Chris Ziegler wrote:

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.”

Mossberg is widely regarded as one of the most influential writers on information technology –Wired called him “The Kingmaker”. He created the Journal’s annual D: All Things Digital conference, in which top technology leaders, such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, appear on stage.

[Source and image credit]

“I’ve been testing the Instinct, and while it isn’t a bad phone and has some features the Apple product lacks, it’s no match for the iPhone. The manufacturers haven’t replicated the iPhone’s greatest strength: beautiful, powerful, breakthrough software.” – Walt Mossberg

Strong words against the device. The Instinct will begin shipping on June 20th, meaning it will beat the iPhone 3G out of the gates. The problem is, Sprint has been advertising the devices 3G and GPS, directly targeting the iPhone on that front. Maybe someone should tell them about the iPhone 3G. Mossberg seems to be the few, as many that have reviewed the Instinct found it to be a very nice device.

[Via Wall Street Journal]

“Walt notes that in the clip, he’s making an aside during a larger point about data networks, and says that in any event, he doesn’t know if it’s correct. So where’d it come from? It’s a ballpark estimate, he says, based on the same speculation the rest of us are seeing” Silicon Valley Insider

Strangely, the veteran reporter claims not to be interested in when the 3G version comes out, because it won’t affect his review of the device.  I’m not sure if I follow the logic.

“If I knew when this date was, why would I announce it in the middle of a sentence at the Finnish embassy, rather than report it in the Wall Street Journal?” Walt Mossberg

Perhaps, Walt, but if this was as the conspiracists among us suspect and an accidentally-broken NDA, that would be a pretty good reason not to announce it via your official mouthpiece – the favours of Jobs & co would be unlikely to flow so freely in future.

End of the day, the 3G iPhone is coming sooner rather than later; perhaps not in two months exactly, but it’ll undoubtedly be the big handset this year.

Just a few days ago, De la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility told a crowd of journalist and analyst at a media lunch where I was presented that “all devices on AT&T” will be 3G-capable. That was enough to make me wet my pants, so you can imagine how ecstatic I am to hear my man Walt announce the 3G iPhone’s arrival around June 4th time frame.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRODhJJ6UBw[/youtube]

I venture to predict that the new iPhone 2.0 firmware will power the 3G iPhone (iPhone 2 or as Darren of Digg calls it the iPhone Pro) when it breaks cover during Apple’s yearly developer meet up. I wonder how Steve Jobs feel about the De la Vega and Walt’s premature announcement of the forthcoming iPhone.

In related news, iPodObserver.com published an image showing the back of an iPhone purported to be the new 3G iPhone. Rumors rarely come true, but you never know. From what I can tell from the image, Apple did away with the satin nickel in place of a glossy black back. I’m game for the black over the satin nickel – how about you? Other than that, everything else remains the same, including the 8GB configuration to the flash-less camera.

Walt’s particularly pleased with the changes to how the iPhone recognises some iPod accessories; unlike before, where many dock adaptors, in-car charge & audio cables and external speakers would fail to be recognised by the handset, now there are far more ways to enjoy your music (and hopefully make the most of any third-party iPod gadgets you already own). 

Also handy are the tweaks to the email app – you can now choose to forward a copy of all email sent to a BCC address rather than just a CC address, and as Vincent noticed after running the update all your IMAP folders are synchronised rather than just Inbox/Drafts/Sent/Trash.

The cellphone favourites has also been brushed with the update wand, increasing capacity to fifty numbers (from 20); users are also reporting improved WiFi stability, particularly when using public networks.

All in all, while it didn’t bring the expansive functionality update many hoped for (IM client, MMS, etc) it’s a successful polish of the iPhone.

Have you noticed anything new since updating your handset?  Or has a favoured behaviour changed for the worse?  Let us know in the comments.

While answering his Q&A that he posted on his blog he discussed some of the concerns with the Safari browser at launch. He then tipped us off that Apple was already working on Flash Support.

