They are the titans of tech reviewing, whose opinions can make or break a product in a couple of taps of their keyboard, and today Apple breathed a sigh of relief after they cast their blessing on the iPhone.

Walt Mossberg, the chief technology writer at The Wall Street Journal and David Pogue, who holds a similar post at
The New York Times, today posted largely glowing reviews of the company's new phone/iPod/handheld computer, which goes on sale at 6pm on Friday.

As fanatics began queuing outside Apple stores three days before the device is put on the shelves, Mr Mossberg declared the device "on balance a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer", while for Mr Pogue it was "revolutionary", in particular its "real dazzler" of a web browser.

Both praised the phone's touch-screen interface (Mr Mossberg said it is "a beautiful new interface for music and video playback", while Mr Pogue said it is "fast, menu-free, dead simple to operate") and the fact that, despite smudging, the 3.5in display was not prone to scratching.

Mr Mossberg also said that despite his "deep initial scepticism", the decision to replace the physical keyboard with a virtual one, on the screen, "turned out to be a non-issue".

The fact that it could take as many as six steps to make a call niggled at Mr Pogue, as did the fact that the camera was only 2 megapixels. He said: "In low light, things tend to fall to pieces," adding that the GPS wasn't "real". (The phone has maps built in and can plan routes, but it doesn't know where you are.)

For Mr Mossberg, the "major drawback" was the speed of the network. The phone doesn't run on the fastest connection offered by AT&T, the exclusive carrier in the US, but instead on a "poky network" called EDGE.

He was also irritated, despite the phone's generally "effective, practical and fun" interface, that there was "no way to cut, copy and paste text", and that, when typing, one has to switch to a different view to insert a full stop or comma, which was "annoying".

Mr Mossberg, who has been chief technology writer at the WSJ for more than 15 years, is reportedy approached by technology companies for feedback during the development phase of devices, and his opinion is widely respected in the industry.

The fact that, in describing the iPhone, he found space for the phrases "simply beautiful" and "a whole new experience and a pleasure to use", will be a large relief to Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, and will only add to the pre-sale buzz about the device, which has grown steadily since it was first displayed at a presentation six months ago.

Shares in Apple fell by 2.2 per cent in regular trading yesterday to close at $119.65, but rose $1.15, or 1 per cent, in extended trading after the reviews were published.

Yesterday, AT&T released a series of monthly price plans for device - $60 buys 450 minutes, 200 texts and unlimited internet use, and for an additional $20, the talk time is doubled.

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