[Core]

So apparently the iPhone for Verizon is imminent:
http://online.wsj.co...j_share_twitter

Is there anyone here who plans on upgrading their contracts to get the new device? Why or why not?

[creativecoding]

Ew, no thanks. I would like to stick with my tmobile and Android phone (HTC G2 Titanium aka Vision).

[Kilorn]

Well, this will definitely make my wife happier. She's had Verizon for years and still hasn't upgraded to a smart phone. Neither have I, but I have Sprint, so I won't be getting an iPhone.

[teampoop]

I am waiting for this to be official, before I get excited. That being said I am also waiting for this to happen, so I can upgrade my phone.

[supersloth]

i'm a verizon customer but i probably won't upgrade to it, yet at least. as of right now, i'm mostly just interested in if it's an LTE device or regular 3G. as well as how the verizon network responds to it, because we all saw what happened with att.

[macosxnerd101]

Economically, I think it's good to provide some competition with this phone for AT&T. In terms of upgrading, I wouldn't rush to upgrade. Give Verizon 6 months to get the kinks worked out, and by that time, the rush will have subsided. As is the case with many new electronics, the price usually drops significantly after 6 months. We'll see if Verizon does the same thing with the iPhone since it's a new product for them to stock. I'd also be interested as to the data charges. I can't afford $30/month extra for data that they charge for the Android phones, so I probably won't be upgrading any time soon.

[MorphiusFaydal]

macosxnerd101, on 07 January 2011 - 08:48 PM, said:

Economically, I think it's good to provide some competition with this phone for AT&T. In terms of upgrading, I wouldn't rush to upgrade. Give Verizon 6 months to get the kinks worked out, and by that time, the rush will have subsided. As is the case with many new electronics, the price usually drops significantly after 6 months. We'll see if Verizon does the same thing with the iPhone since it's a new product for them to stock. I'd also be interested as to the data charges. I can't afford $30/month extra for data that they charge for the Android phones, so I probably won't be upgrading any time soon.

AT&T hasn't lowered the price on "current" generation iPhone hardware. I don't think it even goes on sale. So I doubt Verizon will lower the price after a few months.

Qualifier - They lowered the price after a few months right at the beginning, but they refunded everyone else and the price hasn't changed since then...

[drhowarddrfine]

Don't recall if I posted it here but, back in October or November, I already knew Verizon was getting the iPhone because a company I deal with signed off on a contract with Verizon to get hundreds of iPhones. Unfortunately for me, we had just signed up with Verizon to get DroidX's for my family cause there was no way we would go with ATT.

I'm not knocking the Droid. I'm saying I would have spent more time comparing features if I knew they were getting it ahead of time.

[Tom9729]

I'm happy with my palm centro (verizon).

[CTphpnwb]

MorphiusFaydal, on 07 January 2011 - 11:40 PM, said:

AT&T hasn't lowered the price on "current" generation iPhone hardware. I don't think it even goes on sale. So I doubt Verizon will lower the price after a few months.

AT&T just lowered the price of the 3gs and their rate plans.

I think Verizon is too eager to steal from its customers with hobbled phones and forcing expensive/slow VCast solutions on them, so I don't plan on switching to them. I will be happy to get new, lower rates from AT&T though. Now it's just a matter of deciding whether I wait for iPhone 5 to arrive.

This post has been edited by CTphpnwb: 08 January 2011 - 04:58 PM

[drhowarddrfine]

CTphpnwb, on 08 January 2011 - 04:58 PM, said:

AT&T just lowered the price of the 3gs and their rate plans.

You know ATT sucks, don't you? In fact, Consumer Reports rated them the worst in all departments in all areas of the country two years running.

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I think Verizon is too eager to steal from its customers with hobbled phones and forcing expensive/slow VCast solutions on them

Hm. We used to have ATT and Sprint. Now we have Verizon and the phones 1) aren't hobbled and 2) have never brought up to us using VCast for anything.