At launch, the iPhone version of the Safari browser is missing some plug-ins needed for playing common types of Web videos. The most important of these is the plug-in for Adobe’s Flash technology. Apple says it plans to add that plug-in through an early software update, which I am guessing will occur within the next couple of months.

That will certainly bring a new aspect of fun to the iPhone. Perhaps knowing this, developers can begin working on flash-based applications for the coveted phone.

Mossberg: Apple working on Adobe Flash support for iPhone [via appleinsider]

Walt is helping out the iPhone confused by answering some commonly asked questions, such as to what extent AT&T allow you to swap SIM cards (answer: not much) and how flexible the Bluetooth is (answer: good, if you’ve got a BMW).  He also mentions this little nugget about what Apple offer when you have to send your iPhone in for a battery exchange:

“One twist: because a phone is a necessity, Apple is offering loaner iPhones for $29 while your phone’s battery is being replaced, or for the period of any other repair on the iPhone. You will have to switch the AT&T SIM card from your own phone to the loaner, and then back again. Details are at apple.com/support/iphone/service/faq.”

What’s good is he’s not entirely glowing about the cellphone, and is quite willing to pull it up on its shortcomings (e.g. frustrating email delete process, lack of 3G).  There’s still an awful lot of misinformation out there – that this is the finest phone of all time, for instance – and while it’s undoubtedly great there are plenty of areas for improvement which will see iPhone v.2 eagerly anticipated.

Questions about Apple’s iPhone[Mossberg's Mailbox]

First off, a summary of the four main reviews.  Walt Mossberg called the iPhone “the most beautiful and the most radical smartphone I have ever tested” and went on to explain that, despite initial keyboard misgivings which saw him want to “throw it out the window” after the first three days, after a couple more all his frustrations were assuaged.  In fact now he claims to hit speeds hitherto only reached on his Treo (we’ll assume that he’s pretty fast on that).  His biggest critique, then, is not so much for the iPhone itself but the network it’s lumbered with: AT&T’s coverage isn’t country-wide, and if you’re not well served by the-carrier-formerly-known-as-Cingular then it might be worth keeping your money in your piggy bank.

Of course, like everyone else the lack of 3G cellular broadband proves to be the unpleasant foil to the nippy WiFi, Walt pretty much saying that the excellent browser is severely let down by the slow EDGE connection.  Even seamless switching to whichever connection is available and faster doesn’t save the situation, an opinion shared by the New York Times’ David Pogue.  In a funny and well-produced video review David describes the slothful load times the phone suffers: “The New York Times’s home page takes 55 seconds to appear; Amazon.com, 100 seconds; Yahoo, two minutes. You almost ache for a dial-up modem.” 

David seemed to be a good example of that coverage issue Walt was concerned about; he was obviously stuck in a less-than-stellar area and suffered patchy call quality and those ponderous download times.  Still, the iPhone made a good impression nonetheless, with the Safari browser sending him into paroxysms of delight while durability of both the glass screen and metal casing was pleasantly high.

Edward Baig at USA Today calls the iPhone a prodigy, albeit one that needs to grow up.  He gives it a middling 3.5 out of 5, primarily it would seem for the lack of 3G and the rest of the features needing ’rounding out’ with IM (although he notes that SMS conversations are threaded), GPS (though Google Maps give directions that can be manually flipped through), support for Flash websites (a common complaint) and better use made of the camera (which has neither flash nor video recording capability).  The keyboard gets another grudging thumbs-up together with the advice to “trust the device” and its predictive correction function, and his glee over the high-res screen just goes to show that you’re well-rewarded for losing a traditional keypad.

From the sound of it, Steven Levy over at Newsweek Technology had to be coerced into playing with his iPhone thanks to a delayed flight, but he comes out of the experience happy: “one of the most hyped consumer products ever comes pretty close to justifying the bombast.”  Pretty close is something we’re hearing a lot of, but Steven’s pro list is certainly heavy.  Ease of use rates very highly, as does general convergence of bringing together cellphone, PMP and internet terminal; he also reserves praise for the durability and engineering of the iPhone as well as the super-streamlined setup process which uses iTunes.

