Mossberg on new iPhone: it'll have "lots of added features," available within a month?

Let's just be totally honest with each other here: Walt Mossberg probably has a new iPhone that none of us have ever seen. In fact, he could very well have two or more, depending on exactly what Apple intends to unveil at WWDC next week. We doubt the guy's actively trying to blow Apple's cover, but he's been surprisingly candid in the past ahead of press embargoes both on the original model and the 3G, so it's anyone's guess what's really going on in that mind of his -- other than proper goatee grooming techniques, obviously -- and there's a little gem in his just-released Pre review that gives us pause:

"Whether the Pre is better than the iPhone depends on your personal preferences, though I'd note that the new iPhone to be unveiled next week will have lots of added features that could alter those calculations."

Now granted, Walt could simply be talking about all the great stuff 3.0 will bring to the platform, but we tend to think there's something a little more revealing afoot here -- the notion that the new iPhone is awesome enough to potentially tip the scale against the Pre for some cross-shoppers. Whether it's the rumored 3.2 megapixel AF camera, the integrated radio tuner, the OLED display, the faster processor, the butter pecan ice cream dispenser, or some totally unknown stuff that has him fired up, we don't know -- but we wouldn't be surprised if Palm execs were furiously refreshing our liveblog of Schiller's keynote come next Monday.

Update: Reading further into the review, Walt continues to walk the fine line between harmless speculation and thinly-veiled news leakage, saying that new iPhone hardware will be "likely available within a month." He also goes on to mention that it'll "likely" lack a physical keyboard, quashing a longstanding rumor that's gone quiet in recent months.

[mahmud @ Jun 4th 2009 1:24AM]

Ah pretty cool trick he pulled an iphone out of his ear. I don't have much money so I'm planning on learning how to do that when the new one comes out.

[nerdtalker @ Jun 4th 2009 1:43AM]

Mossturd has magical geriatric features. It's one of the only benefits of getting old and crotchety, and filming your reviews in a dirty nursing home.

On a side note, am I the only one that wonders if he honestly thinks about what he places behind him while filming reviews for the frigging WSJ? I half expect to see prune juice or Bengay on his shelves.

[SONYEDDIE @ Jun 4th 2009 2:13AM]

what is the point of the wwdc when apple is giving away its details on the phone? -_-
trying to let out as much as they can before pre?

[Patriks7 @ Jun 4th 2009 3:32AM]

Looking at all the rumors, he could have even pulled it out of his ass...

[iphonerulez @ Jun 4th 2009 8:07AM]

It doesn't matter what golden features the iPhone has or doesn't have. Nearly everyone that can actually afford any version iPhone will want it and it will definitely sell in the millions of sales units quickly. If it has features that every Nokia and Palm handset had for the past ten years, those features will work infinitely better on the iPhone and the users will go nuts over it. For those of you that think this stuff is insignificant, you just don't understand marketing or sales. Anyone that believes Palm has great marketing skills for moving their products are clearly deluded.

The Nokia N97 is a terrific piece of hardware and yet Nokia will practically have to try to give that thing away no matter how great the hardware is. The UI is clunky and the features are nearly unfathomable. Something that only an Engadget techie would love. However, most of the up-and-coming smartphone users are not techies. Even if every Nokia came with a videoconferencing camera for the last five years, the iPhone camera will get used like it was some sort of brand new technology. iChat mobile would most likely become an instant hit in the smartphone industry.

Nokia makes decent high-end smartphones, but they don't seem to have much business acumen at all which is shown by how they're losing market share and money in the biggest smartphone growth era. Their expensive smartphones are being called handsets for old-timers.

So call the iPhone cheap crap with technology every handset had years ago and maybe it is true, but it takes very good business skills to make huge amounts of money from selling crap.

Let's face it, the Pre is old news. It'll be here in less than two days and will be almost gone in three. Not because it's a bad handset, but because Palm doesn't know how to sell products.

[Le Big Mac @ Jun 4th 2009 9:03AM]

Either Mossberg has a really small head or that's a picture of him with the MacTablet.

[mahmud @ Jun 4th 2009 9:07AM]

Hey iphonerulez, your comment could have been the cure to cancer but the combination of your username and the fact that it's waaaay too tl;dr for the internet means that it will go unheard.

