This of course rings up as a jailbroken phone, one hacked by an intrepid believer in the idea that iPhones only truly reach their potential once they’ve been busted open and carried by whichever phone service provider they wish. This one has successfully gotten through the process without being bricked, and can now be used on whichever network its owner so chooses. Of course, once you’ve gotten this far, you’ll be wondering if you’re really get 3G speeds and might not be able to work MMS, as Technologizer speculates, but heck , who cares, there’s all kinds of apps to solve your problems once you’re jailbroken, right? Such is the freedom of open development and 3rd party apps?

Before you do something like this on your own, you’d be best to hang out at, for example, your local Cricket store, asking if the process will allow you to have them give you some service on their network. If they say they’ve got no idea what you’re talking about, wink at them a little bit, and ask again. If they ask you to leave, probably this isn’t the process for you. On the other hand, there are always ways of doing extraordinary things when it comes to smart devices these days, so although the risk for you is hundreds of dollars, you know you’ve got the option if you’ve got the ability. What do you think?

Does it seem worth it?

BONUS: so cute!

[via YouTube]

Shammo did not give details on the tiered data plans Verizon plans to offer. AT&T stopped offering unlimited plans in June, and now offers a $15 plan for 250MB and a $25 for 2GB. The new plans could be based upon desired buckets of data, data speeds, or a combination of both. We shall see.

[via Bloomberg Businessweek]

Consumer Reports ran the device through the same series of tests as AT&T’s iPhone, as well as five other Verizon smartphones: Motorola Droid 2, HTC Droid Incredible, Samsung Fascinate, Motorola Droid X, and the LG Ally. All tests were done in a radio-frequency isolation chamber which blocks outside signals. Sending a signal to the phones, they were then tested by placing a finger on different parts of the phones to see if there was any signal degradation. The only phones who experienced a signal drop were the iPhones.

The drop in reception comes from the design of the iPhone 4. The sleek and stylish design places the antenna on the outer metal band of the phone, and on the lower left is the antenna where the signal loss happens. If you bridge the gap it will result in signal loss, something easily done while holding the phone normally. The design problem is easily alleviated buy putting a case on the iPhone, which lead Apple to hand out their Bumpers for free when the problem first came up. Consumer Reports concludes their test by not including the Verizon iPhone 4 on their recommended smartphone list, despite receiving high marks on their ratings.

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2011/02/verizon-iphone-4-reception-problems-consumer-reports-lab-test.html

The sales data shows unit sales from five Apple stores combined, two of which are very prominent Apple stores:
- Thursday: Verizon = 909, AT&T = 539
- Friday: Verizon = 916, AT&T = 680
- Saturday: Verizon = 660, AT&T = 471
- Sunday: Verizon = 796, AT&T = 701
- Monday: Verizon = 711, AT&T = 618

Other data revealed statistics of who actually bought the Verizon iPhone. Of the people that purchased the Verizon iPhone, 30% were Android users, over 25% were BlackBerry users, and only 14% were AT&T iPhone users.

[Via BGR]

The video opens with loud applause and we see an Apple Store packed with maybe 50 staff. Flanking the entrance, the staff continue applauding and cheering as one woman and perhaps her daughter walk in from the empty mall. An older gentleman then jogs by in his sweats. It’s truly a sight to behold.

We can only assume that everyone’s snowed in there in Minneapolis and decided to pre-order online instead. Perhaps AT&T didn’t have to worry so much after all.

This all began a couple of weeks ago when Aaron Rodgers was asked to do a phone interview with the Jim Rome show, only to be cut off by a terrible connection more than once. A transcript of a couple of the more important interactions:

ROME: “I’m going to give it a shot. Same phone, same deal. I’m going to hope for the best. We go back to it. Aaron Rodgers joins me once again. Aaron, sorry about that. The connection wasn’t good. Good to have you back though. Thanks.”

RODGERS: “Yeah, you bet, man. I love the iPhone, but sometimes AT&T doesn’t work around here.”

ROME: “That’s the truth. Around here also…”

A few moments later:
RODGERS: (Unintelligible)

ROME: “Aaron, my man, I just can’t do it. I hate that. AT&T and the iPhone. Too bad it hasn’t come to Verizon yet, but that’s February 10th. Great phone, spotty service. AT&T, thanks for nothing. Hate that. You got a guy coming off the best game of his career in demand, tough to get the interview, commits to it, probably in a place where it’s got to be a cell phone shot. iPhone. I mean, you got apps. But what good is it if we can’t do a freaking interview? Yeah, but the apps are great. Yeah, it’s great if you can use it as a phone. iPhone, not iApps. And I’m not here to crack you iPhone users, don’t freak out on that, I’ve got one. That’s why I don’t use it as much as my Verizon BlackBerry. Big drag. We’ll try to re-establish that with another phone or if not, what are you going to do? Guy made time for it. Tried to do it. We’ll see if maybe we can still turn that around.”

