Be an iPhone reviewer

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Every day since MacWorld in January, I’ve been resisting the temptation to write about the iPhone. Sure, there’s an entertainment-technology convergence angle, but there’s been no lack of coverage on that point. Still, the phone is so ... so ... shiny. My resistance finally broke down Thursday, which is why The Times has an editorial mulling what the iPhone tells us about ourselves. For a nice gloss on that piece, read this post by Cynthia Brumfield at IP Democracy.

All the same, I won’t be lining up to buy an iPhone today. I’m not getting a review unit, either; nor, apparently, is my colleague David Colker in the Business section, the guy who was supposed to do a critique. (The only gadget anyone’s dangled in front of me recently has been this one.) So for now, at least, The Times is going to rely on you readers to detail the pros and cons of Apple’s new status symbol. If you’re splurging this weekend on the highly coveted coolness communicator, we’d like to hear about it. Post your first impressions as a comment to this blog. Tell us what it’s like to actually use the thing, or maybe just to stop traffic with it. Or tell us the crushing disappointment you felt when the store ran out before you reached the head of the queue.

To give you a head start, here are links to reviews that ran before the iPhone’s release:
David Pogue, New York Times
Walt Mossberg and Katie Boehret, Wall Street Journal
Steven Levy, Newsweek
Ed Baig, USA Today
My personal favorite is by Phil Baker of the San Diego Daily Transcript, who appears to have cobbled his review together without an official loaner from Apple. Way to go, Phil!