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With all the excitement over the Verizon iPhone announcement, I’m not sufficiently moved to make the break. I admit, AT&T has been sloppy and at times downright incompetent. Who can forget the massive foul up when the first iPhone came out and literally millions of customers couldn’t get AT&T servers to sign them up? It happened again with the 3G iPhone and the iPhone 4.

There’s the really nasty rate of dropped calls, lousy or inconsistent reception, and how AT&T always seemed to put endless roadblocks before developers who wanted to use the iPhone in the way it was designed. Months of delays on the SlingPlayer app, no Wi-FI tethering, and more delays delivering a 3G tethering plan that was overpriced and forced you to give up your unlimited data plan. Oh yes, AT&T dropped unlimited data so it could start enabling some of those features that might force you to go over AT&T’s newly imposed limits. Nice. The list goes on and on.

Still, I’m staying. Here are my reasons:

• Big Fee to drop my AT&T plan. Way too much. $325 for those who purchased after June 1, 2010, and $10 off of that for every month of completed contract.
• Coverage. We all know that AT&T coverage is generally worse than Verizon, but AT&T ponied up and let me have a MicroCell device for free. It solves the ‘no coverage at home’ problem, and after some initial growing pains it works well
• Competition is good. I expect AT&T to step up and compete, not because they want to, but because they have to. Maybe there will be a reinstatement of unlimited data plans. Maybe FaceTime will finally work on 3G.
• Simultaneous voice and data are huge. I often fire off an email or web link when I’m on the phone. Going to Verizon means I kiss all that goodbye.
• Speed. At least here in Arizona, I get really fast data on the iPhone. Yes, the Verizon voice network is more reliable, but in local side by side tests on the data side, my AT&T phone really is faster than a Verizon smartphone.
• New iPhones. There will likely be a new iPhone this summer. I expect it will be a lot easier to talk AT&T into an upgrade than Verizon.

Continue reading Why I’m staying with AT&T

Why I’m staying with AT&T originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon was widely lauded this morning when it announced that its new CDMA iPhone would provide built-in hotspot support. Hotspots allow users to connect to a phone and share that phone’s data service to connect to the Internet. This feature, which is also known as “tethering” provides a way to share a single data connection among several devices including phones, laptops, and so forth.

AT&T, which introduced tethering after many delays, has been charging customers a premium on top of their normal data service to tether. Based on Verizon’s other smart phone plans, the VZW tethering feature will sell for a $20 per month, as it is on Android phones, on top of its $30 per month unlimited data plan. There will be a 5GB monthly limit for mobile hot spot usage.

AT&T’s tethering is limited to recent data-rationed plans and is not an option for customers who still use AT&T’s original iPhone unlimited plan. As well, the iPad 3G’s data plans do not offer a tethering option. What’s more, you cannot tether your iPad to your iPhone’s data with AT&T as the iPad’s bluetooth tethering profile is disabled. You can, however, tether to your iPhone using a third party product called MyWi.

Continue reading Talking with MyWi’s Mario Ciabarra about VZW’s hotspot announcement

Talking with MyWi’s Mario Ciabarra about VZW’s hotspot announcement originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dig a bit deeper into Verizon’s iPhone announcement and you see something that was overlooked from this morning’s announcement — namely a white iPhone. Apple has made it perfectly clear that the Holy Grail of iPhones won’t be available until some time this spring. So, is this the real thing? Most likely not, I don’t see anyone other than Apple announcing the white iPhone, and certainly not by burying it in a subsection of Verizon’s site. Steve Jobs is most likely frothing at the mouth over this slip-up by Verizon — but as of a little while later, it’s fixed, so maybe nobody noticed.

That’s not the only error Verizon’s announcement had. There’s no mention of CDMA at all — the specs listed are GSM/EDGE. Maybe you have to roam onto AT&T to actually use the data plan. It’s pretty much last summer’s iPhone 4 announcement plopped onto a Verizon server. You’d think that with Verizon and Apple having this under wraps for the past two years, someone would have bothered coming up with a better site — or at least making sure the AT&T-specific information was changed to Verizon. Or, better yet, hire a copy editor.

[Yes, we know we made an ‘a/an’ error in this post and a typo in a headline earlier, thanks to all you clever wags for pointing them out; they are fixed now. Of course we make mistakes too — however our mistakes are not on the same scale as Verizon inadvertently advertising a color that isn’t available, on a network they don’t support. -Ed.]

