NY Times and USA Today weigh in on iPhone 3G
Summary: Last night I reported that Walt Mossberg has posted his review of the iPhone 3G. Following in his footsteps are Apple's other preferred journos David Pogue from the New York Times ("For iPhone, the ‘New’ Is Relative") and Edward C.
Last night I reported that Walt Mossberg has posted his review of the iPhone 3G. Following in his footsteps are Apple's other preferred journos David Pogue from the New York Times ("For iPhone, the ‘New’ Is Relative") and Edward C. Baig from USA Today ("Apple's new iPhone 3G: Still not perfect, but really close").
Both predictably like the iPhone's major upgrades; 3G which lets you surf the Web "in less than half the time as the old iPhone" (Pogue), Push "Messages and calendar entries are "pushed" to the device, so they show up right away" (Baig), and GPS "I was pretty impressed by the accuracy on the new device" (Baig).
Curiously both Mossberg and Pogue completely ignore the iPhone 3G's new GPS feature with nary a mention of it in their reviews? What gives guys? (Edit: Pogue has three paragraphs on GPS, Mossberg skipped it.)
Both reviews are fairly balanced given the "three horsemen's" clearly preferential status with Apple.
Pogue says that AT&T's 3G network isn't pervasive "in 16 states, only three cities or fewer are covered; 10 states have no coverage at all" and Baig complains that he "couldn't access 3G in parts of my northern New Jersey neighborhood and elsewhere." Pogue laments that there "aren’t many new features" and "iPhone 3G is not really, as Apple’s Web site puts it, “half the price.”" Baig notes that "you still cannot shoot video, take advantage of Bluetooth stereo or dial with a voice command."
What's curious about this year over last is that Newsweek's Steven Levy wasn't invited to the iPhone 3G party with Mossberg, Pogue and Baig. What did he do to get him blacklisted? Perhaps it was his MacBook Air review? Or something he said in his book The Perfect Thing? Apple PR is a fickle, fickle lady. Take it from someone who knows.
Fellow ZDNet blogger Matt Miller notes that the MSM's early reviews of the iPhone 3G may have hurt Apple more than they helped. After reading the early reviews he's not buying, but instead opting to simply upgrade his iPhone 2G to the new 2.0 software.
What about you?
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Talkback
No GPS mention? What review did you read?
iPhone 3G?s new GPS feature with nary a mention of it in
their reviews? What gives guys?"
From [i]For iPhone, the ?New? Is Relative[/i]
"The new iPhone has true G.P.S. now, too, in addition to
the fake G.P.S. of its predecessor ? an ingenious system
that shows your location on a map by analyzing nearby
cellphone towers and Wi-Fi hot spots.
Unfortunately, there?s not much you can do with the G.P.S.
According to Apple, the iPhone?s G.P.S. antenna is much
too small to emulate the turn-by-turn navigation of a
G.P.S. unit for a vehicle, for example."
Did you actually read the reviews?
-Bri
Are you kidding?
LOL
Unfinished products
video conferencing, the fact that the Bluetooth can still
only be used for stupid things as connecting a headphone
but not to connect the phone to a notebook (in order to let
the notebook use the 3G/EDGE modem) the fact that you
cannot forward SMS the lack of decent MMS capabilities
makes this a relic. Iphone was revolutionary a year ago
because of its touch screen, now it is nothing more than
an unfinished PDA. I will not even considering changing
the old one for a new iphone.