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Mossberg's Early iPhone Impressions

Walt Mossberg picked up his review iPhone yesterday according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

During a speech, Mossberg pulled the phone from his pocket:

"I dont know whether Ill give it a good review or not," he said, noting that he will use the phone for the next couple of weeks before writing his review. "I can already see some things I dont like about it. I see some other things that I do like a lot about it."


He felt that the key aspect of it was whether or not the iPhone's touch screen keyboard would be an adequate replacement for traditional keypads. His first impression is that "it works a little better than I thought, but Im still not sure it works as well as a regular keyboard -- and the first hour is not a very fair test, so Im going to keep going at it."

Mossberg's full review will likely come on June 29th, the day the iPhone will be publicly available.

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61 months ago
Just knowing that there are iPhones already out in the wild (even if only in reviewers' hands) makes me a little jittery.
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61 months ago
Betcha a donut he gives it a good review. He'll end up praising the virtual keyboard.
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61 months ago
If Walt gives it a bad review we're in trouble; he's generally very pro-Apple. Could be interesting.
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61 months ago
Of course he'll like it. Has he ever actually panned anything apple?
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61 months ago

If Walt gives it a bad review we're in trouble; he's generally very pro-Apple. Could be interesting.



I don't think that would happen. Uncle Walt is practically on the Apple payroll.;)
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61 months ago

If Walt gives it a bad review we're in trouble; he's generally very pro-Apple. Could be interesting.


you read my mind... like how he apologized and dribbled over Steve during the interview at D, saying "i'm sorry... I didn't think about your feelings".

That being said, it will be nice for him to have the phone for an extended period. To this point, people have only had minutes (if that) with the phone.
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61 months ago
We already know that the touch keyborad takes some getting used to, so time is an important factor for many.

On the other hand, many don't like the present keyboard set up on existing phones and may readily adapt to the touch screen easily....we'll see what is functional for both groups.

:confused:
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61 months ago
I've never used the tiny keyboards on smartphones, so i figure my learning curve will be not so steep. Just getting used to the "iPhone way" and thats it.

For those used to a conventional small keyboard, it may be more difficult, but most likely people will learn to love it.
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61 months ago

If Walt gives it a bad review we're in trouble; he's generally very pro-Apple. Could be interesting.


What do you mean exactly when you say, "we're in trouble"? This is Apple, not you. It's their phone, and you're just a potential customer. Unless you're a stock holder, but even then, you have so much more to worry about than a koolaid drinking fan-boy fake reviewer like Mossberg. When has he ever been anything but a supporter?

Best,

Alex
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61 months ago
During Walt's interview with Steve Jobs recently, he expressed his nervousness to Steve about the lack of a real keyboard. Steve told him to give it a week, and he'd never go back. If I remember, correctly, I think he guaranteed it. Apparently, there is a learning curve, as with anything new. Steve was very reassuring and extremely confident in terms of how much better this aspect of iPhone performs than what we are all used to. I rememer, that this was Mossberg's chief concern, so it doesn't surprise me he'd be fumbling a bit with it at first.
I just can't imagine that Apple approached the user experience of it's iPhone multi-touch as applied to typing on it, with anything less than its usual brilliance. It seems too much of a major feature of the iPhone. Apple knew they had to nail it. It just will require everybody to rethink how they type on a phone for a little while until they get used to it.
I bet it takes Mossberg a little longer, because he has a skeptical mind on this issue. But he'll come around. :) That's my take on it, anyway. I hope I'm right.
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