[boss-hogg @ Jun 4th 2009 9:27AM]

Mossberg is the biggest Mac Fanboy that we have seen thus far.

[Paul Mensah @ Jun 4th 2009 1:25AM]

First

[Chris Ziegler @ Jun 4th 2009 1:27AM]

But you're not, is the thing.

[no. @ Jun 4th 2009 1:32AM]

You mean Bing, Chris.

[nerdtalker @ Jun 4th 2009 1:47AM]

I think Chris just did the smackdown...

[ManoloDF @ Jun 4th 2009 2:30AM]

Good taste in avatar

[alo8a @ Jun 4th 2009 4:58PM]

Hey! you are downranking Paul A. Chapelle's brother...

[iApple @ Jun 4th 2009 1:26AM]

fuck to the hell yeah! i love you all

[no. @ Jun 4th 2009 1:26AM]

details are overwhelming

[bernie16wb @ Jun 4th 2009 1:26AM]

Can I have the ice cream if Jobs thinks it has too many buttons?

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Jun 4th 2009 1:29AM]

to quote Borat..

interestingstorynot

[lawyer bird @ Jun 4th 2009 3:12AM]

We still quote Borat? I was unaware.

[Maliberti @ Jun 4th 2009 1:29AM]

first----------stupid assssssssssssssss

[raphymartinez @ Jun 4th 2009 1:35AM]

"Unfortunately for Palm, Apple has both a new iPhone operating system and new iPhone hardware coming, likely available within a month, that could obviate many of these advantages."

[sweet greggo @ Jun 4th 2009 9:18AM]

Nice copy/paste. You are obviously not using an iPhone.

[logicbomb.de @ Jun 4th 2009 3:09PM]

Can't do that with the Pre either, at least not from any web pages you aren't

[Evangelion @ Jun 4th 2009 1:36AM]

Monday can't come soon enough.

[Brad Held @ Jun 4th 2009 9:06AM]

or for alot of us...Saturday and the Palm Pre!!!

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Jun 4th 2009 1:40AM]

Walt is trying to be officially crowned Apple apologist now?

I'm sure the new phone is nice, but a person who considers himself a journalist would do well to try to remain a bit more neutral.

[Idlemind @ Jun 4th 2009 10:35AM]

he should go back to selling shotguns...Journalism was a hobby...

[Jeremy @ Jun 4th 2009 11:34AM]

It boggles the mind that someone gets paid to literally read tech blog sites and rewrite them months later in his/her own, biased words.

[sanriver12 @ Jun 4th 2009 12:07PM]

he's a hack. end of story. let's move on

[jjrudey @ Jun 4th 2009 1:41AM]

im guessing the new iphone will have a front facing camera, an aluminum back or something other than plastic, a better camera, faster processor and all that stuff, maybe an OLED screen, and some others, but that would be a major upgrade an would most likely make the cost of the iphone go up, i just hope they go to other carriers and make cheaper plans

[n_shakuras @ Jun 4th 2009 1:56AM]

A front facing camera? On a U.S. carrier? Not bloody likely. Haven't you noticed how all phones released for the U.S. market have those specifically removed? Apple is biggest in the states, so I don't see them making a domestic and an international version of the phone just for the camera.

[poematik14 @ Jun 4th 2009 2:20AM]

Why dont US spec phones have front facing cameras? The last one I saw was some Samsung flip phone from Verizon when I was in junior high.

[Boards of Canada @ Jun 4th 2009 7:56AM]

Thats plain weird... Im in Osaka and all the phones here, even the free ones, have front faced cams. Why no in US? its really useful for make video calls. Each time my wife go shopping, she can ask my advice by phone and its just like I am with her, hidden in a tiny lcd!

[Nelson @ Jun 4th 2009 9:00AM]

What do you all mean by a front facing camera? My Samsung Alias 2 (and my original Alias it replaced) both have a camera on what could be considered the front. It also has a small screen right under the camera which can show what the camera sees.

Am I missing something?

