It’s the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, a milestone for one of the most influential products ever made. But don’t take my word for it.
Watch Walt Mossberg review the very first iPhone, 10 years ago
“[It is a] fascinating product that raises the bar for all other smart phones.”
Justin Sullivan / Getty
When it launched on June 29, 2007, Recode’s Walt Mossberg and then-columnist Katherine Boehret reviewed the original iPhone for The Wall Street Journal.
Ten years ago, it was revolutionary for a smartphone not to have a keyboard, something Mossberg was initially skeptical of when he tested the iPhone. Apple also launched the smartphone with AT&T as its only carrier — a drawback, according to Mossberg, because the company was using its EDGE network, which he called “pokey.”
Here are some of Mossberg and Boehret’s best nuggets from the YouTube and text review of the first iPhone:
- “It is certainly the most beautiful and most radical smart phone or hand held computer I have ever tested.”
- “When this was first announced by Apple in January ... I was among the many, many people who thought [the lack of a keyboard] was a real deal breaker feature. I have to say that three days into testing the thing I wanted to throw it out the window because the keyboard was so difficult to use ... but five days in, I suddenly found that I could type as well and as fast as I have been typing on my [Palm] Treo physical keyboard for years.”
- “The phone part of it is fine, I wouldn’t say it was the best phone quality I’ve heard on a phone but it was okay. The big drawback to the iPhone in my opinion is the fact that it only runs on one carrier in the United States and that’s AT&T.”
- “The iPhone is the first smart phone we’ve tested with a real, computer-grade Web browser, a version of Apple’s Safari. It displays entire Web pages, in their real layouts, and allows you to zoom in quickly by either tapping or pinching with your finger.”
- “Like the iPod, but unlike most cellphones, the iPhone lacks a removable battery. So you can’t carry a spare. But its battery life is excellent.”
- “[It is a] fascinating product that raises the bar for all other smart phones.”
You can watch the entire review below or read it here.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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