Why Verizon needs a copy editor originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, it would have been more exciting if Verizon launched its version of the iPhone with an incremented version number and splashy new hardware capabilites — LTE! Super-Retina display! Downward-facing camera! — but as expected, the new beastie is essentially the same as the existing iPhone 4 model.

The primary difference is that Verizon’s iPhone 4 is a CDMA unit, not GSM. This of course means that users cannot migrate their handsets between AT&T and Verizon; they have different radios and will only work on their respective network flavor. (Worthy of note, though, the Verizon agreement is non-exclusive, so a Sprint-centric CDMA iPhone is not an impossibility.)

The CDMA phone is also far more limited for international roaming, so if you plan to travel overseas with your phone please think ahead. As Steve notes, CDMA is still not capable of simultaneous voice and data, so phone calls will interrupt your data sessions; you might consider letting the calls go to your voicemail, and using a Google Voice mailbox so you can get those messages while you’re surfing (although it’s possible Visual Voicemail will work when a data-only session is active; we’ll have to try it out and see).

Along with the different radio config comes a slightly different antenna arrangement, with another infamous air gap associated with the ‘grip of death.’ It’s not clear yet whether this will have any bearing on the phone’s connectivity, but since the working assumption is that Verizon’s network > AT&T’s network, dropped calls and dead spots are theoretically going to be less of a problem on Big Red than on Big Blue.

The new VZW phone also sports the ability to behave as a MiFi hotspot, giving WiFi connectivity at 3G speeds for up to five devices. Although this isn’t available on AT&T’s plans as an official capability, the $10 $19.99 Cydia app MyWi for jailbroken phones already enables it, so it’s reasonable to think that there’s not a hardware-specific change in play; Verizon already offers the capability on several Android phones. Be aware, though, it will chew through battery like a gopher in a cabbage patch.

That’s another reason to be happy the VZW iPhone isn’t shifting form factor at all; existing cases, battery packs and audio accessories should all continue to work unmodified. If only that were true! Laptop Mag and Slashgear both confirm that the mute switch and volume buttons have moved, meaning many (but not all) existing cases won’t fit (see here). D’oh.

Developing story: stay with TUAW today for all the Verizon iPhone news.

Verizon iPhone: Hardware is still the iPhone 4 originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that the cat’s out of the bag, here at TUAW we’re wondering how AT&T will answer to Verizon’s iPhone announcement — specifically the part where the iPhone 4 will be a mobile hotspot that supports up to 5 devices. It’s definitely an extra incentive to lure AT&T customers, already unhappy with tiered data plans and extra costs for tethering.

When the Verizon iPhone makes its debut on February 10, will you be among those in line to get it?

View Poll

TUAW Poll: Will you buy the Verizon iPhone? originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For those who are interested in the Verizon iPhone, one of the most pressing questions was whether or not the phone would be able to allow simultaneous use of data and voice. This is currently not possible on Verizon’s CDMA network, and is sure to be one of the big points in future AT&T advertising. Since the Verizon iPhone operates on the CDMA network, it will not be able to handle voice and data at the same time.

When you get a phone call while using data on a CDMA phone right now, that phone call goes directly to voice mail. that phone call interrupts the data connection. Likewise, you need to hang up voice calls before trying to bring up websites or capture other data. Want to use that built-in tethering app to send a 3G signal to five devices? Just don’t try to talk on the phone at the same time.

This will not happen if and when Verizon and Apple create an LTE-based iPhone. LTE can handle both data and voice at the same time, as it is based on the current iPhone’s GSM technology.

Verizon iPhone can’t handle data and voice simultaneously originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon announced the CDMA iPhone today and put some pressure on AT&T by offering the smartphone with a personal hotspot feature (like the MiFi, but built-in) that supports up to 5 devices. Pricing for the mobile hotspot was not announced, but select Android smartphones include this feature for an additional $20 per month. This charge is on top of the unlimited data plan which is available for $30 per month. Presumably, the mobile hotspot will be a Verizon-exclusive app or preference setting that enables this functionality. [Techcrunch showed the interface for this, it is enabled through the Settings app.]

Currently, AT&T offers the iPhone with the 2 GB DataPro and tethering plan for $45 per month. This is a one to one tethering option that lets you connect one phone to one device. The Verizon option lets you add up to five devices that are WiFi-capable. The next question is, how will AT&T respond?

Verizon confirms the iPhone with personal hotspot originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone 4 will be available through Verizon starting in February originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the (11-10)th month in the 2000+11th year, Verizon finally gets its iPhone. Maybe. (After all, they may just be having service upgrades or something boring like that.) And TUAW is there.

