I’ve restrained from commenting on the iPhone recently for two reasons: there is already iPhone overload in the media, and I’ve been too busy to comment on it anyway. But overall, the iPhone news is very good. Almost all the reviews say that the iPhone lives up to the hype–which is pretty damned impressive, because the hype for the iPhone has been bigger than just about anything else in recent memory. Those are pretty high standards.

In fact, praise for the iPhone is so universal and the hype so positive that a lot of people seem determined to strain out criticisms so that they don’t look like one of the adoring masses. To be certain, the iPhone has bad points, but some people go a bit far. Take this review from the Seattle Times, which was at the top of the iPhone category on Google News. The reviewer lists five likes and dislikes. But the content of the review is telling, both that the good is better than the bad, and that a good writer doesn’t lock himself into round numbers for the sake of round numbers.

Like most reviewers, this guy likes are the touchscreen interface and the look and feel of the device, and then he goes on to the more personal likes of an iPod with a speaker and the interface for dealing with photographs. He winds up, tritely, with a universal observation, that the iPhone will spur other cell phones to have similarly cool features.

In his dislikes column, he covers the first point that everyone brings up: the EDGE network. This is the bane of the early adopter; you can expect iPhones in 2008 to be 3G (Japan and Europe are likely waiting for that); whether this is an upgradable feature is what will determine how many ticked-off early adopters there will be. And it’s a legitimate gripe, as are the points that the web browser can’t handle Flash (a plus in my book) or WMV as well as other media types. But all of these will certainly be corrected over time.

His other dislikes, however, are more telling of a writer trying too hard. He lists durability, battery life, network lock-in and Apple’s “smug attitude.” Durability first: this guy worries about a $600 phone made of glass. Apparently he didn’t read the review by PC World in which they subjected the iPhone to scratch and damage tests, and it performed amazingly. Not only was the touchscreen not marred by being jangled in a baggie with key chains, but it even survived being directly “gouged” with a key. They then tested the iPhone by dropping it on various surfaces from various heights, and again found that it survived multiple drops on concrete sidewalks from ear-level, save for a few mars in the metal bevel. So durability is not as much a problem as the Seattle Times reviewer thinks.

He then winged about battery life, but again, reports have been that the device will hold up to a full day’s worth of non-stop use–and let’s face it, even on a day of air travel, we wouldn’t use such a device every single minute like you would when reviewing it. Also, he didn’t mention actually running the battery down or how long it took, so he may not even have put it to realistic, everyday tests. But Wirelessinfo did test it, and found that while it fell short of Apple’s claims (such claims are always based upon energy-saving usage methods that no real-world users employ), it was still average, or a bit less than average, for the market–not bad for such a flashy, full-screen device. They were able to get 5 hours of talk time, 10 hours of music play, and 3 hours of web browsing. That means if you mix the three, you can talk for 100 minutes, listen to music for three hours, and browse the web for an hour before the battery runs out. Would you really use your iPhone that much in a normal day? Maybe if you live and die by talking on your mobile endlessly, but most people don’t, and if you do, you should get a phone with the longest battery life possible and then another device to do what the iPhone does. Furthermore, CNet reports a quick recharge time, so you probably could just carry a recharging cable in your bag and power up while you’re doing something else.

The third gripe is fairly relevant–if you get an iPhone, you are chained to AT&T Cingular. However, isn’t this true with a lot of phones? Not all, from what I understand, but I thought this kind of thing was pretty common. This is where I am unfamiliar with the market; someone help me out here.

But the fourth gripe: Apple’s “smug attitude”? Come on. If you’re reaching for something to complain about, surely you can do better than that. Apple has a damned good reason to be smug, if that is what they are. As for the “better-than-you attitude” and “controlling” behavior, this pretty well describes any company–hell, just look for any quotes by Steve Ballmer and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

In short, it seems the iPhone has a lot more good than bad going for it, and the bad will likely be handled over time. Many have pointed out that like the iPod, the first iPhones will look kind of lame in two or three years, just like my third generation iPod is now; at the time, it was great, but now? No color, no video, fat profile? Look for future iPhones that will step into faster 3G networks, can download music independent from a computer, can play lots more media types… so forth and so on. It’s version 1.0, people; get over it.

One last note: despite selling half a million iPhones in the first three days and garnering near-universal praise (the criticisms are mostly blended in with the praise but never overpowering it), Apple’s stock fell again, albeit slightly. It seems to be like that with Apple stock: rise with the expectation, fall with the release–even when the release lives up to the expectation. Go figure. Still, my shares are 30% higher today than when I bought them eight months ago, so I’m not complaining.