Apple iPhone 4 (Verizon Wireless)

Apple's best-in-class design and superior apps paired with Verizon's strong 3G network make for a stellar combination.

There's something a little surreal about seeing "Verizon" in the upper left corner of an iPhone's screen. It signifies something monumental for those who have been waiting more than three years to get an iPhone that works on Verizon Wireless' network. For AT&T customers, especially those in overly congested areas such as New York City and San Francisco, it represents a digital life preserver, the opportunity to be rescued by a carrier whose iPhone 4 ($199) won't drop their calls and take what seems like an eternity to load a single web page in certain cities. Not to mention, Verizon adds a personal hotspot feature for sharing that 3G connection with multiple gadgets. So how much better is Verizon's network when you put the two iPhones head to head and--just as important--is the iPhone 4 really the best smart phone on Verizon's network?

Design

When you put the AT&T and Verizon iPhones side by side, they're practically identical. And that's a good thing. Made of glass and stainless steel, the black-and-silver iPhone 4 still has the most elegant look and feel of any smart phone on the market--yes, even after more than seven months. Nothing in Verizon's lineup really comes close. Although CDMA phones tend to be heavier than their GSM counterparts, Apple managed to keep the weight on this iPhone 4 just as low (4.8 ounces) and the dimensions just as small (4.5 x 2.3 x 0.37 inches).

There are just a few aesthetic differences between the AT&T and Verizon iPhone 4. First, the antenna bands on the Verizon device force the volume buttons and ringer switch down a bit on the left side. Apple is releasing a new universal bumper case to accommodate both of its iPhones, while case makers will be releasing special Verizon iPhone 4 cases that accommodate the subtle design differences. You also won't find a SIM card tray on the right side of the Verizon version.

A critical part of the iPhone 4's design remains the 3.5-inch Retina Display. At 960 x 640 pixels, this screen is still the resolution champ, and IPS technology continues to provide fantastically wide viewing angles. We loved showing off videos we captured with the device's 720p camcorder. In a side-by-side comparison, the AT&T iPhone 4's display had a slight magenta cast in white areas, but the two screens are equally colorful and crisp. Nevertheless, some will likely prefer the larger 4-inch panel on the Droid X, which makes text easier to read without zooming in.

3G Data Performance

A lot has been made of the fact that the iPhone 4 for Verizon Wireless doesn't support the carrier's new 4G LTE network. But compared to AT&T, Verizon's "old-school" 3G EV-DO technology on this iPhone might as well be 5G. In midtown Manhattan, the speed delta was laughable. In fact, when downloading web pages, the best AT&T could muster was twice as slow as the Verizon iPhone 4 (22 seconds vs. 11 seconds for CNN.com and 16 seconds vs. 17 seconds for ESPN). When we downloaded the mobile version of Yahoo, the Verizon iPhone 4 took 10 seconds, compared to a scary-slow 1:30 for AT&T.

Then we fired up the Speedtest app, and the Verizon iPhone 4 was equally dominant, averaging 688 Kbps in New York City. The AT&T iPhone 4 turned in a high of 400 Kbps but in most cases barely broke 10 Kbps. Really. Uploads for the Verizon version averaged 578 Kbps, and the AT&T iPhone 4 ranged between 1.09 Mbps (great) and 5 Kbps (terrible).

Of course, data performance affects much more than web surfing and throughput numbers. On one occasion the Verizon iPhone took 8 seconds to fully load the App Store homepage, compared to more than 2 minutes on the AT&T iPhone. And the Verizon version found the nearest Pret a Manger in Maps in 3 seconds, versus 17 seconds for AT&T. Last but not least, we started Pandora to see how long each phone would take to load the app and start playing music: Verizon took 9 seconds, and AT&T took 1 minute and 28 seconds.

Central New Jersey was a different story, as the AT&T iPhone 4 averaged 1.6 Mbps downloads, compared to 1.1 Mbps for Verizon's device. Mobile site load times were also a lot closer, with AT&T loading CNN.com and ESPN.com a few seconds faster, and losing by a single second on Yahoo.com. When loading the full NYTimes.com homepage, Verizon took 12 seconds to AT&T's 16 seconds.

The bottom line is that AT&T's 3G network is superior in certain locations, but it's so overloaded in New York City at times (and other locations) that AT&T's iPhone 4 is almost useless in those spots.