Walt Mossberg Raves About the iPad

Watched him on Charlie Rose last night.
Moss definitely came across as a huge fan, borderline salesman.
The guy opposite him (David Karr?) seemed more balanced.
(Fwiw, I know little about computers and even less about Apple.)

Here's a couple of Mossberg's moments from the Snow Leopard review that I remembered and went back and searched out for you AF:

One delightful change: Snow Leopard takes up less than half the room on a hard disk that Leopard did, and Apple says the average user who upgrades will free up about 7 gigabytes of space. On my 2008-vintage MacBook Pro, I gained back a whopping 14 gigabytes.

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This is wrong on so many levels it's not even funny. To propagate this kind of technical falsehood as a major selling point (and to never release a retraction, or an explanation for the error) is pretty inexcusable.

Both my desktop and laptop Macs converted to Snow Leopard quickly and smoothly, in about 45 minutes each. Unlike the upgrade process Microsoft is requiring to get to Windows 7 from Windows XP, the Snow Leopard upgrade preserves all your files,

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This comparison is pretty BS and biased against Win7, for no reason other than to be biased. Consider this section of the review from Wired:

Wired.com was able to confirm that the Snow Leopard upgrade can be installed on a machine running Tiger. Of course, the transition isn’t guaranteed to be as smooth as it would be from Leopard to Snow Leopard, and that’s because some older, Tiger-only third-party applications need to be upgraded to newer versions that work with Leopard or Snow Leopard. Separately, Lifehacker has confirmed that it was able to erase a hard drive and install Snow Leopard. That means if you backup your files on Tiger, you should be technically able to buy Snow Leopard for $30, install it on a clean drive and then migrate your files over. Again, you’ll likely have to download newer versions of third-party software that are Leopard — or Snow Leopard — compatible. That extra work is probably worth it, because this OS is a pretty big performance upgrade if you’re switching from Tiger. Of course, using the $30 upgrade to go from Tiger to Snow Leopard may violate Apple’s terms of service. We were unable to confirm this with Apple, which did not respond to our queries about Snow Leopard pricing.

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Sounds amazingly similar to the XP-Win7 upgrade, doesn't it? This is what an unbiased review will tell you that Mossberg will not. Actual information. I could nitpick a whole host of other reviews he's written. Including ones that have nothing to do with Apple, where he makes some ludicrous comparison to OSX or his mac, or whatever for no reason - but essentially, he's sloppy, biased, and generally distinctly uninformative. IMO. I don't even bother reading his reviews anymore because I've already gotten better, more useful, less salesman like information from other places. Despite the fact that some people think he's the only (or God help you, "best") tech reviewer out there, IMO he is not even relevant.

^ All of that is going to fall on deaf ears.

I don't even know why you bother.

Originally Posted by Jumbie

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^ All of that is going to fall on deaf ears.

I don't even know why you bother.

This is true. I'm not sure why I keep doing it either. It's like my penance I suppose.

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

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This is true. I'm not sure why I keep doing it either. It's like my penance I suppose.

A modern day Sisyphus of sorts. Minus the whole royalty thing.

I'll buy in.

1. I am a Mac person. Have been since OS 8.6. If anyone else here remembers when they had to pick a printer via 'The Chooser' then you may be qualified to take me on in matters Apple.
2. Currently I use a 3 yr old MacBook Pro. I like it. I have an old, still running well, Lombard sitting in front of me right now...it's being formatted for life as a jukebox.
3. I am neither an Air-fan, nor a Gen 1 iPad fan.
4. The gen 1 iPhone was the worst phone I have ever owned. I gave it to my best friend, who wanted to pay me for it, but I refused to accept money from someone I like for a phone that crap. In the end, he traded it for a Nano. I feel like I got the better deal there. I am told the newer gen iPhones are a lot better. I feel no need to spend a grand or so to find out that my Nokia does most of the same things, and has better call quality. That's an $800 surcharge for improved usability. I'll stick with my Nokia.

OK - so I think that should pretty much hold me in the 'user, pretty well versed and not a fan boy' category. Slim - fair?

So...even then...I don't take Mossberg seriously. He universally adores anything Apple-made, and his opinions on Apple products are worth about as much to me as Apple's own website.

