One day, you’ll have a little tablet or phone, and carry it everywhere. It’ll be your only computer. When you need to use a “real” PC, you’ll dock it. Motorola’s Atrix is a little glimpse at that day. More »
U.S. iPhone customers have been eagerly awaiting a Verizon-branded iPhone almost since day one.
Starting February 10, they’ll have that option. Verizon announced Tuesday that it would soon offer the iPhone 4 on its 3G network. The 16-GB model will cost $200 and a 32-GB model will go for $300, both with a two-year contract.
But will you want to make the switch? That depends on what’s important to you.
Here are a few things to consider in weighing which network to go with.
What did we miss? Ask your burning questions in the comments, and if we’re able to get answers, we’ll add them to this list.
If there’s one thing that AT&T has been criticized for, its the network’s frequently dropped calls. It’s not uncommon for iPhone users in busy metro areas, such as New York and San Francisco, to lose voice connections several times over the course of a 5- or 10-minute phone call.
Other AT&T handsets have the problem, based on anecdotal reports, but the iPhone seems to have it worst.
It’s very likely that Verizon will do better.
That’s because AT&T, which sold an estimated 15.8 million iPhones in the United States in 2010, has been overwhelmed by demand for the phone. IPhone callers utilize data services far more than users of most other phones, a February, 2010 Consumer Reports study found. With so much data usage, phones of all varieties are frequently forced back to AT&T’s older and slower EDGE network, or are forced off the cellular network altogether.
Verizon, with a more extensive network and no iPhone users, will almost certainly deliver better voice performance. (And Verizon already has experience with Android phones, whose users are proving even more data-hungry than iPhone customers.)
Whether it’s able to maintain that level of service if millions of iPhones flood its network is another question, however.
Advantage: Verizon
Some of the iPhone’s problems with voice calls and wireless data connections are attributable to the design of the phone itself.
Apple has acknowledged problems with the iPhone 4’s antenna design, which incorporates two different antennas around the external surface of the phone, one for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS, and the other for cellular voice and data. Sometimes, your hand can short-circuit the two antennas, hurting data performance, as well as leading to dropped calls.
However, AT&T’s dropped-call problem happens for many people even when the phone is in a case (preventing contact between your hand and the antennas) or when the phone is held delicately.
That means the problem lies either with AT&T’s network or with the internal circuitry of the iPhone itself. We know there are problems with AT&T’s congestion, because some of these dropped-call problems affect other handsets. But some might be due to the design of the iPhone. Apple in the past has acknowledged problems with the way the iPhone handles basic calls. If it runs into similar problems on Verizon’s CDMA network, customers of that carrier might wind up just as frustrated.
Advantage: Neither
Verizon is busy rolling out a 4G network based on LTE technology, which it says will deliver download speeds of 5-12 Mbps. It will cover 38 cities, reaching 110 million Americans, in 2011, Verizon says.
Meanwhile, AT&T has recently rebranded its HSPA+ network as a “4G” network, even though it previously referred to it as 3G. The network offers download speeds of 6 Mbps, the company claims. Over time, AT&T will also be adding LTE-based coverage.
However, neither company’s iPhone is compatible with any 4G network. It’s likely that Apple is taking a “wait and see” attitude to these new technologies, just as they did with 3G, and won’t release a 4G iPhone until it is more confident about coverage and reliability.
Advantage: Neither
The iPhone that Verizon will be selling is not LTE-capable, so it’ll be limited to the company’s slower 3G network, which offers download speeds of 600 Kbps – 1.4 Mbps, according to Verizon. Independent tests published by PC World last spring put the speed closer to 800 Kbps on average.
Like Verizon’s, AT&T’s iPhone is not 4G capable, so it’s stuck with AT&T’s 3G network, which is based on HSPA (without the +) and UMTS. The company doesn’t say what speeds to expect from this network, but PC World’s tests pegged it at 1.4 Mbps. Other tests have generally agreed with these results: AT&T’s 3G network is faster (when you can connect to it).
Advantage: AT&T
After years of rumor and speculation, the Verizon iPhone finally became a reality today. That no doubt means that Verizon customers will renew their contracts by the boatload. The news also likely means that plenty of existing AT&T customers will be abandoning their contracts, in search of better service.
