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Verizon iPhone 4

engadget.com

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Re: Verizon iPhone 4

#71

Post by mziulu »

mey wrote: post #19
TomOfTTB wrote: post #4

Pretty much what everyone expected. The same phone on Verizon's CDMA network. The only a few things I noted were... 1. You can use it as a WiFi Hotspot 2. Redesigned antenna (obviously) 3. Verzion isn't getting the 3GS (which is probably why AT&T was so quick to drop it to $49)

Incoming calls will interrupt data activity. (Will interrupt hotspot) ArsTechnica has an excellent live blog going of it. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/01/liveblog-of-veri...

Could someone please explain how this hotspot feature usually works for smartphones? I'm having a discussion with a friend about this, but we're going nowhere since I don't own a smartphone and thus I'm not really sure what's the default here and how this iPhone does things differently.

[edit] what I expect is this: if I'm connected to a wifi hotspot to browse the Internet and I receive a telephone call, I should not drop the connection to the hotspot (am I wrong in understanding that this is NOT what this iPhone does?).

Re: Verizon iPhone 4

#72

Post by metamatt »

kenjackson wrote: post #67

Curious, how big do people think this will be? Will Apple double its US userbase or will it be an incremental bump? I tend to think incremental. The people in the US today who really want an iPhone have moved to ATT. The holdouts are those that: 1) Hate AT&T. 2) Are on a business plan who is tied to Verizon. 3) Those on a family plan, but aren't calling the shots. For most of the people in 1-3, they already have a Ve…

People moved to AT&T to get the iPhone, but a lot of them think the experience is subpar, and will prefer not to renew their contracts as things stand.

I expect there's a decent chunk of holdouts who'll have a good appetite for the VZW iPhone immediately, and there'll also be a steady stream of people switching from AT&T to Verizon as their contracts expire.

Re: Verizon iPhone 4

#73

Post by w1ntermute »

shade wrote: post #30
TomOfTTB wrote: post #4

Pretty much what everyone expected. The same phone on Verizon's CDMA network. The only a few things I noted were... 1. You can use it as a WiFi Hotspot 2. Redesigned antenna (obviously) 3. Verzion isn't getting the 3GS (which is probably why AT&T was so quick to drop it to $49)

I've been thinking of dropping my AT&T iPhone 4 for a Droid Bionic on Verizon later this year. Given that, I'm really hoping they'll be charging extra for the wifi hotspot feature like they do with Android, or if they're not, making it free for Android users as well. (edit: To be clear, the liveblogs I've glanced at haven't specifically said if it will be free or not, and Verizon apparently won't talk about plan pric…

> I'm really hoping they'll be charging extra for the wifi hotspot feature like they do with Android, or if they're not, making it free for Android users as well.

Meh, root your phone like every other hacker and you can get free tethering on Android as well. I use it all the time with my Droid.

Re: Verizon iPhone 4

#74

Post by metamatt »

listic wrote: post #22
TomOfTTB wrote: post #4

Pretty much what everyone expected. The same phone on Verizon's CDMA network. The only a few things I noted were... 1. You can use it as a WiFi Hotspot 2. Redesigned antenna (obviously) 3. Verzion isn't getting the 3GS (which is probably why AT&T was so quick to drop it to $49)

Is Verizon's CDMA network technically compatible with anywhere else in the world? (e.g. so that you can us the same phone in U.S and elsewhere, provided it is not locked) Specifically, which frequency band does U.S. CDMA use?

"Locking" doesn't mean the same thing it does for GSM phones; CDMA phones have a builtin ID which is registered with the network, and there's no SIM card or equivalent to swap out to change that ID.

Sprint and Verizon both use the same CDMA frequencies in the US, and Sprint and Verizon phones roam on each other's networks. But there's no button on your Sprint phone to push to make it a Verizon phone, or vice versa. Sometimes you can get the carrier to do it for you -- the new carrier can choose to activate your existing phone on their network. At least I remember stories of people doing that; I never tried it so can't speak from personal experience.