This post has been edited by drhowarddrfine: 08 January 2011 - 07:07 PM

[CTphpnwb]

I think it's a choice between mediocre (AT&T) and a possibly somewhat better network with an evil carrier. AT&T isn't great, but I think most of their bad rep is from the fact that their network couldn't handle all the traffic that the iPhone brought in the beginning, and I seriously doubt Verizon could have handled it either at the time. If people switch to Verizon in large enough numbers, then I think AT&T's network will get a breather, making it seem better than Verizon's.

I dropped Verizon years ago because my phone at the time could not sync with my computer via USB, but the same phone on another carrier could. Verizon may not be hobbling their phones in the same way now, but one of the problems with Android is that it's up to the carrier when and if a phone gets updates to the OS. I would never trust Verizon with that kind of power. If Apple does (I doubt they will), there's no way I'll be on Verizon's network.

[Core]

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Verizon may not be hobbling their phones in the same way now, but one of the problems with Android is that it's up to the carrier when and if a phone gets updates to the OS.

Biggest problem I have with Android devices on AT&T. I mean, open platform, right? And I can't do half of the stuff I want because till November it still had 1.5 firmware (talking about Motorola Backflip). Updated to 2.1 but don't see much exciting stuff coming with it (other than some new apps in the Marketplace, most of them too resource-expensive to be enjoyed on a Backflip). Considering that Honeycomb is coming and Gingerbread was available for a long time, I would want to use the latest functionality provided but I can't.

Just one of the reasons I really enjoy using an unlocked WP7 instead - whenever Microsoft has an update, I can install it on the device and not wait for AT&T to "test" the next update for the device for another year (incrementing to 2.2). But hey, this pretty much applies to any unlocked device.

tl;dr: If you have a chance, get an unlocked device no matter what carrier you use.

[MorphiusFaydal]

CTphpnwb, on 08 January 2011 - 04:58 PM, said:

MorphiusFaydal, on 07 January 2011 - 11:40 PM, said:

AT&T hasn't lowered the price on "current" generation iPhone hardware. I don't think it even goes on sale. So I doubt Verizon will lower the price after a few months.

AT&T just lowered the price of the 3gs and their rate plans.

I think Verizon is too eager to steal from its customers with hobbled phones and forcing expensive/slow VCast solutions on them, so I don't plan on switching to them. I will be happy to get new, lower rates from AT&T though. Now it's just a matter of deciding whether I wait for iPhone 5 to arrive.

That's why I said current generation iPhones... The iPhone 4 is the same price the 3GS was at launch. When the "new" iPhone hardware launches, the "old" hardware is stepped down in price. Verizon won't have "old" iPhone hardware at launch, so they'll only have the "current" generation, which won't go on sale.

As far as forcing VCast on to the iPhone, I think Apple holds too much control on the iPhone for Verizon to be able to do that. I would be extremely surprised if the Verizon-iPhone launches with *any* added apps on it.

[drhowarddrfine]

CTphpnwb, on 08 January 2011 - 08:40 PM, said:

I think it's a choice between mediocre (AT&T) and a possibly somewhat better network with an evil carrier.

I've never heard that Verizon is evil.

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AT&T isn't great, but I think most of their bad rep is from the fact that their network couldn't handle all the traffic that the iPhone brought

That's rather significant.

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I seriously doubt Verizon could have handled it either at the time.

That's guesswork. You don't know that.

Quote

If people switch to Verizon in large enough numbers, then I think AT&T's network will get a breather, making it seem better than Verizon's.

More gueswork but the thought is that there will be more iPhone sales from people, like me, who won't touch ATT with a 10-foot pole. (I've had a lot of experience dealing with ATT for 10 years.)

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...one of the problems with Android is that it's up to the carrier when and if a phone gets updates to the OS.

That's true of all carriers but I've gotten Android updates from Verizon immediately.

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I would never trust Verizon with that kind of power.

Consumer Reports rates Verizon #1 in all categories.

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If Apple does (I doubt they will), there's no way I'll be on Verizon's network.

A done deal. Like I said, I work with a large company that pre-ordered hundreds of iPhones from Verizon. Also, the Wall Street Journal has been saying for weeks this is going to happen and, specifically, Verizon will announce this on Tuesday.