Greatest thing ever? Or–if this really goes down–simply another small accomplishment on the marketing behemoth that is iPhone. You tell us. Our comments are open and you’re welcome to join in the discussion.

Today, we’re meta-liveblogging the event, updating this post with info, facts, and opinion as this event rolls out. Keep refreshing the post, as we’ll regularly be updating it with newer updates towards the top.

11:33 If you enjoyed this live coverage and want to see more of the same, please pop by our feedback page and let our producers know. As always, we thank you for taking time out of your busy day to spend with TUAW. We are nothing without our readers and we appreciate every one of you!

11:32 Okay TUAWians, we’re going to wrap up the coverage now. This was short, sweet and a lovely surprise for us all.

11:31 Megs: But, I think enough people may jump ship to where it’ll ease the capacity. Erica: Hardly a win for AT&T then

11:31 RichG: I think AT&T are in a bind — I doubt they introduced those data caps lightly, IO think they really were sttuggling with network capacity

11:31 I wonder if this will impact sales of MyWi

11:30 TJ Luoma: They’re talking now about a tethering app. Will it be available to AT&T customers?

Follow the Read More jump for the rest of this transcript…

Continue reading TUAW metaliveblogs the Verizon event. Here’s hoping for iPhones

TUAW metaliveblogs the Verizon event. Here’s hoping for iPhones originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As the minutes tick by to what looks like the imminent release of the iPhone on Verizon, here’s a roundup of what could be expected during the next hour and what’s happened during the past few months:

As soon as the iPad made its Verizon debut, every announcement out of Verizon began looking like it would be the iPhone’s turn and that 2011 would be the year of the Verizon iPhone. A couple weeks before Christmas, the rumors began circulating that a 4G LTE Verizon iPhone would be introduced right after Christmas.

Apple put the freeze on employee vacations beginning the last week of this month until the third week of February while there were reports of Verizon snatching up iPhone-related domains.

Our friends over at the Wall Street Journal confirmed the rumor, and given their history on predicting such matters, we have little reason to doubt that Verizon is announcing the real deal here.

Meanwhile, AT&T is already lobbing shots at potential leapers, warning them that they too are destined for “life in the slow lane.”. In what looks like a pre-emptive move, AT&T, Apple and other retailers like Target have slashed the official price of the iPhone 3GS to $49 — plus two-year contract, of course.

All will be revealed in about 20 minutes (as of this writing). Stay tuned.

The Verizon iPhone: A rumor roundup originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Can’t we all just get along? The competition between Verizon and AT&T is about to reach a new level as the behemoths prepare to battle for the same iPhone customers (supposedly). The tension has led to what can be described as schoolyard jabs.

Just yesterday, AT&T’s head of PR Larry Solomon asked if Verizon customers are ready for “…life in the slow lane,” referring to Verizon’s legacy CDMA technology. Today, Verizon fired back as spokesperson Jeffrey Nelson questioned AT&T’s network integrity and reputation.

“AT&T is known for a lot of things,” he told The New York Times, “but network quality is not one of them. Typically companies try to call attention to their strongest suit.” Nelson then tossed out a zinger: “It must be backwards day at AT&T.”

Oh, you two. Go to the time out chair! What’s unknown, of course, is if or when the iPhone will take advantage of Verizon’s 4G network. We’ll find out soon enough.

Verizon wonders if it’s “backwards day” at AT&T originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A few days ago, one of our readers emailed us to ask, “Is this a photo of the Verizon iPhone, or a Chinese knockoff?” It only took me a couple seconds to realize it was neither; it was a voBack replacement iPhone 4 rear panel from Fixxed, a company based out of Christchurch, New Zealand. I’d seen a review of the voBack panel on iPhonewzealand, and based on that review and the images on voBack’s site, I decided to give one of them a try.

I’ve always thought that Apple’s decision to make the rear plate of the iPhone 4 out of glass was a bit odd, especially since the antennas are on the outside of the iPhone and shouldn’t have experienced any interference from a more robust material, like metal. Considering that people drop their mobile phones all the time, it seemed like a recipe for disaster. “Use a case” is the usual answer, but aside from Apple’s own bumper case (which does nothing to protect the rear glass), I haven’t found a case that looks anywhere near as good as a caseless iPhone.

