Feb 22, 2011
A year ago I said I would have a Verizon iPhone on day one and when it came I thought I really did not care. I had been packing a Sprint EVO for about 2 weeks on a awesome Sprint SERO deal and figured that was it.
I ported my AT&T iPhone number (also a iPhone 4) to google voice and was going to use GV/Android the way it was meant to be. Well that was not meant to be. The voice quality on GV was so bad I needed out. Solberg could easily take over my SERO on the EVO so no problems there.
I tried to go big red last summer with a Droid X, I found the battery life to be horrid and really so was the EVO. I wanted that day long battery back.
So last Sunday I went to Best Buy to pick up a phone, since I was adding it to a business account they could not help me. Off to a corporate store.
After standing around for 30 minutes I got with a sales associate. She did everything in her power to talk me into anything but the iPhone. I kinda felt like the EVO YouTube where the customer says “I don’t care, I want the iPhone” but it was true… I knew exactly what I wanted.
I had my incase from my old AT&T phone that fit this one fine, not going to get into antenna gate because I have a case anyway. First thing I noticed was in my house I did not have the reception issues of the Droid X. I have 2-3 bars at all times on the first floor, full bars upstairs.
As for speed… most everything I do is interactive small bits of data, checking email, twitter, facebook. I am not really into YouTube but my Slingbox seems to be fine with the CDMA 3G. When I am home, work I have wifi and it’s fine too. After week one I have used about 200mb of data.
I did have a trip planned to Denver this past weekend and coverage was great there too. I have not dropped a single call. About the only downside I can see so far is I get strange switches to 1x when I should be fine on EVDO coverage.
Battery life is just as good as the AT&T version. I can easily make it 19 hours before I break 25% remaining. I have yet to see the “red” almost out of juice. My Androids typically need a shot in the arm around 5PM.
TomTom is a little angry with the new GPS but works and a fix has already been released.
So is it a keeper?
Heck yea! I love the iPhone but in Nebraska Verizon is king. AT&T is a new level of suck because they only cover 2 cities. People in the south have universal AT&T coverage, we don’t. This is something I do find funny because if I lived in OKC and never left I would not have a problem with AT&T.
Battery life is amazing and it runs the weather apps I want like Radar Scope and the new Weather Geek. I am in heaven.
If you live in a area that is Verizon dominant I HIGHLY recommend this phone. I don’t even really care if the iPhone 5 comes out with a bigger screen or 4G…. the thing just works. And to me that is the most important part!
I can’t agree with you about being fine with AT&T in OKC. I have AT&T and an IPhone through my work and while coverage is good, dropped calls, periodic data voids, etc make it very frustrating. The IPhone itself I love. For my personal phone, I have Sprint and love the coverage and am good on speed, no dropped calls, etc. I recently aquired a 4G Verizon data card and am blown away. I will be testing it’s coverage around the state soon enough I’m sure, but around OKC data speed is incredible. As soon as the 4G IPhone is out, I am buying… no question about it.
AT&T – you just suck.
I’d get one too, but I hate contracts and $750 is steep to pay for the phone outright. I’m on Verizon now (off contract) so I know just how good their coverage is (most areas east of the Rockies). Can’t tell ya how many times folks borrow my phone to make calls when their service is out.
My debate now is whether to let Sprint data go and wrap my data and voice provider into one…and bite the bullet on the iPhone.