The Big-Three chime in with iPhone 3G reviews

While the rest of us mere mortals wait patiently for our local Apple store to open their doors to the next-generation iPhone 3G, the “Big Three” tech columnists that Apple’s Steve Jobs thinks highly enough of to bless with pre-release review units of the iPhone 3G have already chimed in on the new Apple handset. David Pogue, Walt Mossberg, and Ed Baig have the distinct honor of being privy to Apple’s latest hardware weeks before the rest of the world - which makes for some hotly-anticipated reviews.

From their respective perspectives, the overall opinion of the iPhone 3G is unsurprisingly positive. From “mostly keeps its promises” to “no equal among consumer-oriented smartphones,” the reviewers think highly of Apple’s next-generation iPhone 3G.

As expected, the iPhone 3G pulls down wireless data much faster than the original iPhone. Walt Mossberg noticed 3G data speeds in the neighborhood of 200Kbps and 500Kbps, which is magnitudes of order faster than EDGE data speeds.

The curved, glossy-black rear cover makes for a device that sits comfortably in the hand, while also improving cellular reception.

The GPS receiver does the job quite well, apparently. But, turn-by-turn navigation is something that two of the reviewers really wanted to see on the iPhone 3G.

The new iPhone 2.0 OS software brings much-needed Enterprise support to the iPhone, but that’s less of an iPhone 3G thing and more of an OS-update thing.

And, we can apparently look forward to better signal reception and voice quality when in reach of a 3G network - a huge plus for iPhone owners complaining of hit-or-miss call quality.

Here we come, iPhone 3G. Just another day and change!

David Pogue
Walt Mossberg
Ed Baig