Immediately after this, the tweets started rolling out, and it began to look rather bleak for AT&T at the same time as it started to look like one heck of a free commercial for Verizon:

Jim Rome continued the show with a reading of an email, and suddenly the show was very much about AT&T’s coverage with their version of the iPhone. The email Rome read: “Hey, Jim, I agree completely about iPhones. I was on a call with one about a month ago. I could not hear a word the guy was saying, signed Joe Pa.”

Today, the story took another interesting turn. Aaron Rodgers tweeted his wish to call in to the Jim Rome Show again, saying that he was afraid as his iPhone warned him of the inevitable:

This alerted Verizon to the continuing situation, and they immediately took action with their fabulous free phone machine, appearing to offer Rodgers a brand new iPhone 4 from their recently released collection:

What can we learn from all this? Perhaps just make sure to have excellent service, especially when your device is in the hands of celebrities and sports icons.

One bad call can go a long way.

The biggest change is the antenna. With the new design, Apple walled off the Bluetooth/LAN antenna for increased performance. The most expensive component of the iPhone 4 is memory, at $40.40. The display costs $37.80.

According to Andrew Rassweiler, senior director of teardown services for IHS:

“With the CDMA iPhone 4, Apple Inc. has shown once again that it never recycles a product design. Apple’s new designs always exhibit changes, evolution and optimization. This approach is evident not only in the antenna design but also in items like the integrated GPS functionality and the shrinking of the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo module. As we dig deeper into our teardown analysis, we’re certain that we will find a host of other tweaks all designed to improve quality but keep costs on a steady path of decline.”

To see SlashGear’s full review of the Verizon iPhone 4, go here.

[via PCMag.com]

Line in Louisville KY, via Flickr user Jason Hiner

The iPhone 4 has already been out for over six months, and though it is new to Verizon, many people may be waiting for the iPhone 5. Also, at $30, Verizon’s data plan is more expensive than AT&T’s. More importantly, perhaps, Verizon made the phone available to existing customers on February 3rd, and it was available online yesterday.

Check out SlashGear’s full review of the Verizon iPhone 4, and let us know if you were one of those who braved the cold to get a new phone today.

[via TechFortune]

The HC has rubber inside the inner case to protect the iPhone from scratches and to pad the smartphone to prevent damage in the event the device is dropped. The inner case is made from a hard plastic material and has an integrated screen protector to keep scratches away.

The outer layer is a rubber case that goes over the top of the hard plastic inner case for more protection. The HC adds a lot of bulk to the case and makes it very hard to fit into a pocket so it ships with a holster for your belt as well. You can get the case now for $49.99.

Initial attempts did not work out using Greenpois0n RC5, but after updating to RC 5.4, it seems to be smooth sailing. The process should take no more than a minute to complete and video tutorials seem abundant on the web.

Chronic Dev, the team behind Greenpois0n, has just officially released version RC5.4. However, only the Mac version is available for now.

[Via BlogsDNA]

An spokesman for the carrier would not give any details, but he did say that “we’re working with Apple,” to make it happen. AT&T is also giving away free microcells to increase reception. On Feb. 13, their data cap for tethering customers will expand to 4 GB. Will that be enough to stop iPhone-lovers from fleeing to Big Red?

It doesn’t seem likely. The subscriber-only iPhone pre-orders set a new first day sale’s record for the world’s largest carrier. The next round of orders- on February 9- won’t be kind to AT&T’s bottom line.

[Via AppleInsider]

The 3G microcells($199.99) went on sale from AT&T last year and are mainly popular for those living in low coverage areas. The microcell works like a signal extender boosting your broadband connection by actually creating a new 3G signal using your broadband connection.

A few caveats to the deal are that in order to accept it you must sign on to an additional 12-month contract. If the customer decides to break or cancel the agreement before the 12-month contract ends, they will have to return the microcell to AT&T or pay the pro-rated cost for it. This agreement won’t have any effect on your handset contract end date or your ability to upgrade your phone.

The reason why the deal is not widespread may be because AT&T is only targeting the iPhone users who have contracts ending soon. There’s no explanation yet as to why certain customers received the e-mail and some did not. Wiith the record sales numbers Verizon is reporting for their iPhone 4, it seems likely that AT&T is nervously trying to pull out new tricks from their hat.

[Via ArsTechnica]