Hitachi Displays has just announced a 4.5-inch IPS LCD panel that fits 1280 x 720 pixels within its frame, accounting for an eye-watering 329dpi density. That’s higher than you can get on the iPhone 4, but the fun doesn’t stop there. Hitachi’s new goodness also promises an 1,100:1 contrast ratio and 500 nits of brightness coming from an LED backlight.
Either the size isn’t as accurate or the guys who calculated the pixel density messed up. A 4.5-inch display with 1280×720 pixels has a PPI, not DPI, of 326. For a 329PPI display with 1280×720 pixels the size will have to be 4.46 inches or so. So is it a 4.46-inch 329PPI? Or is it a 4.5-inch 326PPI display? Yes, I know, I’m being picky. But I have a good reason.
326PPI is exactly the same pixel density as the 3.5-inch 960×640 Retina Display used in the iPhone 4. In my opinion, around 326PPI is the highest level of engineering that can be mass manufactured today. Engadget alludes to Hitachi’s new “Retina Display” as being better. Let’s see if that’s true.
The brightness figures are the same. And its been quite some time since all high-end mobile displays have gone LED backlights. But this here Hitachi LCD has a stated contrast ratio of 1100:1, higher than what Apple is reporting (800:1). But DisplayMate tests showed that Apple under-reports the specs, a rarity in this hyper-competitive market, and found that typical contrast ratios for the iPhone 4 were actually much higher, around 1117:1. That’s on par with Hitachi’s version. So, it seems we’ve got the same PPI, the same brightness, and the same contrast ratio.
There is one thing that will result in remarkably different experiences though.
The 1280×720 pixel format. A lot of smartphones shoot video at 1280×720 so there are a lot of content out there. Video quality suffers when you scale it. For instance if you have an iPhone 4 and you play back your 720p HD video footage, it’ll look good, but it won’t look as good as it should. The 1280×720 HD video is being scaled down to 960×640. On this Hitachi LCD, 1280×720 video footage can be played without any scaling. On this “Retina Display” from Hitachi, unscaled, pure, 1:1 720p HD will look absolutely fantastic!
The Pre 3 has an IPS LCD (valuable information I got loose yesterday) screen at 800×480. I am very happy that it doesn’t use (SAM)OLED technology, as in my opinion they’re a bad stopgap to solve the LCD pixel density and power usage problem. You start to wonder what kind of contracts Apple has with Sharp, considering only Sharp and Apple currently ship devices with 960×640 pixel IPS LCD displays. I bet some of the billions in cash they spend was used to buy a lot — if not all — of Sharp’s manufacturing capacity for these extremely advanced screen panels.
Unlike the Veer, the Pre3 has an 8-bit LCD, which means millions of colors instead of just thousands. The 3.58-inch 800×480 TFT LCD is IPS, In-Plane Switching. Good choice HP. Now unto some problematic statements by de With.
First, LCD doesn’t have a pixel density problem. The highest pixel density display that is in production today and in something you can actually buy uses LCD technology. It’s the 3.5-inch Retina Display on the iPhone 4. The display technology with a big pixel density challenge is not LCD, it is OLED.
Second, LCD doesn’t have a power usage problem. Sure, LCD consumes power and the goal is to consume less, but OLED consumes even more than LCD. Unless pixels are black OLEDs have a big appetite for power. A BlackBerry with OLED could possibly last a very long time, longer than using a LCD, since the user interface is mostly black.
Third, right now LG Display supplies the majority of the 3.5-inch Retina Displays in the Apple iPhone 4. Apple most likely has an exclusivity agreement with LGD since I’ve not seen it in any other gadget. In next generation iPhones and iPads I’m fairly certain that LGD, Sharp and Toshiba will be the exclusive suppliers of Retina Displays: 3.5-inch 960×640 and 9.7-inch 2048×1536 LCDs. These three won’t be able to supply their best to any other brand. And theoretically, I don’t think a Retina Display has to be based on IPS:
[A Retina Display] is simply a display that has a high-enough resolution when used at the typical “usage distance” that your eyes cannot distinguish individual pixels.