He’s a little more reserved about the memory capacity; 4GB or 8GB sounds like plenty, but as Steven points out heavy music users “will be unhappy at the limited capacity.”  The absence of a mobile iTunes client to download new music is another point of criticism: “what’s the use of having Wi-Fi on an iPod if you can’t go to the iTunes store?”  And for all Walt, Edward and David’s content with the keyboard, Steven admits to getting nowhere close to the speeds he could manage on a traditional smartphone keyboard.  Still, he’s right that heavy email users (particularly those who send a lot rather than just receive) might be better off sticking to their Blackberry. 

Battery life tended to be a case of “charge it overnight”, with total talk-time managing just over seven hours in Walt’s tests while David got five solid hours of video viewing or 23 hours of music (with WiFi permanently connected).

So in these learned men’s opinion, should you run down to your nearest AT&T or Apple store and buy an iPhone?  None of them come away disappointed or even less than excited by the long-awaited, much-hyped cellphone, and all of them are quick to point out that the few flaws or stumbling blocks this first version has don’t undermine what is likely a market-changing handset.  The safe bet, they say, is to wait until the second incarnation – likely with 3G, GPS and more – but the gut reaction?  Buy one: you won’t be disappointed.

Our man Vincent Nguyen will be at the 55th Avenue Apple store in Manhattan for the launch, giving out a variety of iPhone accessories and other prizes.  Make sure you drop by and say hello if you’re in the area!

He did however say this in regards to the keyboard; “I wanted to throw it out the windows after 3 days.” But then went on to say that 5 days in he found that he could type as well and as fast and accurate as his Treo. That’s great to hear Walt!

“My conclusion is the keyboard issue on the iPhone is a non issue.” Click over to watch Mossberg’s review of the iPhone.

Read the rest of Walt Mossberg’s review of the Apple iPhone: Testing Out the iPhone

Furthermore, he is very pleased with the clarity, sharpness and resolution of the iPhone’s 3.5-inch glass-topped multi-touch screen. LoopRumor’s source went on to claim that Mossberg is impressed with the screen’s responsiveness to the finger input and he plans on using the iPhone as his primary phone from now on.

We’ll have to wait for Mossberg’s official review, scheduled to be published at launch on June 29th, to determine the accuracy of this report.

Mossberg ‘loving’ the iPhone? [Via iPhoneAlley]

I don’t know whether I’ll give it a good review or not…I can already see some things I don’t like about it. I see some other things that I do like a lot about it.

What about all the other cool features like the accelerometer making the iPhone automatically rotate from portrait to landscape, cover flow, visual voicemail or even watching videos on the super large screen? You didn’t comment on how it feels or its drool-worthy sexiness.

I personally think you need to get pass the fact that the iPhone does not and will never have a physical keyboard. Physical keyboards are so yesterday. The iPhone’s touch-screen keypad is the way of the future.

We do see eye to eye on one thing – the iPhone is the next level of cellphones and yes it rocks that a real engine (hardware and software) is powering this bad boy.

Walt, I look forward to reading your review of the iPhone.

By the way, one thing you need to answer for me (actually more for Scobleizer):

Will it allow Flash to load? Walt Mossberg just got an iPhone. I wonder what happens when he goes to Google’s Finance site? Does the chart show up? -Robert Scoble

Related:
Jobs, Gates, and Mossberg talk tech at D5: All things Digital
Walt Mossberg on the iPhone: Apple’s Category Killer?
or read all posts related to Walt Mossberg

MY iTablet conducted a simple survey asking visitors what Mossberg will say about the iPhone. An overwhelming majority voted the response “I love the iPhone!”. While he didn’t really say that, he did make the following comment.

And I can tell you that in the first hour it works a little better than I thought, but I’m still not sure it works as well as a regular keyboard—and the first hour is not a very fair test, so I’m going to keep going at it.

