Popular Mechanics: Breakthrough awards pits iPhone against 7 other wireless wonders

[Cleverboy]

Popular Mechanics reviews the iPhone, along with 7 other gadgets, before naming it one of the top 10 gadgets of the year. Booyah. Ranked according to 4 basic criteria: Making a Call, Data Features, Multimedia, and Pocketability.

• Blackberry 8830 - Overall Grade B+, lowest grade: Multimedia - C-(Booo! No camera whatsoever on the BlackBerry 8830. Music from micro SD cards worked only half the time.), Overall comment: For heavy corporate e-mail users, nothing beats a BlackBerry—but it came up short in the fun category.
• T-MOBILE Wing - Overall Grade B, lowest grade: Pocketability - C+ (Despite its airy, delicate name, the Wing is a big brick of a phone.), Overall comment: No one loved the Wing, and no one hated it. But 500 bucks is a lot to pay for ambivalence.
• Palm Treo 755p - Overall Grade B+, lowest grade: Pocketability - C (The Treo packs a lot of functionality into its big, uncomfortable frame.), Overall comment: (Testers thought the Treo was a solid phone and data device. Perhaps a bit too solid.), Overall comment: Testers thought the Treo was a solid phone and data device. Perhaps a bit too solid.
• LG enV - Overall Grade B-, lowest grade: Data features - C- (The enV’s clamshell qwerty keypad makes it a great texting device, but its OS makes it terrible for e-mail and the Web.), Overall comment: Easy on the outside, difficult on the inside, the clamshell enV’s focus on pay-for-play services kills the experience.
• Helio Ocean - Overall Grade C+, lowest grade: Pocketability - D (Is that a Helio Ocean in your pocket? Unfortunately, it is.), Overall comment: The Ocean’s dual-slider is designed to be versatile, but many of our testers found it confusing.
• Samsung BlackJack - Overall Grade A, lowest grade: Data features/Multimedia - B+ (Subjects whizzed through e-mails on the BlackJack, but Web content on its 2.5-in. screen was less satisfying. The 1.3-mega-pixel camera delivered great photos, but the Windows Mobile music and photo apps got middling scores.), Overall comment: It didn’t excel at any one task, but the BlackJack’s nice price made it one of the testers’ favorites.
• Nokia N95 - Overall Grade C, lowest grade: Data features - D (Composing an e-mail was sheer agony. And, even with the N95’s Wi-Fi, Web surfing was awkward.), Overall comment: It takes a few extra steps to dial the iPhone, but it didn’t slow our testers down.
• Apple iPhone - Overall Grade A, lowest grade: Basics/Data features - B+ (It takes a few extra steps to dial the iPhone, but it didn’t slow our testers down.The iPhone’s onscreen keypad made e-mailing a bit tough, but Web pages look fantastic.), Overall comment: The most hyped phone in our test didn’t disappoint. E-mail functionality is limited, but the fun factor is not.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/reviews/4220784.html?page=1

Yet another award for the iPhone. With the design award to Jonathan Ive, and the Most Anticipated Award from T3, there are probably many more awards to come as this year concludes. This is the first award on a review of the device itself however. Worth noting.

~ CB

 

[boss1]

....The most hyped phone in our test didn’t disappoint....


I have to admit ... The parodies on comedy central during the hype that led up to June 29, 06 were pretty funny.

I can't wait till 2010 when Steve Jobs announces the .... "iThing" .

 

[ellsworth]

good read!

 

[gkarris]

Nice article. Thanks.

I agree with the grades. The T-Mobile Dash is about the same as the Samsung Blackjack which is pretty good for a Windows Mobile phone.

I was suprised with the very expensive Nokia N95 ($699 unlocked for the lower version).

 

[gceo]

Actually since Popular Mechanics was hijacked by the GOP, I refuse to read their propaganda anymore. At least they got something right with this review.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2005/070305chertoffscousin.htm

 

[Telp]

Thats pretty awesome if i do say so myself. iPhone is a stiff competitor, and a great winner =]