I think you mis-characterized their comments more than a wee bit. Both reviewers were extremely enthusiastic about the web browing experience and the overall phone experience. Mossberg of the WSJ called the browser "the best Web browser we have see on on a smart phone." They were overwhelming positive. Most of their criticism was of the slow EDGE network the phone must operate in when it's out of WiFi range. Walt's overall summary is that it is "on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer." Now before anyone starts libeling me as a Apple fanboy, I am a very happy and enthusiastic user of an e61i.

"...Obviously El Reg was hoping to have early access to the latest revolution in mobile computing, but given our relationship with Apple that was never going to happen..."

Enough already with your whining. This situation is the result of your own “poor judgment”. Surely you can’t sentence to death a product you have never seen or touched and expect to be in the list of those who are cautious with what they write and prefer to wait till the product is out before they can predict its fate.

There’s a difference between smart, funny, amusing and pathetic you know.

I have read an enthusiastic review of the iPhone written somewhere else. There is a constant scheme in their statements: "the iPhone has this great feature bla bla bla, BUT it has this little limitation bla bla bla".

It's all so subjective! One could easily turn those sentences around and the overall picture would be disastrous. Among other things, they admit the sound quality is not so good, and making a call requires a few more clicks than in a normal phone. These features are important!

Not having 3G in the States sucks. Thanks to the feds auctioning off the 2.1 MHz without consideration to international standards.

At least my AT&T phone works in Europe. For a while.

I love all these "reviews" written by people who've never touched an iPhone but have read the other reviews then added their own predjudice.

(and it's not just el Reg that's doing it)

But consumer products are bought for very subjective reasons.

Just consider LGs reasonably well selling "Prada" range.

Double the price just because it has a "prada" label and a couple of sparkly bits!

That said I just dont think the iPhone will be kool enough to be a mass seller,

as in this is my subjective opinion and I am not buying one!

Given that the reviews so far are hardly what could be considered independent, I wouldn't exactly say I trust them.

Better to wait for the things to escape into the wild for proper reviews to happen.

Also I'll trust reviews more when they actually have some decent phones to compare to - maybe some of the larger phone review sites might manage that.

Of course, working as a phone sounds like it isn't something the iPhone was really designed to do, more an iPod/email/web machine that happens to have a slightly crappy phone attached, so comparative reviews might not work out too well.

Guess we'll wait and see.

did you guys actually read the WSJ review before you wrote this article?

because you say they sight "lack of MS exchange connectivity... prevented it from being a perfect product"

But if you actually read the words on the WSJ website, you'll see it says MS Exchange is supported:

"Email: The iPhone can connect with most popular consumer email services, including Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, EarthLink and others. It can also handle corporate email using Microsoft's Exchange system"

Having had a windows mobile smartphone, one of the aspects I disliked most about it was that I couldn't compose text messages, or even type in phone numbers, while walking along. Not having a physical keypad obviously means there's no tactile feedback, and because of this I found I had to stop to input text accurately.

I guess it's a minor issue but really annoyed me, and because of it there's no way I would get an iphone.

"...I couldn't compose text messages, or even type in phone numbers, while walking along" ?!?

I have a HTC Hermes (rebranded as an iMate JasJam) with a touch-screen. While it has a slide-out keyboard, I rarely use it except when I am sitting down - I find the touch-screen much easier to use when walking. Yes, I am quite capable of putting the phone in front of me and typing the number in (or mucking around with the media-player program) while walking WITHOUT crashing into anything.

And yes, I have also mastered the art of reading a book while walking down the street (but I do stop when crossing the road - I'm not suicidal). It's just a skill, like anything else; you simply learn to become aware of what's happening around the object you are focusing on.

itsa phone. get over it already and get a life.

I'll be interested to see if it can work with Push technology from MS Exchange... then i really will get one!!

Reg, you can always take revenge and review the *real* phone revolution, the Neo1973, which will sell from July 9th.

http://lists.openmoko.org/pipermail/announce/2007-June/000014.html

Per the article: "GTA02 (AKA: The Mass Market Neo 1973) is on schedule to go on sale in October."

I always go by the old standard I used when reading film reviews. If the critic slated it - go watch it and it often turned into a cult classic. So if more than 50% of the iPhone reviewers rubbish it, it is probably a brilliant piece of kit.

Remember - critics, reviewers and consultants should be treated with extreme caution.

I believe that elReg are correct in the quote around MS Exchange connectivity, this from Apples site:

"What email systems does iPhone support?

iPhone supports the most popular email standards — IMAP and POP3. Check with your email provider to make sure the provider uses these standards. iPhone works with most popular email services, including Yahoo! Mail, Google Gmail, AOL, and .Mac Mail. Yahoo! Mail supports “push” email and can automatically deliver new email messages to your iPhone."

Doesn't sound like MS Exchange support is there by default.

Dillon Pyron. We do actually have 3G. My laptop is quite happily whizzing along at about 1.5Mbps at the moment in NY. Dirt cheap too. Unlimited for 25 quid a month.