Dow Jones opened up its MS Exchange server for testing with an iPhone. Tiernan Ray got hooked up as part of an early test run and was delighted with the results according to Barron's on Friday.

The author admitted to limited experience with RIM's BlackBerry, but the iPhone did juts as good a job working with Exchange for a two week period. "...unlike the BlackBerry, the iPhone reflected changes I made to my desktop Outlook inbox within seconds, such as deleting a message," he wrote.

In speed tests in New York City, the financial journalist found that downloading e-mail and Web pages was distinctly faster than with the iPhone 2G. Eventually, he got tired of waiting for the old phone to download and switched to the iPhone 3G full time. Later, on a business trip to Vermont, on back country roads he was able to get his e-mail pushed.

Mr. Ray reported that the iPhone 3G is indeed a battery hog. "I have a feeling the cries of having replaceable batteries will continue to rise, and in the end that may end up being an improvement for some users," he observed.

"If you're willing to make the sacrifice of charging early and often, I think the iPhone is a fine replacement, or alternative for new buyers, to other phones and messaging devices," Mr. Ray concluded. "The user interface is superb; it acts great as a phone; the on-screen keyboard is a delight, much faster than using a hard keyboard, in my experience; and having features such as excellent Web browsing and GPS and music playback, not to mention the many interesting new applications coming from third-party developers, all in one device, is terrific."