phone

Apple's first cell phone received mostly positive reviews from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times Tuesday afternoon, although both pointed out several flaws with the device.

Walt Mossberg and David Pogue, of the Journal and the Times, respectively, posted their reviews Tuesday afternoon. Mossberg's original headline was "The iPhone is breakthrough handheld computer," but it was later changed to "Testing out the iPhone." Pogue went with a slightly more nuanced "The iPhone matches most of its hype." Both reviewers had the iPhone for two weeks, and Mossberg noted he … Read more

New York magazine's John Heilemann's magnum opus on Steve Jobs is the kind of turgid, operatic flight of fancy technology and business coverage could really do without.

He saunters out onstage...

Which is to say he walked out onstage.

Well into his forties, Jobs appeared to have pulled off some kind of unholy Dorian Gray maneuver.

Huh? Here's a picture of Jobs in 1998 when he was 43.

Now, the Macalope doesn't know about you, but if Jobs traded his soul for eternal youth, he must have gotten it back for breach of contract.

The senescence … Read more

I haven't seen this much pre-launch interest in a consumer technology product since Windows 95 emerged one Chinese calendar cycle ago.

People are camping out in line for it. Newspapers are devoting entire sections to it. There's even a backlash against the hype...and an emerging backlash against the backlash. And unlike the case with Windows 95, everybody's blogging it.

So what do I think? Success or failure? Or something in between?

Looking at the Apple demonstration video, there's no doubt that the iPhone demos well. If it works as advertised--no strange glitches with the screen … Read more

Apple's retail stores will be open until midnight on Friday to accommodate iPhone customers.

Apple is promoting the "iPhone World Premiere" from 6 p.m. to midnight Friday night outside its retail stores around the country. The company announced earlier today that Apple stores would be closed from 2 to 6 p.m. on Friday to get ready for the iPhone launch. An Apple representative wouldn't comment directly on whether Apple was planning any type of special event at the San Francisco store, but with all the fans, media, and gawkers expected on hand, that probably … Read more

We're up to six people in line, folks. Unfortunately, only two of them were present when I stopped by iPhone Central (also known as the 5th Avenue Apple Store) around 4:00 PM EDT. One of them was Greg Packer, the proverbial "first guy in line." The other was Jessica Rodriguez, who showed up at about 10:00 AM and is hoping to score an iPhone for her sister's birthday--and one for herself if she can nab two.

What was the weather like today? "Hot," they both said. The best item to bring along … Read more

Earlier today, Will Greenwald outlined for all of you the sorts of electronics you could buy for the same price as an iPhone--iPods, gaming consoles, etc. But he missed a lot of really cool stuff, unfortunately. So, esteemed readers, here's what you can really buy for the price of an iPhone.

-- One USB rocket launcher ($40); 20 packs of chocolate covered espresso beans ($200); one pair of Reef flip-flops with built-in bottle openers ($42); 72 packs of strawberry Jell-O for the purpose of encasing your co-workers' office supplies ($90); 8 large meat-lovers' pizzas (~$100); two Marshmallow Shooter … Read more

In addition to revealing the prices for iPhone data plans Tuesday, Apple also released another video showing how iPhone customers can activate their new phones from home.

With long lines expected outside Apple and AT&T stores on Friday, some analysts had expressed concern that the process of setting up an iPhone could turn into an all-night affair. But the companies are letting customers activate their iPhones over the Internet using iTunes. The video shows how plugging the iPhone into a Mac or PC steps the user through the signup process, which of course works flawlessly on the demo.… Read more

Unless you've cut yourself off from all media access this year, you know that on Friday, June 29 Apple will release its iPhone with AT&T. Ever since the device's unveiling last January, the tech world has been running in circles asking what the iPhone will be like, what it will do, and how it will do it. But because Apple hasn't been the leakiest of faucets when it comes to specs, the hype has resulted in a lot of speculation instead. Of course, that will all change in several days, as you can be sure … Read more

I did this list on the CNET Live show last Thursday and a few people have written in asking for the links. So here you go.

5. MacBook or MacBook pro and EV-DO card So you can Twitter everything. Because, you know, you don't have a smart phone yet. You've been waiting for the iPhone! You never know if that Wi-Fi will go down or be accessible from your place in line. Be safe!

4. A synthetic sleeping bag No goose down, in case it rains. Down doesn't insulate when wet. Spyrofil will. Plus, the bag should … Read more