge it as crappy.

      sry, Darny. that was a little too loud.
    • JustinPM, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Because it's $500. For a phone. That uses AT&T. And STILL has a contract.
    • dclowd9901, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3"a great review of a seemingly great product, first hints that it is living up to the hype. now why is the damn stock price tanking??!!??"

      Because, as opposed to fanboyism, stock analysts use things like "research" and "market analysis." I hate to break it to you, but if they don't like what they're seeing, my guess is the general public won't either.

      The other side is that they know that, at least in the near future, Apple stands to lose some money trying to find its way into the cellular market, and they're just compensating for that view. The most popular phone in the world sure as hell isn't/wasn't a $400 Blackberry or any variant. It was a cheapo Nokia.
      • darny, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2>>he other side is that they know that, at least in the near future, Apple stands to lose some money trying to find its way into the cellular market,
        is really the only part of your argument that i agree with. Research and market analysis should have dictated to the market makers that apple stands to sell millions upon millions of these things. Heck, AT&T doesn't seem to have a problem with it's taking stock price...it's been rising steadily.

        Some people are saying that the projected sales of the iphone are already incorporated into the stock price, which is also not a bad reason for the declines.

        My feeling is that this stock is *HIGHLY* manipulated and someone's trying to get a deal before the release.

        I dugg you up btw for actually presenting logical arguments.
    • gypsie, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Because it's only Tuesday!!!
  • lepton, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4I'm getting it day one, but no voice dialing is a problem. You can't use your Bluetooth earpiece easily without it. It also makes it tough to make a call in the car.
  • pabster, on 10/11/2007, -9/+4Mossberg loves the iPhone. Call me shocked!

    That guy is bought and paid for.
  • strum40, on 10/11/2007, -7/+1Enough with the iPhone already! http://www.digg.com/apple/I_m_sick_of_these_motherf_iPhones_on_this_motherf_website
  • raneka, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2Dear Steve Jobs: "Thank YOU for using AT&T" Love, Ma Bell
  • Arkonnan, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4Judging by the lack of fanboy slander in the summary, I'm guessing it was a favourable review.
  • Darel99, on 10/11/2007, -6/+1
    Oh look another iPhone article........
  • niknik69, on 10/11/2007, -2/+0Byb bye Dopod Pro 838 ...Heeeelloooo iPhone :)
  • ICasualty, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2uhh Walt uhh Mossberg uhh sucks and umm video reviews...
    hes says "uhh" and "umm" way to much in this review. I got bored of it lol

    other than that good to see this is the second iphone review that has been good. Glad to see apple made it all work :D
    • Mikecol, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1So you come here and type it... thanks.
  • Typhoon2009, on 10/11/2007, -2/+15I'll wait for iPhone 2. Now with 3G, more drive space, swappable SIM cards, more battery life, video recording, and an LED screen. For $100 less than the models coming out Friday.

    edit: And no enslavement to AT&T.
    • DerTeufel, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7I hate to break it to you but I think iPhone 2 will be out LONG before Apple's 5 year exclusive contract ends with AT&T.
    • jhuebel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Hopefully, iPhone 2 will include connectivity for AT&T's higher-speed data services. Like you said, the iPhone will be an AT&T exclusive for 5 years, so one way or the other, they're going to get you if you want an iPhone.
    • superkendall, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The 3G data services, that few people actually have good coverage with. I'll stick to my WiFi supporting 1st gen iPhone thanks over the next few years as you wait for your full featurelist to be filled.
      • Tippis, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Without 3G, the iPhone *will not sell* outside of the US, so it'll come soon enough...
    • AceTracer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Everyone acts like the next iPhone revision will come out two weeks later. Apple's average product cycle is 9 months, so you will likely not see another iPhone revision until next year, possibly Macworld possibly WWDC. Also, Apple products have a ridiculously high resale value, so you can probably sell your iPhone for the new one for maybe 100-200 bucks less than what you paid for it. I will happily pay the $100 early adopter tax.
    • ScrumFritter, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1We could possibly see a smaller version, an iPhone Nano version, before then. Let's face it, we all know there's going to be at least two kinds of iPhone, just like the iPods, just like the MacBooks, and just like the Macs.
  • pradaaddict, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3So the iPhone isint exactly the holy grail of Smartphones, it's missing a few features that would have made it perfect in every way shape and form. But it's still the best damn smartphone on the market and nobody can dispute that now.

    It's missing 3G. How many other Smartphones have 3G that you can actually get the most of? None.
    Can't set songs as ringones (yet) So what? You'll be listening to your music most of the time.
    You are chained to ATT. - As if any of the other providers are any better.
  • raneka, on 10/11/2007, -4/+0OK, it's time for reality check. The iphone will be a big success due to one thing. Mobile Porn. Admit it, people. That's all any of us really care about. If you have any further questions...sorry, but I'll be "busy"---for about the next 10 or 15 minutes.
    • jhuebel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Look, I'm tired of diggers saying that everything in life revolves around the ability to access pornography. Access to porn does not make or break an industry.

