Verizon

Patience, Young Skywalker

Reviews of the new Verizon iPhone are starting to roll in.

Walt Mossberg over at All Things D has an initial review of the Verizon iPhone 4. Yes, the Verizon iPhone addresses AT&T’s most glaring flaw, the ability to actually use it as a phone, however it appears that the other elements of the device – data services, et al – are somewhat lagging.

Bottom line: In my tests, the new Verizon version of the iPhone did much better at voice calling than the AT&T version, and offers some attractive benefits, like unlimited data and a wireless hot-spot capability. But if you really care about data speed, or travel overseas, and AT&T service is tolerable in your area, you may want to stick with AT&T

From his POV, it appears it may be worthwhile to wait a bit on the new Verizon iPhone.

At the same time, MG Siegler over at TechCrunch also posted a review that was decidedly more upbeat, as he was really focusing on how the consistent Verizon signal and connectivity outweighed the speed advantages that AT&T provided:

There’s no question that AT&T’s network is faster than Verizon’s for data transfers both up and down. I’ve tried this all over the city a number of times. AT&T is faster. But, and this is a very big but, in order for AT&T to be faster, it needs to have a signal. And again, that’s simply not the case in large parts of the city. So speed or not, Verizon still wins this battle hands down in my book. I’ll take Verizon’s coverage over AT&T’s speed any day.

Conveniently, my Verizon phone contract will be up in the July timeframe which is traditionally around when Apple releases new flavors of the iPhone. And I’ve been more than happy with my Android phone so far. What to do?!? Big decisions lie ahead!

via AllThingsD and Techcrunch

Droid

So its been about a month in which I’ve owned my Motorola/Google/Verizon Droid phone. And I have to say that I am just loving this phone. But I don’t even think it can be called a phone, because the phone function is just one of many applications and features that the device runs. I’ve found the Android OS very easy and intuitive. The applications that I use are very well engineered and designed. There is deep and intuitive integration with social sites like Facebook and Twitter. When I first got the phone from Verizon, I didn’t have to deal with transferring information or setting up my contacts. I simply logged in with my Google Username and password and instantly, all my information was there ready to go. One of the slickest features is that whenever I see someone’s “icon”, I just long press on it and all the different ways I can connect with them slides into the screen – whether its email, IM, Facebook, or where their address is. It’s pretty cool. And the Droid’s much publicized killer app is its GPS Navigation application. It is just fantastic and just as good as any TomTom, or Garmin product (Note to each of them: be afraid, be very afraid). The Navigation app is fully integrated with Google Maps and Google Street View. I’ve used it several times and I have been nothing short of impressed. Since its open source, I’m hoping some enterprising soul adds an app so you can choose different voices for the Navigation’s audio.

With all the positives, there are a few items that I’d love to see them address:

  • With the Audio player, they should not allow two audio based applications to run at the same time. A few times I’ve had podcasts running and have hit music songs by accident and then had two things playing at once. If Podcasts are playing, you should not be able to play music and vice versa
  • The camera could be improved a bit. And the button to take pictures is on the screen, not on the hardware itself. So if you are taking a photo and you can’t see the screen/button, its not the easiest thing in the world to do.
  • Whenever I connect it to my computer, you always have to click on a button to enable it to sync with your machine. There should be a setting to just do that automatically.
  • The Keyboard is just ok. It could be improved, especially with its alternate characters and numbers.

I’m not going to go out and call this an iPhone killer…yet. But the Droid does everything I need, its easy to use, and its on the Verizon Network where you can actually make phone calls. In fact, the other day I left my iPod at home by mistake and I did not miss it at all.