Walt Mossberg reviews the iPhone 3G, isn't that impressed (now with more David Pogue and Ed Baig!)

Well this was bound to happen. Ahead of schedule, Walt Mossberg has turned his official review of the new iPhone 3G, and we've got the recap. On the whole, Walt stays mostly positive about the device; he likes the form factor (which he wants to stress really hasn't changed much), says the 3G speeds are a big improvement over EDGE (no kidding?), and informs us that the audio quality and phone reception are -- thankfully -- improved all around. Downsides? There are plenty. Mossberg takes issue with AT&T's new pricing policy, which he finds steep, says he barely squeezed 4 hours and 27 minutes of talk time out of the battery, and gripes that you can only sync Exchange or personal calendars and contacts -- not both. If you're like us, you'll probably want to just read the whole thing. Too lazy? Check the video after the break.

Update: David Pogue of the New York Times has also turned in a kinda-sorta review of the iPhone 3G, though it reads more like an overview of its features than a honest-to-goodness critique. He also makes passing reference to the GPS antenna being "too small" to function as a proper GPS, which makes roughly zero sense to us. Feel free to figure it out on your own.

Update 2: Can't forget Ed Baig of USA Today, who says the new model is "worth the wait" (not to say we have any option at this point anyway, seeing how hard it is to find an original anywhere). He seemed to have trouble picking up 3G service in some locations, though it's not clear whether that can be chalked up to technical issues with the handset or a lack of coverage where he was testing. Like the others, Baig discovered a noticeable improvement in audio quality and a noticeable hit in battery life when hooked up to the 3G network. Gotta pay to play, we guess.

[GatgetMan @ Jul 8th 2008 9:51PM]

That is one...handsome....man.... NOPE!

[rock99rock @ Jul 8th 2008 9:59PM]

Agreed. I also enjoy the screen capture by engadget. It looks like Walt is about to suck the chrome off the webcam.

[� @ Jul 8th 2008 10:52PM]

Or he just took a long drag off a blunt

[� @ Jul 8th 2008 10:52PM]

Yup

[Saha @ Jul 10th 2008 4:20PM]

Walt Mossberg - personal technology for the septuagenarians

[aMac @ Jul 8th 2008 9:51PM]

Sigh

[GatgetMan @ Jul 8th 2008 9:52PM]

Clearly, as you most definitely didn't read nor watch, bypassing both in your quest for low ranking....

[J-Rad @ Jul 8th 2008 9:53PM]

Nice to know that Kernel Sanders has found work

[GatgetMan @ Jul 8th 2008 9:55PM]

Dude, Colonel Sanders is dead....

[GatgetMan @ Jul 8th 2008 9:58PM]

@J-Rad

KERNAL Sanders?
If that's the case, what happens if you mac crashes? Colonel Panic?

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jul 8th 2008 10:02PM]

Colonel Sanders, unless you're talking about the many other definitions of "kernel".

But yeah, put some more hair on him and slap his mug on a KFC bucket.

[J-Rad @ Jul 8th 2008 11:13PM]

Ouch! Low ranked, an all time first for me. I can imagine how a troll must feel everyday!

The sad thing is that I had spent five minutes searching for the correct spelling of what you all claim to be 'Colonial'. Another first: Google has screwed me.

[Uncle Fungal @ Jul 8th 2008 11:55PM]

Agreed; neither Google nor the gene pool have treated you well.

[zzz @ Jul 9th 2008 6:49AM]

If you mac crashes I would say you probably get Colon Panic.

[Bob @ Jul 9th 2008 8:03AM]

Colonel Panic...hmm...sounds like a Venture Brothers villain.

[Adam Erickson @ Jul 9th 2008 8:32AM]

"May I please speak with Colonel Sanders"
"He dead!"
"I want to see the Colonel!"
"I told you, he dead!"

[Andy TGD @ Jul 9th 2008 11:30AM]

GatgetMan, congratulations! You are now officially Engadget's #1 court jester. :)

[GatgetMan @ Jul 9th 2008 11:34AM]

@J-Rad...

It's time to forget you ever posted here....
I don't see any reference for Colonel Sanders in Colonial America...

http://americanhistory.about.com/od/colonialamerica/Colonial_America.htm

[YesHone @ Jul 9th 2008 4:22PM]

You mean #1 court jackass

[weg @ Jul 9th 2008 7:16PM]

Apple couldn't get General Protection Fault and Colonel Error. They already work for Microsoft.

[AlekZander @ Jul 8th 2008 9:53PM]

Walt Mossberg saying something bad about an Apple product? Wasn't that in the Bible somewhere? I mean, should be be preparing for the Apocolypse?

[Dave @ Jul 8th 2008 10:53PM]

Is anyone really surprised that the reviews are mediocre? It's not like they were going to reinvent the wheel with this phone (or give it Bluetooth or MMS...).

Here's a good analogy:

Windows ME : Windows 98 as iPhone 3G : iPhone

[Mr. Snuggle Bunny @ Jul 8th 2008 10:54PM]

More like Applecalypse AMIRITE?

[Abuzar Baloach @ Jul 8th 2008 11:16PM]

Dave, but that would mean that Windows ME was marginally better than 98.

[Dave @ Jul 8th 2008 11:41PM]

and some could argue ME was better in some regards than 98, besides being a memory hog...

