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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

More Thoughts on Red and Blue iPhones

Verizon has been shipping their CDMA version of the iPhone for a little while now, and a few more differences and functions have shown up to take note of.

First, read my previous article for the broad stroke differences between Verizon and ATT's iPhone.

Apple has a support document that documents more differences. Here's the summary:

Call forwarding, Call waiting and Caller ID are managed differently. On ATT's iPhone, all these can be set within the Settings icon, whereas on Verizon's iPhone, you are required to use the same dial codes that old flip phones used - *72, *67, etc.

Conference calling is also different. Verizon allows you two simultaneous calls, ATT allows you five.

On ATT, you can place a call on hold on your iPhone, on Verizon, you can't.

Read the whole article here - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4515

Of course without a SIM card the Verizon iPhone loses some more functions, such as swapping out the SIM card when traveling overseas.

On ATT, replacing an iPhone simply required switching the SIM card and re-syncing with iTunes. There's no documentation about how to go about this for the Verizon iPhone. It may well require carrier intervention to set it up first, which may or may not be an easy and rapid process. Time will tell.

I'd love to hear from any new Verizon iPhone users on their experience and the comparative functionality.

Yes?

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Liberation! The iPhone 4 will be available in Red as well as Blue.

There's a lot of hubbub and rejoicing about the iPhone 4 no longer being ATT's prized possession. With the announcement yesterday (1/11/11) from New York, Verizon shared the worst kept iPhone secret in four years.

Daily Show reports on Verizon's announcement

And yet, is it all rejoicing? I've been an iPhone user for almost four years, since the first iPhone (2G) was just a new born device that no-one knew would be such a game changer. And being a dedicated Macintosh user, I was a happy camper. Mostly.

Yes, the iPhone had some issues, 90% of them due to ATT, whether coverage caused or limitations decided by ATT. And I was one among many who was impatient for Apple to make their simple fixes to be released - like copy/paste for example.

And if it hadn't been for Apple's iPhone, there would not have been a Droid, there would not have been a shift for Blackberry toward the Storm (really?!) and currently the Torch.

Apple blazed a new trail with the iPhone, and for users of the iPhone in Europe and other places, it was all good. Back here in the US, however, all was not well.

ATT was the kid at the Thanksgiving dinner table, unaware his eyes were way bigger than his stomach (metaphorically speaking), and that he would end up feeling very sick from over-eating way more than he could handle. ATT did exactly that. They saw the financial windfall and customer magnet the iPhone would be, without taking the necessary steps to increase their key business tools to support the tidal wave of incoming customers, such as customer service, network bandwidth, inventory, etc.

One thing ATT had working for them was that Apple backs their products. You can purchase, repair, activate and learn about your iPhone at the best retail experience on the planet - the Apple Store.

Where can you get your Droid serviced, activated or replaced as easily or with such friendly service?

However, the traffic the iPhone users caused was too much for ATT, and they've been catching up ever since.

Fast forward to February 10, 2011. Verizon has a field day selling iPhone 4's (well, some folks can get their's February 2).

All the ATT-haters switch carriers, the hold-outs jump in, and the frustrated Droid/Blackberry/Palm (you still have one of those?) users trade up.

Estimates of how many that will be vary, suffice to say, it will be in the 10's of millions. That will be an interesting week to see how solid Verizon's network really is. I'd recommend waiting a few weeks before being caught in the maelstrom.

And before you grasp excitedly at the shiny new V branded iPhone, bear in mind some key differences between ATT and Verizon, and their devices.

The iPhone 4 is a 3G device on both carriers. ATT's 3G is faster than Verizon's 3G and is more modern, which is one reason ATT iPhone's can handle voice and data at the same time. So when you're on the phone with a friend and they give you an address, you can look it up on google maps and confirm while you are talking with them. Verizon's 3G can't do that.

The iPhone uses a sim-card so changing carrier data from iPhone to iPhone is as easy as switching the cards. I've used this a few times when my first gen iPhone died, and I bought a used one to replace it. Switch cards, register through iTunes and restore the backup, and I'm back in business in as long as a data restore. Verizon phones do not use sim-cards, there's not clarity yet on how to transfer carrier info from phone to phone for iPhones.

Data speeds on ATT's 3G are faster than Verizon's 3G, so downloading email, browsing the web, viewing maps etc., will be faster with Big Blue.

Yes, your coverage on Verizon is likely to be better in some places than ATT, however check that before you jump.

Oh, and on a more minor yet annoying point, if you are one of the switchers from ATT iPhone 4 to Verizon iPhone 4, your existing iPhone case will not fit on the new phone. Verizon's version has a repositioned ring silencer switch.


4G

The new holy grail of telecommunications technology, 4G, is coming to Verizon and ATT and T-Mobile in the same form, called LTE (long-term evolution). It will likely roll out in force around the end of 2011/beginning of 2012, with full deployment somewhere in 2013. This technology being shared, will mean a few things (and a loser in the mix).

First, there are two versions of 4G (HSPA+ and LTE), just to make things more interesting. Each carrier is being a little bit sloppy about which 4G they actually have in place, so read the fine print. LTE will be backwards compatible with HSPA+, but not the other way around.

Second, all 4G phones will generally be screaming fast when they are processing data.

Third, there will be a T-Mobile iPhone running 4G at the same time as ATT and Verizon. When? Hard to say.

Fourth, Sprint is missing out having rolled out a unique 4G network (WMAX) that is not compatible to anyone else's network, domestically or almost globally when you go international.

Apple releases iPhones every July based on their track record.

July 2007 iPhone 2G     (2G Edge network)
July 2008 iPhone 3G     (3G GSM network)
July 2009 iPhone 3GS   (3G GSM network)
July 2010 iPhone 4        (3G GSM network)

If Apple continues this path there will be a newer iPhone device (model number 4S or 5) shipping in six months). It may be a 4G version, or Apple may wait until coverage is more solid, and ship it in 2012.
If you buy a new iPhone on either network in February, you commit to a 2 year contract, which ends after the 4G version will definitely be available.

Also word is that Verizon and ATT are changing their data, voice and text plans. It is looking likely that Verizon will follow ATT and have a cap on their data plans, so no more unlimited plans are likely. On the other hand, ATT is changing their texting plans to be cheaper to be in line with Verizon.

BTW, if (like me!) you had an unlimited plan when you got your 2G or 3G iPhone, you can transfer it over to your iPhone 4 as long as you make sure they keep it for you.

I love technology, as many of my friends know, and at the same time I am still using a 2G iPhone. I will be upgrading soon, and I am 99% certain it will be with ATT.

Let me know your thoughts.

Some more articles on this subject:
Know the differences between ATT and Verizon before committing to the new iPhone
Verizon and ATT's iPhone 4's cannot share cases