IPhone 4

Design

Honestly, we can't say much in this section since the Verizon and AT&T handsets are so much alike. There are a couple cosmetic differences, which we'll discuss, but Verizon's iPhone bears all the familiar Apple-style trademarks. It's the same size and weight (4.5 inches tall by 2.3 inches wide by 0.37 inch deep; 4.8 ounces), it has nearly identical external features, and you'll find that gorgeous Retina Display. We're still not fans of the sharp edges and glass back, but there's no denying that the iPhone 4 remains an eye-catching device.




Features you keep
Outside of the hot spot, you can expect the usual iPhone goodies. You'll get the 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, front-facing VGA camera, Bluetooth, digital compass, e-mail and messaging, iPod player, voice control, voice memo recorder, assisted GPS and Google Maps, Safari browser, access to apps and media through iTunes, and FaceTime over Wi-Fi. 

Performance
A popular joke about the AT&T iPhone is that it's great device, as long as you don't have to make calls. Honestly, we never fully subscribed to that view, but there's no denying that for some iPhone users, particularly those in dense urban areas, AT&T has delivered a less than stellar iPhone experience. And as the problems continued, the belief that Verizon could deliver a better performance became so ingrained, that many consumers saw no other possible outcome. Yet, like so many other things in tech, the reality is more complex. 

Voice calls and antenna
We divided our voice call tests into three parts. First, we made calls on the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900) Verizon iPhone without picking up AT&T's device. On our end, the audio was clear with little distortion or interference. The volume was loud, as well, and the noise cancellation feature continued to do a good job of screening out background noise. When we called a friend waiting at the airport, we could hear her clearly, even as announcements blared in the background over the PA system.

Data
Though AT&T's HSPA 3G network technically is faster than Verizon's EV-DO technology, our tests produced varying results. To start, we compared load times for three Web sites--Airliners.net, NYTimes.com, and the full CNET site--on the AT&T and Verizon handsets. We tried from the same location at three times of day: late afternoon, early morning, and just before midnight.

In most instances, Verizon's 3G (EV-DO) network delivered faster speeds. The difference varied widely--sometimes it was short as 3 seconds, but it could go longer than a minute--and the AT&T phone was more likely to have its connection time out. The AT&T phone won on a few occasions, but only by 9 seconds at the most. Time of day also played a role, with the AT&T handset being significantly slower in the late afternoon.

Battery life

The Verizon iPhone 4 promises the same battery life as the AT&T phone. That's 7 hours of 3G talk time, 40 hours of audio playback, 10 hours of video playback, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, and 300 hours of standby. We ran three talk time battery tests and eked out an average of 7 hours and 5 minutes. Though that result is quite respectable for a CDMA phone, it is less than the 7 hours and 46 minutes of 3G talk time we got on the AT&T iPhone 4. For media use, we came away with 67 hours of music playback and 10.3 hours of video playback. Both times were better than what we experienced on the AT&T iPhone 4.

The good:  

The Verizon iPhone 4 offers a hot-spot feature not available on AT&T's device. Performance was better in most regards.

The bad: 

The Verizon iPhone 4 lacks world roaming and the ability to access voice and data simultaneously. The hot-spot feature didn't work with all devices.

The bottom line:  

The Verizon iPhone 4 has much in common with its AT&T counterpart, but varying features and different performance give it enough room to stand apart. It won't vastly change your iPhone experience, but we welcome the consumer choice that it brings.

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/verizon-iphone#ixzz1PvTHOXOu