July 9th, 2008
NY Times and USA Today weigh in on iPhone 3G
Last night I reported that Walt Mossberg has posted his review of the iPhone 3G. Following in his footsteps are Apple’s other preferred journos David Pogue from the New York Times (”For iPhone, the ‘New’ Is Relative“) and Edward C. Baig from USA Today (”Apple’s new iPhone 3G: Still not perfect, but really close“).
Both predictably like the iPhone’s major upgrades; 3G which lets you surf the Web “in less than half the time as the old iPhone” (Pogue), Push “Messages and calendar entries are “pushed” to the device, so they show up right away” (Baig), and GPS “I was pretty impressed by the accuracy on the new device” (Baig).
Curiously both Mossberg and Pogue completely ignore the iPhone 3G’s new GPS feature with nary a mention of it in their reviews? What gives guys? (Edit: Pogue has three paragraphs on GPS, Mossberg skipped it.)
Both reviews are fairly balanced given the “three horsemen’s” clearly preferential status with Apple.
Pogue says that AT&T’s 3G network isn’t pervasive “in 16 states, only three cities or fewer are covered; 10 states have no coverage at all” and Baig complains that he “couldn’t access 3G in parts of my northern New Jersey neighborhood and elsewhere.” Pogue laments that there “aren’t many new features” and “iPhone 3G is not really, as Apple’s Web site puts it, “half the price.”” Baig notes that “you still cannot shoot video, take advantage of Bluetooth stereo or dial with a voice command.”
What’s curious about this year over last is that Newsweek’s Steven Levy wasn’t invited to the iPhone 3G party with Mossberg, Pogue and Baig. What did he do to get him blacklisted? Perhaps it was his MacBook Air review? Or something he said in his book The Perfect Thing? Apple PR is a fickle, fickle lady. Take it from someone who knows.
Fellow ZDNet blogger Matt Miller notes that the MSM’s early reviews of the iPhone 3G may have hurt Apple more than they helped. After reading the early reviews he’s not buying, but instead opting to simply upgrade his iPhone 2G to the new 2.0 software.
What about you?
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
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