[jake @ Jun 4th 2009 9:11AM]

front facing phones = video calls = bandwidth that the carriers are not willing/unable to offer

[jimmy @ Jun 4th 2009 12:50PM]

2 things people want (in this thread, anyway)

Front facing camera and cheaper plans.

NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. The bandwidth needed for AT&T to support over 10 million iPhone users (of course, this is assuming current iPhone users upgrade) doing video chat is astronomical. The fact is that AT&T can barely keep up with the data needs of iPhone users now. Adding OTA video conferencing will increase needs, and increase costs. This means no cheaper plans, but maybe even more expensive plans to cover the cost.

I see tiered data plans coming... 5GB/month for $20 (like the USB modem sticks), Unlimited web for $30, and $40 for unlimited web and video chat.

just my .02.

[rube @ Jun 4th 2009 1:44AM]

time to sell Palm stock and dump all the profits into Apple

[SONYEDDIE @ Jun 4th 2009 2:10AM]

um no

[sweet greggo @ Jun 4th 2009 1:44AM]

Once again, Mossberg's shilling takes the stage. Instead of just giving a halfway decent review of the Pre, he litters the article with cashed checks from Apple. Why the WSJ doesn't fire him for moonlighting is anyone's guess.

[Look_Around_You @ Jun 4th 2009 7:23AM]

Thanks for saving me the effort of having to read anything from that clown.

But I suppose that's SOP from for Mossburg.

That is why Apple's gives him full access and early test units of everything they make. They know he's completely in the tank for them, will never give them a terrible review, and will shill for them whenever necessary.

[steven @ Jun 4th 2009 1:45AM]

chris i think u are being an asshole for putting up an iphone article right after every palm pre article

[david @ Jun 4th 2009 1:46AM]

I hope this phone is AWESOME!!! That way, when I dump it next year and go BACK to Verizon (because we all know they are getting the iPhone next year...) I will be able to sell it to pay off the early termination and some cash left over to boot!

[zamboni @ Jun 4th 2009 1:47AM]

Goatberg has a preview of every gadget ahead of time. Most famous was him breaking the news of Wurlitzer features ahead of the embargo in 1943.

[syko21 @ Jun 4th 2009 1:48AM]

An app to hack the comments lists of tech websites to say First or can it play crysis in first post?

[Richard Lai @ Jun 4th 2009 1:50AM]

As always, Mossberg spreads the good words of an Apple product across the article. I'd love to see him try to write a non-Apple product review without mentioning Apple more than once.

[Jason @ Jun 4th 2009 9:56AM]

While I don't really think he needed to bring it up nearly as often as he did, let's be honest: anyone reading a review of the Palm pre will want to know how it compares to the iPhone, which is seen as its major competition. Not mentioning the iPhone at all, or how current comparisons might be skewed because Apple is releasing a new version, would make a pretty bad review wouldn't it?

All that said, Mossberg's certainly known to be an Apple-guy, and he didn't need to mention them nearly as much for a balanced review. (Full-disclosure, I have an iPhone. And not upgrading anytime soon).

[Richard Lai @ Jun 4th 2009 12:20PM]

@Jason: It's more to do with Mossberg's style of writing. You can't blame readers if they suspect Mossberg has a darker intention with his article. I just don't think his review is consistent, too often fragmented by the obsessive plugs for the iPhone (which I do own as well). A proper review should focus on the product alone first, before slamming it at bullet rate using other products.

[dtatgenho @ Jun 4th 2009 1:50AM]

Are you fucking kidding me! Leave it to Engadget to squeeze an iPhone post out of a Palm Pre review.

You guys really are douche bags ...

[Chris Ziegler @ Jun 4th 2009 1:56AM]

We did our own absolutely stellar, exhaustive Palm Pre review, in case you missed it -- no need to point out Mossberg's.

And by the way, we loved it.

[dtatgenho @ Jun 4th 2009 2:08AM]

@Chris Ziegler:

Yeah, I read Engadget's review of the Pre - it was thorough, fair, and had great points.

Remind me again how that somehow excuses you from only seeing the word "iPhone" in an 1800-word review about the Palm Pre?

I never said Engadget hates the Pre, I said Engadget needs to get off Apple's nuts.

There is a difference.

Read closer, understand better.

and here's one last one, just so you walk away smiling: iPhone....