The Verizon iPhone 4 Review

Having been a user since the Verizon iPhone 4 came out, I have had plenty of time to play around with it. Here's my review and I'll summarize if I believe it's better than it's AT&T counterpart. Read on!

Hardware:

At first glance, the Verizon iPhone 4 is an identical version of the AT&T counterpart. However, while taking a glance at the back and sides of the phone, you can really tell a difference. The Verizon model of the iPhone 4 has two more black antenna lines located on the bottom and top of the phone. This is supposed to reduce the infamous "death grip" issue that plagued the AT&T model last year. I'm pleased to report that while the issue still does exist with the Verizon model, it's far less apparent, and rarely will cause you to drop a call. As far as other changes to the handset, on the back of the Verizon model, the FCC symbols found on the AT&T version are missing. Also, the AT&T version has a Sim Card slot on it's right side, while the Verizon model has nothing there since Verizon runs off of CDMA wireless technology, which does not require a Sim Card.

Screen:

The screen on the iPhone 4 for Verizon is the same screen found on the AT&T counterpart, and it's still as beautiful as ever. Apple designed this 3.5-inch display, and titled it a "Retina Display." The Display found in the iPhone 4 is the highest resolution available on a cell phone, and the resolution is so high that the human eye cannot differentiate individual pixels, thus the moniker "Retina Display."

Processor:

The Processor under the hood of the iPhone 4 remains the same for the AT&T and Verizon models. The chip, designed by Apple, is called the A4 chip, and it is the same chip that powers the first generation iPad. It is a single-core chip clocked at 1Ghz. During everyday testing the phone was quite snappy and easily held it's own to previous handsets that I have owned and used with a 1GHz processor. (Droid X, Evo) It also easily outperformed my original Droid, but the Droid's processor is clocked at a smaller 550MHz. No matter what processes and tasks you throw at the iPhone 4, rest assured it handles them easily.

Battery:

Here's where it gets interesting. First off, the batter life of the Verizon model compared to the AT&T model is practically identical. Kudos to Apple for being able to keep the battery life similar, especially when switching cellular technologies. (AT&T iPhones use Sim Cards and run on the GSM network, while Verizon runs on the older CDMA network, with no Sim Card required.) However, the Verizon iPhone still gets days worth of use of it’s battery easily. I’m on my iPhone constantly checking Google News, Facebook, and Engadget along with sending approx. 100-200 texts a day, and have a total of 30 minutes a day of talk time. (I’m quite the teenage girl, I know.) Overall, the iPhone 4 with Location Services on, WiFi off, and screen brightness all of the way up, it still managed to outperform both the Droid and the Droid X that I had previously. I’m a college student, and after a few hours of heavy use at school, my Droid or Droid X would be a powerless paperweight. However, my iPhone 4 easily makes it through my day of classes and then some.

Storage:

The iPhone 4 for AT&T and Verizon comes the same way for both carriers. Each have two models, the 16Gb version which retails for $199 on a 2-year contract or the 32Gb version which retails for $299 on the same two-year contract. The memory is not removable or upgradable with a SD Card or Micro SD card.

Other Features:

The Verizon iPhone 4 comes with the latest software for the CDMA version which is currently 4.2.10. This differs from the GSM AT&T version which runs 4.3.5. The differences are very small with slight Safari browser improvement found in the AT&T version, but not noticeable enough to be a factor in choosing which carrier. The issue of the different software versions will be solved this fall when Apple releases the highly anticipated iOS 5 simultaneously for both devices.

This handset also features a hotspot ability, which enables the handset to share it’s 3G connection wirelessly with laptops, tablets, and other wireless devices.

The iPhone 4 also comes with earbuds, A/C charging adaptor, and Sync cable out of the box. The device features iTunes support, and iCloud support this fall with iOS 5. It also features the App Store, which contains over 400,000 apps that enhance the features of the handset.

Overall Verdict:

4.5/5

Pros: Beautiful Screen and Hardware, Snappy Processor, Verizon network stability, HotSpot feature

Cons: No 4G, No simultaneous Voice and Data on the CDMA model, activate only through iTunes (until iOS 5 release anyway.) No 4.3 like the AT&T Model - will be resolved in iOS 5