Rupert Goodwins

Mixed Signals

Any sufficiently advanced information is indistinguishable from noise

Wednesday 27 June 2007, 12:40 AM

iPhone - first reviews

Looks like the embargo's off in the US; the first reviews are coming in. Check out Crunchgear for a round-up; they're still up in the US, so there may be more tomorrow. Right now, it's the NY Times and the WSJ. The NYT has a 'video diary', which doesn't seem quite sure whether it's an advert or not but is fun to watch anyway.

Plus points: screen fabulous, web browsing ditto (via WiFi), interface for graphics and webbery works very well, various user interface elements ditto. Voice mail/email integration excellent.

Ho-hum points: entering text via touchscreen not as good as using real keys. No MMS or video capture. Battery life five hours or so use. Internal camera... not brilliant.

Bad points: no Java, Flash, memory slot, GPS, replaceable battery (back to Apple after two years), EDGE only (and on AT&T's excreable network too - minutes to load web pages). Making a phone call is a five-step process,

It's clearly going to get GPS, Java and Flash (it so is) and 3G (it SO is). A two year irreplacable battery life - well, it never killed the iPod, which is by now my longest-owned pocket device (I replaced the irreplacable battery. My last Nokia had a replaceable battery, which cost more than a new phone. Huh).

But bad at making phone calls and text messages?

Mmm. Bold.

(OK - one update before I turn in. Walt Mossberg, the WSJ's tech bod, has his review up here outside the WSJ's paywall. He's keen, got nearer the 8 hour battery life promised, and says the keyboard's a non-issue once you get past three days of pain. But there's no cut and paste, entering punctuation is a bit messy, and navigating within documents outside the web browser is clearly not so grand. I'm not sure that ditching the iPod's music interface for a big scrolly list of album covers is a good thing either, although there may be more to it than these early reviews have said)