For comparison, or if you just happen to be unfamiliar with the original pop culture horror, you can have a listen to it here. [Brainstorm Tech]

Our Jason Chen discussed this issue in the past and coined the term "com," but here's Pogue's take:

What should we call these iPhone-like, touch screen Wi-Fi phones with music and video, real Web browsers, e-mail, sensors (light, tilt, location, proximity), and, above all, app stores? These machines can download thousands of free or cheap add-on programs - "apps" - and become GPS units, musical instruments and medical equipment.

"Smartphone" is too limited. A smartphone is a cellphone with e-mail - an old BlackBerry, a Blackjack, maybe a Treo. This new category - somewhere between cellphones and laptops, or even beyond them - deserves a name of its own.

I invited suggestions on Twitter. The best came from @mentalworkout: "app phone." Bingo. Apps distinguish iPhonish phones from mere smartphones, so "app phones" it is.

I disagree with both Chen and Pogue and prefer to think of the gadgets as "Things I Can't Live Without," but what do you think they should be called? [NY Times]

While both handle low light pretty darn well (you can check that out for yourself in his gallery), he concludes that the Sony did better than the Fuji more times than not, and it also adds some cool features like a sweep panorama mode and a burst function.

The best part of the review: the video segment where Pogue and his buds go visit a psychic (it is very Mallrats minus the nipple part) and take pictures of her creepy spirit doll in the dim light. Having appeared in my fair share of Pogue productions, I've got to say that psychic should get a Pogie. [New York Times]

The collected responses provide an interesting glimpse of how each carrier deals with problems, and its customers. Pogue's results:

• AT&T is "actively exploring" how to make its messages shorter, and says that visual voicemail, which will make this issue moot in a few years anyway, is a priority.

• T-Mobile says the issue has their "attention," which is either a promising acknowledgment, or just a statement of an incredibly obvious fact.

• Sprint rightly reminds us that you can turn off extended messages on their service already, and explains how. Thanks, Sprint.

• Verizon would very much like David Pogue to shut his stupid face, please, because he said mean things about them on TV Twitter. Everyone else was cool!

You can read the full carrier responses here, but there are two main takeaways here: the campaign is actually working, so, you know, good job everyone; and it's clearly not over yet, until AT&T follows through, T-Mobile clarifies what their "attention" is worth, and Verizon cools down a little bit. A reminder:

Verizon: Post a complaint here.
AT&T: Send e-mail to Mark Siegel, executive director of media relations.
Sprint: Post a complaint here.
T-Mobile: Post a complaint here.

Happy polite haranguing, people! [Bits]

You know the messages: "At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording, you may hang up, or press 1 for more options. To leave a callback number, press 5. (Beep)" That's 15 seconds that you owe every time you leave a voicemail. And it's just as bad when you check your voicemail. And the entire thing is a scam.

These little 15-second waits add up–bigtime. If Verizon's 70 million customers leave or check messages twice a weekday, Verizon rakes in about $620 million a year. That's your money. And your time: three hours of your time a year, just sitting there listening to the same message over and over again every year.

In 2007, I spoke at an international cellular conference in Italy. The big buzzword was ARPU–Average Revenue Per User. The seminars all had titles like, "Maximizing ARPU In a Digital Age." And yes, several attendees (cell executives) admitted to me, point-blank, that the voicemail instructions exist primarily to make you use up airtime, thereby maximizing ARPU.

Well that's pretty shitty! So what to do? Harass the hell out of your carrier and get them to quit it. Pogue has links to places where you should yell at all four major carriers. Here they are:

Verizon: Post a complaint here.
AT&T: Send e-mail to Mark Siegel, executive director of media relations.
Sprint: Post a complaint here.
T-Mobile: Post a complaint here.

In the end, will it work? Maybe. But you can't win if you don't play, and these are your overpriced minutes we're talking about here. So I think you know what to do. [Pogue]

Pogue's mainly concerned with the silly fees levied on consumers for certain actions despite said actions not costing carriers hardly any money at all (text messaging, we're looking at you). One that we didn't even realize is the sneaky tactic of keeping users on the line for extra time to hear inane instructions like "When you're done recording your message, you may hang up." If you're out of minutes, your carrier is actually going to charge you to listen to those! That's worthy of a good fist-shake, or better yet, some Congressional intervention. [New York Times]

It's a decidedly critical take on Apple, the people who love the company, the people who live and breathe gadgets (*gulp*), and basically technology in general. Of course, many of you would argue that this list includes Pogue himself. However, as my old personal saying goes, if you can't laugh at yourself, then you suck. [YouTube via CrunchGear]

Just type in the magic words (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, enter) on the front page, and you will be rewarded. But as Adam points out, an additional 30 seconds of Pogue hamming it up might not juice you the same way as unlimited lives in Contra did back in the day, but our hats are off to you David Pogue, as well as the NYT code monkeys that dreamed this up. [Pogue-O-Matic]

Walt Mossberg of the WSJ has been testing it "for a couple of weeks" and sees that surfing on the faster 3G is between three and five times the speed of the original iPhone. However, Moss found that browsing on the 3G network drained his battery much faster than browsing on the original. Externally, he says the speaker was "much louder" (YES!) for both music and speakerphone, but otherwise pretty much the same as the original. One bug/feature he ran into was that you can only sync your calendar and contacts with either Exchange or your personal accounts, not both.

