A week ago, my Verizon-powered iPhone 4 showed up at my door.
Longtime readers know that I switched to Verizon over a year ago, and carried a Motorola Droid, a Palm Pre Plus and a Razr over the last 13 months.
For me, Verizon’s coverage is better than AT&T’s. In fact, AT&T’s coverage was so poor where I spend most of my time, even the iPhone wasn’t enough to keep me on the network.
When Apple and Verizon announced the CDMA iPhone was indeed coming, I was excited. I pre-ordered one at 2 in the morning.
My wife wasn’t thrilled about the alarm clock going off in the middle of the night.
Hardware
Put simply, the iPhone 4 is the sexiest piece of kit I’ve ever owned. And I have a G4 Cube in my collection.
The glass and steel design is stunning. In fact, I really don’t think it would look any better if the glass were white. I love the separated volume buttons, and the silent switch is a tiny little marvel all to its own.
I’m carrying mine without a case on it, and while it can be a little slippery, it feels a lot better in my hand than I thought it would. I used my brother’s 3GS the other night, and it felt crazy huge.
Oh, the camera. A wise man once said that the best tool you own is the one you have with you. With the iPhone 3GS, I never felt great about taking a ton of shots with my phone, due simply to picture quality. While the iPhone 4 can’t match my Canon PowerShot G9 or Rebel XT in outright horsepower, it’s pretty close. The HDR can work magic, in the right situation.
I love that the antenna gaps on the CDMA iPhone are even on both sides of the unit. Combined with the lack of a SIM slot, the sides really are clean looking. It has a more refined look than the GSM version.
Software
Even though I haven’t had an iPhone for over a year, I did have an iPad for several months, and my wife and I share an iPod touch. I’m not a stranger to iOS 4 by any means.
The iPad is fast, no doubt, but the iPhone 4 feels faster. I can’t prove it at all, though. Its hard to remember that this OS was built for this form factor. And while I think the iPad is elegant, it can feel sparse at times. I had forgotten how tight iOS on the phone.
Thing is, side-by-side, every iPhone runs the same stuff. And that’s what is so brilliant about this platform.
The Network
Like I said above, Verizon is killer. The call quality is super and the coverage is unbeatable. Verizon’s signal seems to be far better at penetrating buildings, which is nice, too.
No-data-while-on-a-call-gate is not a big deal to me. It has never once been a problem. Verizon’s network is usually slower than AT&T’s. The fastest I’ve clocked it so far is 1672 Kbits/s down with 302 Kbits/s up. Not fantastic, but totally usable.
It is good to be back, ladies and gentlemen.