Have the iPhone 5, got lucky at Verizon

I was real lucky, I stopped in a Verizon store in Florida at 12 noon or so just to check out the new iPhone 5, I mostly just wanted to see one. It was then that I found out they had a 16GB black phone in stock, I knew I couldn't wait so I bought it for $200 with a new 2 year contract. I was due for an upgraded phone since this past March, and just waited for 4G LTE coverage. I covered it in an Otter Box Defender that Verizon just got in stock that morning.

Verizon sales people would not reveal how many iPhone 5 they had to sell at that store.

I found reception much better than my previous phone.

So far, I am very happy and will enjoy learning it this weekend.

JPH675

Congratulations!

Enjoy! Glad that the reception is better.

I got play with both the white and black models today (they are sold out EVERYWHERE in Victoria, not that I'm in the market). The fit and finish on them is AMAZING, there is nothing presently on the market that even comes CLOSE to this level of sheen and elegance.

The weight in particular is also quite remarkable, particularly when coupled with the thinness. Makes my old original iPhone look like a badly-made brick, and don't even get me started on how ridiculous it makes plastic phones look (and feel).

The screen is as nice as it was on the iPhone 4, the extra row of icons is nice but what I liked was how it fit in my hand. There was some guy in a nearby store looking at the Galaxy Note and I just said "dude, not only is there a Note II already out, but go to this other shop and look at the new iPhone. I don't care what you buy, but if you're going to get something new you should at least check the newest models."

I have a difficult time imagining how Apple will top this, really. To me, this is the iPhone perfected.

Speed

A friend with a 4S came over to check out the new 5. What was interesting is the speed difference on my wifi system favoring the 5. The Verizon LTE speed difference was obvious as expected when we kicked them off wifi.

The weight difference was significant and noticeable.

The screen resolution appears the same but landscape mode views include much more written detail on websites and e-mail with the 5.

The battery charge at home went from 6% all the way to 100% in exactly 2 hours, significantly faster than my iPad 3.

Super happy with the phone.

JPH

Nice. Can it do simultaneous voice/data?

jotdess said:

Nice. Can it do simultaneous voice/data?

Click to expand...

Not on Verizon or Sprint. Both carriers still channel voice through CDMA and the iPhone 5's chipset doesn't carry both bands simultaneously (or so I understand).

Incidentally when I read the thread title here I thought two separate events had occurred.

cwa107 said:

Not on Verizon or Sprint. Both carriers still channel voice through CDMA and the iPhone 5's chipset doesn't carry both bands simultaneously (or so I understand).

Click to expand...

Weird. My sister who has the 5 on Verizon, called me and sent me a text and said she was able to browse while talking to me. I will try and confirm if this is the case.

jotdess said:

Weird. My sister who has the 5 on Verizon, called me and sent me a text and said she was able to browse while talking to me. I will try and confirm if this is the case.

Click to expand...

That would be contrary to what has been reported extensively in the press.

Why the iPhone 5 on Verizon and Sprint Won't Juggle Calls and Data - NYTimes.com
Verizon's iPhone 5 and Sprint's iPhone 5 Won't Let You Talk and Surf the Web At the Same Time (Updated)
Verizon iPhone 5's Lack of Simultaneous Voice & Data a Deal Breaker
IPhone 5: Can't talk and surf at same time on Verizon or Sprint - latimes.com

Perhaps she was on WiFi at the time?

Aw man. I thought with LTE it would work with both voice and data. That's a bummer. Not going to stop me from switching from AT&T though. Tired of their crap.

I was at my local Verizon store, just looking and watch a family come in and buy two iPhone 5's for their teenage kids. I'm guessing $700 exchanged hands, we happened to walk out together and that when I noticed they all piled into a 10+ year old Taurus that was rusted out and belching smoke and exhaust fumes. They appeared to have many in stock as the kids wanted black and white 32GB phones, but the parents tried to talk them into 16GB phones. The kids won out with the argument the memory can't be updated.

Guess those are the sacrifices families are making to keep the kids up to date. BTW I walked out with my 4 year old BB's. For some reason I still can't find the guts to spend a couple hundred dollars on any new phone. Ahh the joys of being retired and on a fixed income.

Tom
USAF Retired

cwa107 said:

That would be contrary to what has been reported extensively in the press.

Why the iPhone 5 on Verizon and Sprint Won't Juggle Calls and Data - NYTimes.com
Verizon's iPhone 5 and Sprint's iPhone 5 Won't Let You Talk and Surf the Web At the Same Time (Updated)
Verizon iPhone 5's Lack of Simultaneous Voice & Data a Deal Breaker
IPhone 5: Can't talk and surf at same time on Verizon or Sprint - latimes.com

Perhaps she was on WiFi at the time?

Click to expand...

She was on Wi-Fi. Weak! I tested it on LTE and it did not work. No big deal. Everyone I know has a smartphone.

One thing I did notice were the speeds. Verizon LTE was 40mbps DL, 22 up. When I tried on AT&T it was 6mbps DL, 1.5 up.

jotdess said:

She was on Wi-Fi. Weak! I tested it on LTE and it did not work. No big deal. Everyone I know has a smartphone.

One thing I did notice were the speeds. Verizon LTE was 40mbps DL, 22 up. When I tried on AT&T it was 6mbps DL, 1.5 up.

Click to expand...

Bummer. I was hopeful there for a minute.

It won't stop me from sticking to VZW though. I'd rather deal with the very occasional need to surf and talk, than to have to deal with service, signal and call quality issues associated with AT&T.