Fortunately, Apple designed the iPhone 4 in a way that makes it atypically easy to dismantle. In the video below, you’ll see that even though I fumbled around a bit with the Philips #00 screwdriver I used, it only took about three and a half minutes for me to swap the iPhone 4’s standard glass plate with the metal replacement from voBack. (Note that newer iPhone 4 units have five-point Torx screws, a much rarer screw type that’s more difficult to remove.) Because I chose a black replacement, from a distance my iPhone looks almost no different than it did before, but I’ve got more peace of mind now that the backside is made out of something more durable than glass.

About the only complaint I have about the voBack panel is it holds onto smudges a lot more readily than the standard oleophobic glass. Other than that minor issue, I’m quite pleased with it. The best part is that, unlike most cases, the voBack plate doesn’t change the shape of the iPhone 4 at all, so anything that would have fit a standard-issue iPhone will still fit. My bumper case slid right on with no issues, and my camera, LED flash and wireless reception haven’t been affected at all. Worried about voiding your warranty by swapping out the rear plate? voBack itself isn’t sure if this procedure will void your warranty or not, but if you keep the original backside in a safe place, you can always swap it back in later. If you’ve already broken the rear glass on your iPhone 4 anyway, you’ve really got nothing to lose by replacing it.

There are plenty of different colors, styles and materials to choose from on voBack’s site, and the prices range from US$24 to $29. Shipping to the US from New Zealand is very reasonable too, though Fixxed says it’s looking for international distributors for the voBack panels. Check out a gallery of the voBack panel below, and I’ve also made a video showing how easy it is for even a clumsy guy like me to swap out the iPhone’s rear casing.

Continue reading Swap out your iPhone 4’s rear glass with a replacement panel from voBack

Swap out your iPhone 4’s rear glass with a replacement panel from voBack originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Since 2001, ThinkGeek has been compiling gag products for April Fool’s Day. Some products are silly, some outrageous, and some are conceptually cool and show promise as a real product. The iCade gaming cabinet, one star of April Fool’s 2010, falls into this latter category. The iCade is a retro gaming cabinet that hearkens back to the 80s and its arcade gaming craze. The table-top unit lets you mount your iPad as the display, while the cabinet itself includes a joystick, arcade buttons and Bluetooth to connect to your iPad.

After a few copycat versions hit the scene, ThinkGeek realized there is genuine interest in such a product and is working with Atari and ION to bring this concept to fruition. Atari is planning to release iCade-friendly versions of its classic arcade games, like Asteroids. These games will run on the iPad, and the action will be controlled by the BT-connected joystick and gaming buttons. An API will also be released so that current game developers can create iCade-compatible versions of their games.

The unit will start shipping April 2011 and will retail for US$99.99. Are any of you gamers out there interested in scooping one up when it becomes available?

[Via the gadgeteer]

ThinkGeek’s iCade gaming cabinet for iPad moves closer to reality originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When I went to meet up with eBay at last week’s CES conference, I went to a booth run not by that company, but by a company called RedLaser. Started by two U of Michigan grads, RedLaser is an eBay acquisition that has released a barcode scanning app for the iPhone that will scan your products and give you back consumer information about them. Rob Veres is the Senior Director of eBay Mobile and General Manager of RedLaser, and he kindly sat down to tell us about the trading site’s current apps and future in the mobile space.

“We try new things all the time,” Veres told me. “In the case of mobile, we had a pretty strong conviction early that mobile was going to be big.” And indeed it is — the eBay app has gone through a few changes and updates since it was released a while ago, but there have been 15 million total downloads of eBay’s mobile apps so far. Last year, the company saw a whopping $2 billion in sales come through mobile devices alone. Back in November, the company merged what were two separate buying and selling apps, and that’s when the RedLaser technology was added to the main app.

Click on to read more about what eBay’s up to on the iPhone, as well as see a video of the “See it On” augmented reality feature seen above.

Continue reading eBay’s mobile app strategy shared at CES

eBay’s mobile app strategy shared at CES originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BGR reports that, according to their source, iOS 4.3 will bring personal Hotspot feature to all iPhones in March, subject to the approval of individual carriers. If true, iOS 4.3 will support personal Hotspot out of the box, but it’s upto the carriers like AT&T to enable support for it.

Verizon iPhone 4, which is running a new iOS 4.2.5, comes with the support for turning the device into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot allowing up to five Wi-Fi devices to share the iPhone’s cellular data connection.

BGR also reports iOS 4.3 build version will be 8F5148b, baseband will be 04.08.00 and technical acceptance is planned for March.

via [BGR]

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