[Bruce Poon @ Jul 8th 2008 9:54PM]

Price too steep, eh? I just wish I could get your price plans..

[J L @ Jul 8th 2008 9:57PM]

Canadian, eh?

:P

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jul 8th 2008 10:20PM]

Rogers raping you with the price plans, right Bruce?

[HyeWarrior @ Jul 8th 2008 9:56PM]

Nice to see that someone isn't blinded and automatically praises the damn phone. At least he was honest about it. Personally, I'd love to have an iPhone, but the plans area ripoff, I'll just stick to Verizon and buy the next gen iPod Touch thats HOPEFULLY gonna be announced soon

[Tony @ Jul 8th 2008 10:00PM]

Isn't blinded and automatically praises the iPhone?
The damned review is named "Newer, Faster, Cheaper."

Yeah, completely neutral. All he does is point out what we already knew would improve about the iPhone.

Really, 3G is faster than EDGE? Thank god Mossberg told me or I would have never known!

[Reid @ Jul 9th 2008 10:00AM]

Tony,

Sure, Mossberg is biased. However, giving away the result of the review in the headline is not evidence of said bias. You write the headline (or your editor does) AFTER the review is complete, not before it.

Everyone seems to agree the new hardware isn't that much better, which is what we all expected. I've never had good luck with a GPS phone, which is why I have a real GPS unit.

What I think is funny is how everyone complained about the first iPhone, saying it should have been 3G and it should have had GPS, and how Jobs was lying about battery life and all that. Now the iPhone has 3G and GPS, and, sure enough, both have major drawbacks.

[Reid @ Jul 9th 2008 10:13AM]

BTW, Verizon data plans are the ripoff. $40/mo.

Looks like the original iPhone data plan was $20 because ATT knew that users would scream highway robbery if they tried to charge their normal $30 data plan for a device that only supported EDGE :)

[Joe H @ Jul 8th 2008 9:56PM]

Don't you mean "I like it, I don't care what Mossberg says, and especially don't care that I've never actually used one" or something like that?

[robothouse @ Jul 8th 2008 9:56PM]

Kind of what I expected except the news about the bad battery. That's a real disappointment.

[Will Static @ Jul 8th 2008 9:57PM]

I didn't need walt to tell me this update was a let down...
come lately features and still too big.

[andy @ Jul 8th 2008 9:57PM]

glad Mossberg addressed the pricing policy which is the biggest setback of the iPhone 3G. for once, I have no issues with Mossberg's review. Its fair.

[modeless @ Jul 9th 2008 4:51AM]

Well, he could have mentioned that if battery life is more important than 3G, you can turn it off and get the same battery life the first iPhone had.

[Rick @ Jul 8th 2008 9:58PM]

"...and gripes that you can only sync Exchange or personal email accounts -- not both."

Weird that Mossberg actually states:

"One drawback: While you can have both personal and Exchange email accounts on the new iPhone, if you synchronize with Exchange calendars and contacts, your personal calendar and contacts are erased."

Come on, try to post the correct information so people don't get confused!

[ekinnee @ Jul 9th 2008 10:24AM]

it's true, if you sync Exchange contacts you lose your personal contacts. The same with the calendars, sync work Exchange cal and it wipes your iCal data.

To me that makes the Exchange feature near worthless. So I can have work and home email but not work and home calendars or contacts.

[Timothy Sottek @ Jul 8th 2008 10:03PM]

Uh... is that an XPS One in the background?

I CALL SHENANIGANS!

[Jacob @ Jul 8th 2008 10:09PM]

I think it is an XPS One. That's pretty funny considering how much he loves Macs like the Imac

[The Dude @ Jul 8th 2008 10:45PM]

It IS an XPS One and look at the bottom left of its screen...*BLAM* it's the Vista orb.

[Ed @ Jul 8th 2008 10:54PM]

He's reviewed it in the past; that's probably the unit they sent him.

[Brett @ Jul 10th 2008 5:23PM]

I think steve jobs asked walt to return the demo unit back .. and michael dell was kind enough to let him keep that xps unit, hey if you can't keep it, you might keep praising the thing, who knows steve might have a melt down and give walt one demo unit for keeps !!!

[helixtimestwo @ Jul 8th 2008 10:03PM]

The iP3G is what it is...incremental hardware improvements and 3rd party software support. Its an above average device to be sure, but not the game changer that the original iPhone was.

Hopefully the 3rd generation will make bigger strides.

[JerkyChew @ Jul 8th 2008 10:05PM]

Weird, I know somebody running the 2.0 beta and he has both Exchange and a personal IMAP account syncing on the phone. I wonder if they took that option out in the final rev or if ol' Walt is just mistaken.

[barry99705 @ Jul 8th 2008 11:09PM]

But does he have both exchange calendars and contacts syncing?

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jul 8th 2008 10:05PM]

Does it record video? If not, I'll wait yet another year. Version 3 FTW!!!

[theJoKell @ Jul 8th 2008 10:45PM]

Or just download any number of the video recording apps that will be available once the store opens...

[nerdtalker @ Jul 8th 2008 10:05PM]

Walt is about as much of a failure as you are.

Since when have Walt's reviews _EVER_ been useful? And yet he's untouchable as far as apple reviewers go, he's one of Job's inner circle there. Absurd.