You see Sharp’s display technology is different: it’s called Advanced Super View (ASV) and based on Vertical Alignment (VA) technology. Something entirely different from IPS. Apple needs to work with this looser definition of Retina Display to get enough LCD suppliers, three so far, to be able to produce all of the Retina Displays it needs. Who knows maybe Apple’s master plan is to equip all of its products with Retina Displays.
Oh, back to the Pre3: it looks like HP has done some homework and equipped its better smartphone with IPS LCD technology. Why no love for the Veer?
Vlad Savov at Engadget:
A 4-inch WVGA (800 x 480) LCD might sound like standard fare for modern Android phones, but LG’s panel is a notch above the average. It’s bright and well saturated, retaining its color fidelity even at oblique viewing angles. We wouldn’t say it’s any competition to the IPS displays available on Apple’s iPhone 4 or Sharp’s IS03, but then again, not many are. In the absence of such advanced display tech or Samsung’s snazzy Super AMOLED, we reckon LG has given us the next best thing with the 2X’s screen.
Not IPS? I wouldn’t completely rule it out. Remember, LG Display is the company that makes the Retina Display for the iPhone 4. And LG Electronics, the company that makes the Optimus 2X, owns a big chunk of LG Display.
I am nearly dead certain the iPad 2 is going to have the same display resolution and size as the current iPad. I am not so sure at all, though, that there won’t be a double-resolution 2048 × 1536 iPad in 2011.
My postulation in iPad & Retina Display back on January 23rd:
I expect to see an iPad with a Retina Display announcement in 2011.
Whether that iPad will be called iPad 3 I have no idea, but I’m betting that we’ll get to see it announced before 2011 is over.
A while back, on March 23, 2010 Qualcomm announced new cellular baseband data chipsets including the MDM6600, which, “supports HSPA+ data rates of up to 14.4 Mbps and CDMA2000® 1xEV-DO Rev. A/Rev. B.” The MDM6600 is used in the recently announced CDMA iPhone 4 that works on Verizon Wireless. We know because the good folks at iFixit tore it down and took a look inside.
DigiTimes reported in late 2009 that Qualcomm was talking to Apple and I guessed that it was about Gobi. It’s taken a good long while but it’s happening. The MDM6600 theoretically lets the Verizon iPhone 4 work on both CDMA and GSM networks. Apple didn’t make it that way this time around, but the next iPhone, which I’ll call iPhone 4S will most likely be a single model that’ll work on both AT&T and Verizon. If you travel all over the world this added flexibility would be a tremendous value to you. Even if you don’t travel a lot I wouldn’t recommend getting the current Verizon iPhone 4 because it will seem old when the new one comes out in June or July, in just a few months. And there’s another reason.
I think the next iPhone will be called iPhone 4S. In iPhone 4S I explain in detail why I think so, but here’s the gist: both Verizon and AT&T are working to deploy “4G” networks based on a technology called LTE or Long Term Evolution. LTE is much faster than 3G but it isn’t available everywhere. AT&T will have some semblance of an LTE network in the US by mid-2011. Verizon has already rolled out its LTE network in several metropolitan areas. Both will need more time for it to be available nationwide, but the trick is that the iPhone 4S will be able to drop down to 3G speeds when 4G networks are not available. The price will probably be the same at US$199 for the base iPhone 4S, so you won’t be spending more than a regular iPhone 4 for added 4G capability. Of course data plans from AT&T or Verizon might be a different story. I don’t think Apple will go with iPhone 5 since the big thing with smartphones right now and for the next few years will be 4G capability. Marketing an iPhone 5 that works on 4G networks just doesn’t seem to me all that simple. On the other hand an iPhone 4S that makes use of the speedier 4G networks makes marketing a lot easier. Apple is about great design, products, and service, but it’s also a powerful marketing company and iPhone 5 just doesn’t seem to fit.
VoLTE. That’s Voice over LTE. VoLTE is how we will be communicating very soon. What is it? Everything is digital including voice and data. There doesn’t need to be separate connections but that’s how most smartphones work today: a network for voice and another network for data. Well that will soon change when both Verizon and AT&T fully deploy LTE networks. LTE networks are fast and with that you can shove both voice and data onto them. Think of VoLTE as a more specialized version of VoIP (Voice over IP). Verizon will be unveiling VoLTE at Mobile World Congress that will be held in Barcelona next week.
