I wouldn't be surprised if it slices, dices, peels, cuts, and wets a baby's bed, too...

Only a couple more days until the iPhone is released this Friday, and a couple of reviews have already come out.

One of my favorite technology reporters, David Pogue from The New York Times, gives a pretty thorough review complete with slideshows, video, and interactive graphics, in the end feeling that the iPhone lives up to most of the hype. Walter Mossberg from The Wall Street Journal also thinks this "raises the bar for all other smartphones."

Both, however, point out that the biggest flaw with the phone is its exclusivity with the AT&T cellular network and its use of much slower EDGE technology for data transmission. My Blackberry on the T-Mobile network uses EDGE, as well, and all I can say is that it's SLOOOOOOOOW. And that's just downloading manipulated pages designed specifically for smartphones. The iPhone will be downloading native web pages, so you can see them as you would on your laptop or desktop at home. In contrast, other carriers such as Verizon and Sprint have already upgraded to 3G technology that can have you zipping along on your smartphone at close to DSL speeds. With a Slingbox, you could watch a video from your TiVo while sitting on a train or in a car during a long road trip using 3G. Sounds like something perfect for an iPhone with its relatively huge screen. Alas, the exclusive contract AT&T brokered with Apple is rumoured to be a rather long relationship, and AT&T is only now just beginning to upgrade some of its networks. The iPhone's only saving grace in this department is that it also has Wi-Fi, and with the ubiquitousness of internet hotspots these days, it shouldn't be hard to find a place with fast web access.

Considering all it's features, I think the pricetag of $499 to $599 is reasonable. There's still PDAs that cost almost that much, and video iPods aren't all that cheaper, either. Oh, gadget lust.