I’m sure we’d all love to have our very own Walt Mossberg to answer tech queries and generally be adorably bearded, but until they bring out a pocket-version we’ll have to make do with his Mossberg’s Mailbox column. 

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]