That was what happened in 1997, when almost the entire British music press gave stellar reviews to Oasis's third album, Be Here Now, despite the fact that it wasn't very good. That was itself a reaction to having given the group's 1995 second album fair-to-middling reviews - everyone was caught up in the hype, and nobody wanted to break ranks and admit the painful truth.

Is that the case with the iPhone, then? I honestly don't think so. We've had a chance to give the phone a thorough going-over, and while it has its flaws, it's much better than Be Here Now. In fact, I'm prepared to say that it's the easiest-to-use phone I've ever seen.

I'm happy with my HTC S710 (or the Orange SPV e650, as it's known), which runs Windows Mobile, and it's very easy to use. It knocks spots off the Nokia interface, that's for sure. But the iPhone is far ahead even of Windows Mobile. It's intuitive, the touch-control works, and it does plenty.

So far, for instance, we've used it to find a pub in the middle of nowhere, find a pub in the middle of London, and, er, do you see a pattern here?

One alarming thing is the speed with which the screen attracts fingerprints and smudges. It's annoying having to clean the thing every few hours. Luckily, accessory maker iSkin has sent us a nifty little microfibre cleaner, which does the job well - there doesn't seem to be a British product webpage for it, but it's hidden away on the US site. We'll let you know as soon as we figure out where to buy one in the UK.