The day he writes a piece proclaiming the first gen iPhone as a piece of crap with call quality issues, reception issues, huge functionality issues (until you patch them to do what they should have done to begin with) is the day that I say 'this is an objective piece of reporting'.

Other reporters are free to adore the iPad, and I will take their opinions into consideration in case I ever consider buying an iPad (or any other iThing) but Mossberg is pure and simple not worth reading.

Originally Posted by Jumbie

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Not really. Walt Mossberg loves all things Apple. I would expect no less from him.

It could be a stone with the Apple logo on it and he'd still rave about how great it is.

Disagree. I think Mossberg is an excellent objective reporter.

Post written on my iPad. So far so good.

Originally Posted by Matt

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The day he writes a piece proclaiming the first gen iPhone as a piece of crap with call quality issues, reception issues, huge functionality issues (until you patch them to do what they should have done to begin with) is the day that I say 'this is an objective piece of reporting'.
Call quality / reception is largely a function of the cellular network, though, not the phone hardware. And it's pretty well-known that AT&T's network is—or was, at the time of the original iPhone's release—crap in a lot of areas. Not sure what "huge functionality issues" you're referring to, though.

Originally Posted by Matt

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OK - so I think that should pretty much hold me in the 'user, pretty well versed and not a fan boy' category. Slim - fair?

Fair enough.

I don't take Mossberg seriously. his opinions on Apple products are worth about as much to me as Apple's own website.
Mossberg is pure and simple not worth reading.

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I'm glad it's not just me.

Originally Posted by aqhong

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Call quality / reception is largely a function of the cellular network, though, not the phone hardware. And it's pretty well-known that AT&T's network is"”or was, at the time of the original iPhone's release"”crap in a lot of areas. Not sure what "huge functionality issues" you're referring to, though.

Matt is not on the AT&T network.

Originally Posted by aqhong

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Call quality / reception is largely a function of the cellular network, though, not the phone hardware. And it's pretty well-known that AT&T's network is—or was, at the time of the original iPhone's release—crap in a lot of areas.
Here in Vietnam, i'm pretty far out of ATT's reception area Picture it. Me, my gf and my best friend, sitting on my sofa. All three of us on the Mobifone network. 'Let's order pizza' Girlfriend's HTC Touch, no problem. Cost her about $150. Best friend's 'second cheapest Nokia' - cost him $30. No problem. My $500 iPhone...can't get a bar of range to save my life. It was atrocious, harmful to me professionally, and ridiculously frustrating. As I said, the 2nd Cheapest Nokia guy is frustrated by it now instead.

Originally Posted by aqhong

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Not sure what "huge functionality issues" you're referring to, though.
how about we start with some basics that took a few generations and some pirate apps to sort out... multiple recipient SMS? SMS forwarding? recognising numbers with country codes with call ID?

^Or plain old picture messaging? You know, the kind I was able to do in like 2003 or 4?

Originally Posted by Matt

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multiple recipient SMS? SMS forwarding? recognising numbers with country codes with call ID?
Are these really "huge"? I guess if you're a heavy texter (I'm not), but it's hardly a deal-breaker for most people. I'm not sure what the last one means, though... the caller ID doesn't work with international numbers? I don't think I've ever received an international call, so I wouldn't know. Calling the original iPhone a "piece of crap" based on lack of these features and "poor reception / call quality"—which, again, has more to do with the network than the phone—seems like a bit of a stretch.

It was, without a doubt, the worst phone I have ever owned. And I am a phone junkie. I change them every six months or so.

The international numbers thing - which is a big deal to anyone outside the US and basically any business person....let's say I have you saved with the number 555 123 4567 under the name Aqhong...then you call me, and the network affixes a country code +1 555 123 4567 - the iPhone's address book would not recognise you, Aqhong will not come up on the display, it would simply have '+1 555 123 4567' - and I would have no idea who you were.

edit - anyhow - we have drifted way way way off-topic here - my point is and was that in writing glowing reviews of basically anything with an Apple logo on it - even devices that seemed to ignore the fact that when inviting people to lunch, we don't text them one at a time - Mossberg has put himself in a position where his writings on Apple products basically should not be trusted, let alone cited as authority. AND this is coming from someone who is definitely not a Mac-hater, and indeed has been using Apple products longer than most people on this board have been able to type.