iPhone review roundup

With the iPhone now only a few days away, the main reviews of the highly anticipated product were released today. Steven Levy of Newsweek and Ed Baig of USA TODAY both published their reviews today, in addition to the evaluations of the very high-profile David Pogue of The New York Times and Walt Mossberg of The Walt Street Journal. Here’s a little overview of their reviews:

All of the reviewers had a generally positive view of the iPhone. David Pogue seemed to like it the most, with Walt Mossberg being a little more critical and Steven Levy and Ed Baig having the most problems. All of the reviewers liked the visual voicemail, Google Maps, and several other features, though several aspects of the product got mixed response. Mossberg and Pogue both said they flew on the virtual keyboard after using it for about a week, with Baig also praising the keyboard, while Levy said he had great difficulty with it. The reviewers also pointed out some interesting details about the phone, such as the lack of cut, copy, and paste functions and the device being warm to the cheek when using the phone functionality, in addition to minor quibbles about the headphone jack size.

Mossberg was also able to talk to Steve Jobs and ask him some questions about the device, many followed by “We don't talk about future products.” Though, to his credit, Jobs did comment on the inclusion of EDGE in the iPhone, saying that “the iPhone sandwiches 3G networks with something a bit slower on the bottom and something far faster on the top” (he also mentioned the exclusivity of the iPhone with AT&T and some other topics).

So overall, the initial response to the iPhone by reviewers has been good, but don’t trust my judgement — go out and read them yourself, or see more detailed coverage of each review at our sister blog, iPhone Central. And of course, come Friday, you’ll be able to get an iPhone and try it out yourself.