Getting the iPhone 18-days before launch is just mind blowing!

Walt Mossberg Has the iPhone [Gizmodo]

CNBC interviewed Walt Mossberg, WSJ Personal Technology Columnist regarding the iPhone. This interview took place the day Apple unveiled the iPhone to the world.

Anyways, Mossberg was one of the few privy to an up close and personal hands-on with the iPhone. Even though he only got twenty minutes with the iPhone, he spoke highly of it.

I do think it is what you call a category killer, potentially.

[flv]http://www.myitablet.com/media/Walt-Mossberg-on-the-Apple-iPhone.flv[/flv]

June 29th is around the corner and there’s no doubt in my mind that Mossberg will have the first published review of the iPhone for the WSJ, before anyone else. I wonder if he will still feel the same about it. We’ll just have to wait and see.

[poll=31]

Related: MY iTablet live blogging of WWDC 2007 Keynote

• New iPhone Ads Now Available on Apple.com!
• Apple iPhone release date is June 29th, and new video of iPhone ad!

Vincent is pretty excited, he’s covering the main event at D5 where Gates and Jobs take the stage with Walt Mossberg. I think it will be a great thing to watch. Like them or not, they’re two of the biggest players in the tech world right now. Stay tuned, he’ll be feeding us live coverage from the event.

7:21pm Showing old videos…IBM, Microsoft, Apple…nothing too exciting yet.

7:25 “2007 Together Here”

It’s actually Walk, Kara, Steve, and Gates from left to right.

Walt introducing some folks in the audience

Kara jumps in and asks whats up with the cat fight and who’s done what for the computing industry? Jobs first to answer by saying Bill built the first software for the industry – focusing on the software before anyone else had a clue. Building a company is hard, getting the right talent and keeping them. Bill has been staying with it for all these years.

Bill clarify he’s not fake “Steve Jobs” all laughed…

Walt…Microsoft software in the first Apple II computer? Walt wants Bill to talk about it. Something about floating point Bill worked with Woz…Steve jumps in and interrupts Bill.

Jobs talks about how perfect Woz’s coding is except for fixed point – flawed. “We” is Steve begging Woz to making it floating point. Steve never understood why.

Microsoft had the solution for $31,000 on cassette tape. Bill thought the working relationship was fun. Kara commented “maybe later when it wasn’t fun.”

Walt remembers paying a bundle for a 128k computer at the time.

Kara wants to know what the future of Apple and MS…

Bill said he’s not happy with Apple not supporting higher platform something (clarify later)

Bill thinks that Apple didnt advance as fast in the GUI area…

Jobs’ job was to get the ship (Apple) pointed inthe right direct…everyone laughed (something funny here)

Walt commented that Windows 95 was a huge leap. Gates agree.

Walt talks to Jobs about coming back to Apple something about being in a battle between Apple and MS.

Jobs agree Apple was in trouble, and if it’s a zero sum game, Apple would lose. That’s the mentality. Too many people at Apple playing the system that in order for Apple to win, MS had to lose. APPLE NEED TO REMEMBER WHO APPLE WAS…he wanted to break that Paradign. Jobs called Bill up and patched things up when he returned to Apple. (how big of him!)

Kara likes PC guys better than the Apple guy. Steve said the purpose of the apple vs pc is to get those guy to like each other. Bill says PC guys mother loves him!

(everyone laughed)

Walt wants to know how often is Apple on MS’ radar? Jobs commented all Zune owners are Apple customers…all laughed

Jobs…big secret about Apple is that it’s a software company with a beautiful box around it ie. ipod, mac, and maybe iphone?

Walt ask if there were any regrets that Jobs did or didn’t do that could have increase market share for Apple?

Jobs things there could be a number of things, but it doesnt matter. Looking forward is what counts. What happens tomorrow counts! Invent tomorrow rather than happened yesterday.

Kara wants to know what’s going on today and in today’s landscape. Jobs thinks it’s superhealthy, young folks building next generation companies. Lots of activities. Bill agrees – healthy. Bill thinks looking back, this is a big period for invention.