In Mossberg's own battery tests, he got 4 hours and 27 minutes (short of 5 hours) of talk time, which is three hours less than his test on the original iPhone. Using 3G, he got 5 hours and 49 minutes, which is slightly better than Apple's own claim. He couldn't test any apps on his iPhone 3G, but did on his old iPhone—they worked pretty much as advertised. He concludes with pretty much what we've all known: it's slightly more expensive on AT&T due to the higher price plan, but satisfies people who really need that 3G speed. What's weird is that Mossberg didn't test the GPS functionality at all, so we're left wondering how that is. [All Things D]

Ed Baig of USA Today also tested the iPhone 3G and claims both that it was worth the wait, but still not perfect. His complaints of the first one—no video capture, no Bluetooth stereo and no voice dialing—are still there. Also, AT&T's 3G coverage was nonexistent in his New Jersey home, which kinda negates the whole "iPhone 3G" thing. He notes that the new plastic backing helps reception, and the new flush headphone jack is "a welcome development." Unlike Mossberg, Baig does have something to note on the GPS. He says he was quite impressed by its accuracy when searching for pizza places while driving, and hopes that there will be a third-party add-on for turn-by-turn live directions.

Baig also says that the speaker is improved, but notes strangely that you can't directly charge the new iPhone 3G in some old accessories, such as a Bose SoundDock or a Belkin car kit. There's actually an adapter coming that will enable charging on those. Weird. He finishes up with his wishes for the next generation: Flash, Java and WMV support, removable battery and an expandable memory slot. All in all, a pretty positive review. [USA Today]

David Pogue of the NYT says that the audio quality is much improved, and notes that both incoming and outgoing sound is better than before. "In fact, few cellphones sound this good." The curved back makes the phone feel better in your hand, which is a definite plus. However, he says, the missing "standard cellphone features" from the first generation are also missing from this one. He hopes that the third-party Apps from the iPhone App Store will help fill in the gaps, but some of the ones we've seen—finding parking spots, free phone calls at Wi-Fi hotspots, random restaurant recommender, expense tracker, Etch-a-Sketch and tip calculator—don't exactly make up for the missing MMS, video recording and cut and paste features. Pogue also noticed the GPS does not support turn-by-turn navigation.

Pogue doesn't have much else in the way of benchmarks or impressions, but comes off seeming like he really likes the phone because of the iPhone 2.0 software; something old iPhone owners will be able to get for free. [NYT]

Notes: We have to say that Mossberg's review was the best in terms of completeness (save for the GPS omission). Normally, Newsweek would have a review up for the iPhone along with these three guys, but both they and Wired don't have an early review. This, we think, is because Steven Levy (the old Newsweek guy) at Wired, and Fake Steve Jobs (who hasn't quite started at Newsweek) didn't get the nod from Apple. We had our own hands on with the phone back at WWDC, which covers a lot of the exterior hardware elements as well as some of the software details.

Thanks to the dedicated second image sensor, it:

"focuses quickly as you aim the lens, without ever blacking out the screen...the screen doesn't go on-off-on, there's no loud clacking, and there's no baffling exhibition of mirror calisthenics inside the camera."

The upgrade, due in a month, will also have the clip and post functionality that lets you share clips with friends online, which we heard about at CES. And Pogue's post confirms an iPhone client is coming, which we first heard about in an off hand remark by Om interview with CEO Blake Krikorian before an SDK was ever acknowledged by The steve. Sling rep and TiVo blogger Dave Zatz offered up these words when we sought confirmation: "We're actively researching the iphone platform, and are eagerly awaiting the SDK."

What I wonder is if Sling is WMV-based, and the iPhone streams H.264 natively, does this mean Sling'll start broadcasting in H.264? Or is Sling going to make a WM client for the iPhone? Either way, it's going to be a long stream home on that EDGE connection.

• Pogue's NYT review
• Ed Baig's USA Today review
• Mossy's WSJ review

You need a speedy broadband connection (at least 3Mbps); fast-forward can be wonky; like every other distributor the scope and selection its ever-changing catalog of 5k flicks is at the mercy of Hollywood studios. Stay tuned for own review, but if you're feeling hasty you can go ahead and slap down your $399 now. [NYT]

He also tests two traditionally shaped 7MP cameras, the Optio W30 ($237) and Olympus's Stylus 770 SW ($270). The Olympus is a fully rugged setup, shock and extreme temperature resistant, good down to 33 feet of water; the Pentax is good for 10 feet at two hours. I've used the previous generation Pentax and loved it for hawaii conditions. But I did lose it on a reef and only then did I learn what Pogue points out: None of these damn things float. [NYTimes]