June 27, 2007
iPhone hypewatch - the early reviews
The fusillade of iPhone coverage continues. Today, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal and David Pogue of the New York Times weigh in on Apple’s shiny new handset. Here’s a look at some early reviews. You can read our own Paul Taylor’s analysis on how the iPhone stacks up against other smart phones here.
Mossberg writes:
Our verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld 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 it sometimes adds steps to common functions.
Pogue wavers a bit, but ultimately pronounces the iPhone fit for consumption:
As it turns out, much of the hype and some of the criticisms are justified. The iPhone is revolutionary; it’s flawed. It’s substance; it’s style. It does things no phone has ever done before; it lacks features found even on the most basic phones.
With the iPhone launch just a few days away, the amount of ink spilled over the gadget is rapidly approaching the limits of endurance for all but the most ardent Mac fanboys. It’s getting so bad that the hype itself has become newsworthy. As Roger Kay at Endpoint Technologies put it in a note last night, it’s "an event spiraling toward the edge of control." Of course, when it comes to spilled ink, we’re as guilty as anyone else.