Steve loves google maps, called up google to get something going for the iPhone. Apple wrote api apps resulting in a kick ass client that’s better than any other phone on the market.

Jobs thinks the marriage between services and a powerful devices is more important than just a device with a browser. ie. google maps.

Walt doesnt think this magical device perhaps a tablet hasnt stormed the market yet.

Kara wants to know what would each of them carry in 5-years as a single device?

Steve carries an iphone now and a mbp, an iphone right here right now, what does bill have?

In 5-years bill thinks it’s not just one device, he believes in tablet form factor with rich powerful apps, and then a device that fits in the pocket for navigation, phone, etc. At home there would be gaming, network, etc. Every horizontal surface would have a projector. Walt asks if he can have a room that doesn’t have a projector?

Jobs thinks the PC has been very resilient. Personal computer in general. It plateau then along came the Internet. Multimedia center took over, reborned as the digital hub of your life. He thinks something is starting again…basically same shit different time period as a general device that never dies? Then there’s an explosion in the post-pc, ie. iPod as one of them. Walt comments Steve might get in trouble calling it post-pc (steve is confused as to why)…sample of a post-pc, iPod, phone etc. To steve everything is computer in a different form factor, who cares what’s inside.

Walt want to know what’s a core phone functionality in 5-years? Bill attempts to answer by saying it’s not going to do everything such as editing your homework. Perhaps a scrollable screen may be the right solution. For steve, he doesnt, because it depends on people/consumers. They determine what’s popular. The phone is primarily a communication device with some entertainment in it.

Steve is working on something he cant talk about…”isnt it funny when a ship leaks from the top”

new services interest steve, a lot of them having to do with navigating through life more efficiently. solving people daily problems.

Walt touch on .mac as not being more developed and steve agrees; more is coming he commented.

Entertainment deliver, Kara wants to know what’s up? Bill thinks the big milestone in the delivery is the Internet and the community within it.

(yawn)

Walt change topics to user interfaces on OS. Wans to know if there will be a big change in the UI over the next few years. Bill cited 3D interface, which didn’t live up to the hype yet. Maybe someday when technology is ready used in organizing things like visiting an online book store. Jobs didn’t answer.

Walt changed topic to “multi-touch” will this make it’s way into mainstream to laptops or just on specialized devices? Blah blah blah, Steve is so quiet.

Kara turns to Steve. Steve is speechless. He question how much of the revolutionary discoveries will be done on a pc? In some case augment what’s there and others it will be post-pc.

Kara wants to know the biggest misunderstanding between each other’s relationship??????????

Steve said they’ve kept their marriage a secret for a long time! Bill stars into space blanked.

Steve comments about love to being in the room hence he’s not the oldest guys…unlike his other environment.

Jobs

To quote the beatles, You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead, and that’s definitely true here.

Standing ovation for Jobs. Nice grab and use of the Beatles quote.

Opens for questions…we’ll end here too.

• New iPhone Ads Now Available on Apple.com!
• Apple iPhone release date is June 29th, and new video of iPhone ad!

Palm just wrapped up their webcast where they talked about their new Foleo. It looks like a laptop, but it’s more of a mobile email machine. I can honestly say after watching this, I want one.

Jeff Hawkins described a lot of the features about the Foleo, the biggest being a full standard keyboard and the instant-on feature. The Foleo only has two states: off, and on. You never have to wait to turn it on. The applications are always ready, everything is instant.

By now you’re thinking that this is cool and all, but what do you care, you came here to read about iPhone news. While talking about the different phones that the Foleo will work with, he said that it will work out of the box with all of the Treo line, and most Windows Mobile phones. He then mentioned that if Apple opens up their code to allow 3rd party applications, then they can make it work with the iPhone as well.

Now that Steve Jobs has said that they will in fact open up for 3rd party applications we will almost definitely be seeing these two working together. This device could really revolutionize the mobile computing industry, and what better phone for it to work with than the iPhone?