Well, it’s happened. All of our ViPhone dreams have come true and the phone will be available in stores in February. But should you buy it?
I’m of two minds. As a long-suffering AT&T customer completely understand the rage some feel at the failings of that network. The Verizon iPhone hit 1500kbps while the AT&T model hit about 100kbps during a good minute. My reception in Manhattan is abysmal as is yours if you live in San Francisco or other highly populated areas. But leave the iPhone cluster and it’s a different story. I’ve never had a call drop at home in Brooklyn, for example, and that’s right across the river.
The Verizon iPhone is a nice addition to the Verizon catalog. It is immensely popular, well-supported, and there is already a fervent fan base. But this model has a fatal flaw: CDMA. CDMA is an interstitial technology right now as carriers roll out LTE and I suspect we have at least another year before the ViPhone will come in an LTE model. Apple is still supporting GSM/3G, as well, so this won’t be a matter of the ViPhone leapfrogging AT&T. It just won’t happen.
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