WSJ’s Mossberg celebrates 20 years of tech product reviews

Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal has now been reviewing tech gadgets for the past 20 years, and he writes about the changes he has seen.

Mossberg writes, “So, this week, I decided to take a look back at some of the game-changing products that appeared in this column over the past two decades and propelled us from that primitive landscape to today’s interconnected digital world. This list of milestones is just a sampling; yours might differ. Also, since I write for average consumers, the list is weighted towards consumer products, not gadgets for geeks or corporate use.

“I’ll also write about what is yet to come—areas that could use big gains.

“The pocket-size phone: In January of 1992, I declared Motorola’s MicroTac Lite to be the first mobile phone you could carry easily in a pocket. It was the first to weigh under half a pound and was ‘only’ an inch thick—about triple the thickness of a slim smartphone today. It cost between $1,500 and $2,500.

“Getting America Online: In May of 1992, I rated an obscure online service, America Online, as the best. It was much smaller than its chief rivals at the time, CompuServe and Prodigy, but its use of a standard-looking graphical interface made it more attractive.

“Faster modems: Though it would be hardly recognized today, the external dial-up modem was a crucial device in connecting computers around the world. In June 1993, I recommended a popular $200 model, the Sportster, from a company called U.S. Robotics, that had gotten to the amazing speed of 14,400 bits per second. Comparing it with a broadband connection now is like comparing a bicycle to a locomotive.”

Read more here.