So, once you’ve dumped your AT&T contract and tossed away a few hundred bucks, what to do with your newly bricked iPhone? Well, you could get a few bucks from a reseller, or you could ship it to an electronics recycler.
Boring.
I asked the PCMag staff to come up with a few suggestions for your otherwise unusable handsets.
More ideas? Let us know in the comment section.
Fuck You, AT&T. That’s the scream of the Internet. Dropped calls, no data connection even with full bars, spotty coverage, collapsed networks in big cities… it’s a huge clusterfuck of customer rage. That’s why people are crying for the Verizon iPhone. More »
It’s conventional wisdom now that iPhone exclusivity is the best and worst thing that ever happened to AT&T. A rocket that sent them into space—and directly into the sun. Will the same thing happen to Verizon? More »
Is an iPhone 4, an iPhone 4? Not quite, now that Verizon has launched a CDMA version of the device — in fact, there are a number of notable differences that you’re going to want to consider before buying either model (or making the jump from AT&T to Big Red). We wanted to dig in and see exactly what has changed — how does pricing compare, for instance? What features have been added or removed? In light of both Verizon’s and AT&T’s harping on 4G data in the past week at CES, do either of these phones support it? Let’s have a quick look!
Continue reading AT&T iPhone 4 vs. Verizon iPhone 4: what’s changed?
AT&T iPhone 4 vs. Verizon iPhone 4: what’s changed? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’re expecting to see the Verizon iPhone finally make its debut in just about a half hour now, but it looks like AT&T is doing some pre-show damage control — in an interview with the Wall Street Journal this morning, Ralph de la Vega said “we’re ready” to lose exclusivity because “we are much bigger than this.” That definitely sounds like someone just got spurned by their biggest partner, but don’t think AT&T’s just going to ignore Verizon — it’s planning an ad blitz that will highlight the iPhone’s better data speeds and simultaneous voice / data capabilities when used on its network. Sounds like things are going to get even more heated between the two largest carriers — and honestly, we can’t wait.
AT&T: ‘We are much bigger than’ iPhone exclusivity originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 10:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Traditionally, CES isn’t a huge mobile event — the biggest phone news has historically been saved for MWC in February and CTIA in March — but that changed in a huge way this week. Looks like 2011 is shaping up to be the year of 4G, and both carriers and manufacturers alike wasted no time jumping on the hype bandwagon with a variety of announcements that promise to make the next few months exciting… and really, really fast. AT&T kicked things off early in the show, but it was just the beginning of a relentless torrent of mobile news that lasted for days and ultimately left us with a pile of devices and network upgrades that should take us at least through the middle of the year. Read on for the recap!
Continue reading 4G at CES 2011: AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile make big moves
4G at CES 2011: AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile make big moves originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Jan 2011 15:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Hey, a phone that Apple introduced back in 2009 (that’d be the iPhone 3GS) is now selling — brand new with a two-year voice / data agreement — for $49, both at AT&T and through Apple directly. Of course, you could get the far more capable iPhone 4 for a fair amount more, or you could wait until tomorrow so you’d actually have an option when it comes to carriers. Your call, obviously.
Apple drops iPhone 3GS to $49 on contract, we pretend the timing is coincidental originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple has dropped the price of the iPhone 3GS to $49, a week after AT&T did the same.
That Apple has made this official — even adding the price to the blurb on the phone’s webpage, makes this a permanent price drop, not just an offer from a telco to boost new year sales.
The 8-GB handset can be purchased for this price only on a new two-year contract, which means that buyers will miss out not just on the iPhone 4 but also the iPhone after that, whatever it may be called.
Apple has established a pattern of selling last year’s iPhone model for $99 in the US, and we imagine that this will continue with the iPhone 4 in the summer. This is the first time, though, that the iPhone has cost just $49, likely a side-effect of the 3GS using the almost three-year-old body-design first seen in the 3G.
Anyhow, if you’re happy to sign up for two years with AT&T, then you can now have an iPhone for the price of an iPod Shuffle. And that’s plain nuts.
iPhone 3GS [Apple]
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