Re: Verizon iPhone 4

#75

Post by metamatt »

aneth wrote: post #50

"Verizon's CDMA network doesn't support simultaneous voice and data as with the GSM version" This is probably a deal killer for me. I do this quite frequently. I also remember on the old edge network data activity sometimes sent callers to voicemail, which is unacceptable. Hopefully Verizon does not have that issue as well. My biggest hope is that competition forces AT&T to be less ridiculous about data pricing for p…

On other CDMA smartphones, I've never seen data activity send callers to voicemail -- the call goes through, the data connection stalls until the call ends.

Not optimal, surely, but nowhere near as bad as sending calls to voicemail without ringing like the old iPhone on EDGE.

Re: Verizon iPhone 4

#76

Post by takameyer »

kenjackson wrote: post #67

Curious, how big do people think this will be? Will Apple double its US userbase or will it be an incremental bump? I tend to think incremental. The people in the US today who really want an iPhone have moved to ATT. The holdouts are those that: 1) Hate AT&T. 2) Are on a business plan who is tied to Verizon. 3) Those on a family plan, but aren't calling the shots. For most of the people in 1-3, they already have a Ve…

4.) Not having an AT&T carrier in the area. Being from a state where AT&T is not an available phone service (South Dakota), this is a big deal. I'm not sure how many other states have this issue. We have been waiting for this since the iPhone was released. It will be great to finally have another smart phone option from a big player. Though I'll probably stick to my Android phone.

Re: Verizon iPhone 4

#77

Post by davidedicillo »

billjings wrote: post #56

One thing is a huge surprise here: wifi hotspot. If you follow Gruber, he's made the point that Apple doesn't consider this a new device, and that Apple will probably sell it as the exact same device to customers. This is one significant area where it's not, though - if you buy an iPhone on Verizon, you get this feature. If you buy one on AT&T, you don't. Apple to date has stood pretty firmly against the idea of carr…

I'm sure all the carriers will be able to implement this feature, but it's up to them, just like tethering.

Re: Verizon iPhone 4

#78

Post by mikeryan »

mkinsella wrote: post #3

"On February 3rd our existing customers will have an opportunity to pre-order... on February 10th, everyone will be able to order online, in stores, or in Apple stores." For once, a telecommunications company gives perks to existing customers. For far too long have cell phone and broadband companies pampered new customers with deals rather than existing customers (and rightly so but still frustrating).

I think this is a perk and a landslide mitigation strategy.

Re: Verizon iPhone 4

#79

Post by brown9-2 »

mziulu wrote: post #71
mey wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Incoming calls will interrupt data activity. (Will interrupt hotspot) ArsTechnica has an excellent live blog going of it. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/01/liveblog-of-veri...

Could someone please explain how this hotspot feature usually works for smartphones? I'm having a discussion with a friend about this, but we're going nowhere since I don't own a smartphone and thus I'm not really sure what's the default here and how this iPhone does things differently. [edit] what I expect is this: if I'm connected to a wifi hotspot to browse the Internet and I receive a telephone call, I should not…

"You can use it as a WiFi Hotspot" means that you can use the phone to broadcast a WiFi signal for nearby computers/devices to use to access the Internet.

The phone acts as a WiFi access point, using the cellular network to relay the devices connected to it to the Internet.

Re: Verizon iPhone 4

#80

Post by johns »

mkinsella wrote: post #3

"On February 3rd our existing customers will have an opportunity to pre-order... on February 10th, everyone will be able to order online, in stores, or in Apple stores." For once, a telecommunications company gives perks to existing customers. For far too long have cell phone and broadband companies pampered new customers with deals rather than existing customers (and rightly so but still frustrating).

T-Mobile used to do this with every new Sidekick release so it's not completely unprecedented.
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