      Also, stop bragging about whacking off in front of your computer. We don't care. Some of us actually upgraded to real women a long time ago. The fact that you've only seen a naked woman in JPG or MPG format doesn't impress us. Trust me, youngling, the carbon-based version is much more fun.
    • raneka, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Mr. Jheubel: my comment was tongue in Cheek. As someone who has been on the internet for over 25 years (twenty five) I understand that humor seldom translates well to humorless people. I also realize that the internet became mainstream in many us households due to the success of AOL in the 1990's and it was somewhat due to the naughty secret that people really like to discuss sex in the AOL chat rooms. I'm sorry you didn't get my joke. And if you can't take a joke, then....
  • MaXPL, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4the guy says the keyboard is "OKAY", i wouldnt call that favorable. its an apple stock owners way of saying, its not very good.
  • jhuebel, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2I have to say, Walt Mosberg's review is pretty well balanced. Sure, he's a little hyped about the product, but I think his comments about wanting to throw the phone out the window show that he has developed a realistic view of the pros and cons of the iPhone. Personally, I'm not interested in buying one, since it's on the AT&T network. I've been a happy Verizon customer for about 8 years and wouldn't switch just to get the newest gadget. My cellphone is business-critical. It's a phone, not a "gadget". All I've got is a Razr v3m, if that indicates how disinterested I am in smartphone technology.
  • chrismag1979, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6NYtimes review of the iPhone says:

    "Then there’s the Internet problem. When you’re in a Wi-Fi hot spot, going online is fast and satisfying.

    But otherwise, you have to use AT&T’s ancient EDGE cellular network, which is excruciatingly slow. The New York Times’s home page takes 55 seconds to appear; Amazon.com, 100 seconds; Yahoo. two minutes. You almost ache for a dial-up modem."

    IT TOOK 55 SECONDS TO OPEN NYTIMES.COM?! AND YAHOO AT 120 SECONDS?! WTF!
    SO IT WOULD TOOK, SAY FOREVER TO VIEW A YOUTUBE CLIP ON YOUR IPHONE!
    IT WOULD ALSO TOOK FOREVER JUST TO VIEW GOOGLE MAPS!
    • AgentHatchet, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3OMG, Caps Lock! Lolz!
    • snowrider221, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1only time I can see myself being frustrated at slow google maps is if i actually did want to use it for driving directions... because while in the car, I'd be forced to use EDGE. Otherwise, its not like I'm not going to be watching youtube videos while on the go...
  • umbriago, on 10/11/2007, -7/+7I don't want to say Mossberg is the biggest Apple fanboy/shill there is, but If Steve Jobs ***** on his coffee table, Mossberg would call it art.
  • chuckpenzone, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Dude - I know it's a small tidbit but "no copy and paste" functionality??? What the heck? So if I want to send you a link from google I have to type it in?
    • jbella, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3The Newton had a neat mechanism for copy and paste. You just held the stylus (in this case your finger) down on a piece of text for a second and that activates selection mode. You then drag your finger over what you want selected and it will highlight the text (or picture). You can then drag the selected piece to the sides of the screen and the snippet goes to a 'shelf.' When you navigate somewhere else you could pull the item off the shelf and drag it anywhere you want. I'm sure they can adopt something like this in the future.
    • diggapleeeze, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1No smartphone (except a pda phone) can copy and paste text.
      • MadOtaku, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1My SLVR Has copy/paste (don't know about the browser, but the OS does).
  • heifetz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I think more people will buy it than people here on Digg expect. The number one reason? Combine the phone and ipod together so you can ditch one device! I love my berry for it's email feature, and occasional web surfing, but if I had an iphone, I wouldn't need to take my nano everywhere I go! Of course, it's not worth the $500 and 2 year contract. I'll wait for version 2.
  • rainergamer, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1STOP.
  • zdiggler, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1I hate that Wall Street guy, he only recommend stuff that he own stock on, it seems.. look at his other reviews.
  • beggersfunk, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1Good Review.
  • Nok1, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Sort of disheartening that they didn't compare it to the PPC6800 (the "Mogul") which "just came out" for Sprint and (and I'm going to assume Verizon as well, but too lazy to check). - http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/review/sprint-mogul-hands+on-269804.php

    Not to mention, why would they compare it to the 700p when there's the 700wx (which pretty much is supposed to be a replacement of the 700p) - http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/9058/palm-treo-700wx-review/

    I also believe that the majority of HTC & O2/XDA series phones are wi-fi enabled, so saying that the iPhone is one of the few smartphones that supports wifi would be an understatement.
  • randomgeek, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6People are funny.

    "It doesn't include the KITCHEN SINK? WTF NO WAI! That does it, I was going to buy one but now.."

    Which of course really means:

    "OMG it's so pretty, but so expensive. I wish I could have one. :( "

    Apple envy has been around for a long time, which is why people are still harping on prices and single mouse buttons even though every Mac user rolls their eyes and dispels the myths every time they hear them. Get over yourself with the "It lacks feature x, omg no!" and realize it's a First Gen product. How many Blackberries have there been? How about Treos? Were the first ones as good as the current ones? Thank you. You can stfu now.
    • chuckpenzone, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I'd hardly call copy and paste the kitchen sink...
  • smartydebater, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Wow, all this hype and it turns out there actually are flaws with the iphone!

    But the genius part of apple's model for the iphone is that they will be able to send out free software updates to out-of-date phones. Since the iphone's features are more software based than other smart phones, the iphone has a definite edge, and Apple is forcing other companies to follow suit.

    To be honest I don't care about the iphone "revolution". But what I do care about is what's coming after the iphone. Apple is forcing other companies to be innovative and eventually all the phones on the market will be truly amazing and packed full of cutting edge technology like the iphone.
    • superkendall, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1I hope that's true but it's been six months already and I ahven't really seen anything that innovative on the horizion - they seem to be drifting deeper into feature/buttonitis. A phone with two sides of buttons? Come on!
  • XYZ1, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3No copy and paste, no IM, no slots for extending the memory, not able to deal with the fastest networks (EDGE), only 2 megapixel camera and also without recording video, no hardware buttons for playback of MP3's,... this are really disadvantages, hope they will fix some of them.
    That means also Apple can't build the perfect device :-) It's always the same, companies invest millions of dollars in development of tech products, and after a few hours the average user can tell what's missing or what should have been implemented...
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