Today's press conference brought no surprises, as Verizon announced they will soon begin selling the iPhone 4. The handset will be almost identical to the AT&T version, save for the fact that it has a CDMA antenna and whatever changes that required.
Yes, this iPhone 4 is still an iPhone 4. There's no upgrade, downgrade or major change. The most telling one, in fact, is the position of the buttons along the side, which had to be slightly altered to accommodate the CDMA antenna. This is big news for case manufacturers, though, as they'll need a new product line to fit those repositioned controls.
Because it runs on CDMA, you can't use both voice and data simultaneously, although Verizon claims they'll have this fixed within the next few months. They're also adding WiFi mobile hotspot as an available option, unlike the AT&T iPhone 4 (although the latter could have it when they officially update to iOS 4.2.5).
On the software end, the Verizon iPhone 4 is just like the AT&T version -- there's no bloatware of any kind from the carrier . The Big Red doesn't have an exclusive contract for the CDMA version, either, so expect this same model to trickle down to other CDMA-based carriers around the world.
Availability is being set for February 10th, likely with the same $199.99 contract price as competing smartphone models.
[via Cnet]