Theoretically, with VoLTE you’ll no longer need a plan with separate minutes and data: all you would need is a data plan. Hurray! And this will change the way carriers compete. Right now AT&T is touting that you can surf or do other stuff that requires a data connection while making a call on the GSM iPhone 4. The CDMA iPhone 4 can’t do that. If the iPhone 4S supports LTE then I think this particular advantage of GSM will be moot. You and talk and use data at the same time whether you’re on AT&T or Verizon. The winner will be determined by which carrier has the better LTE network. For now it looks like Verizon is way ahead. I don’t know whether or not AT&T is actively developing VoLTE like Verizon is but it better if it isn’t.
GSM or CDMA? It doesn’t matter thanks to the MDM6600 chip. Voice or data? That won’t matter either thanks to LTE and VoLTE in particular. The iPhone 4S will be a single model data phone that will be able to serve all carriers in the world. LTE will be initially supported by Verizon, since the company is way ahead in its LTE deployment, and later in the second half of 2011 by AT&T. Of course, I’m just wildly guessing about all of this but the possibility of a baseband-neutral data-only LTE-based iPhone 4S excites me!
Update: The very next day after I posted this article. From PCMag:
MetroPCS will deliver a Voice Over LTE-capable phone from HTC, making the unnamed cell phone the second after Verizon Wireless’s LG Revolution to be able to make phone calls over the new 4G network, Dan Warren, technology director for the GSM Association, said today.
Looks like VoLTE isn’t that far off.
The HP Veer is a tiny webOS smartphone. HP-only branded but official info is found on Palm.com. Jon Rubinstein claimed during today’s Think Beyond (full video on YouTube) event that the Veer is as small as a credit card. Well, it is, but only on two dimensions: width (2.15-inch) and length (3.31-inch). The Veer is 0.59 inches thick, way thicker than a credit card. But the fact is the Veer is tiny, probably the tiniest smartphone there is, or more accurately, will be when it comes out sometime during Spring 2011.
I like it. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is coming out with bigger smartphones, except for Apple who has stayed at 3.5 inches for all of its iPhones. The Veer is like a breath of fresh air. Something different.
The diminutive Veer sports a smallish 2.6-inch multitouch TFT LCD. Unfortunately the LCD is only a 6-bit display, which means real non-dithered colors are limited to just 262K colors. Just as a non-direct comparison, the iPhone 4 has a 8-bit LCD that can show more than 16.7 million colors. The Veer won’t look as good if you’ve been spoiled by 8-bit displays. And I’m pretty certain an 8-bit LCD wouldn’t have cost all that more, but oh well, HP thought different.
The pixel format is 320×400 with a 4:5 aspect ratio. If you flip that around it’s 5:4, which is the aspect ratio on most oldish 17-inch and 19-inch monitors that sported 1280×1024 pixel formats. This more squarish aspect ratio on the Veer is quite interesting. I wonder what usage model Rubinstein & Gang were thinking of when they decided to use this unique but unusual 4:5 display. I can think of one! Digital Polaroids! Those sport an aspect ratio of roughly 6:7 or in pixels 320×370. The weird LCD on the Veer might just be perfect for that. Just a thought…
The Veer is tiny and I think a lot of people with smaller hands will enjoy it, but the keyboard; it might be too dang small. The display isn’t all that great but it is quite possibly the most squarish display on a modern smartphone. One very obvious thing HP overlooked: the keyboard should have slid out sideways. Then it could’ve been bigger, maybe even the same size as the Pre3. And all of us used to 5:4 monitors, and there are a lot of us, would have felt more comfortable.
This tablet isn’t the next iPad; it’s Motorola’s Xoom, the world’s first Android 3.0 tablet. What a tacky tag line. Create a better world? Come on. The Super Bowl ad titled “Empower the People” was weird, too. It’s as if Motorola thinks the world isn’t such a great place because it’s filled with white ear-budded iPad users. Well, from Motorola’s perspective that probably is true. But from a non-Motorola perspective and as far as I can tell the iPad has inspired a tremendous amount of creativity. The Xoom ad might look clever alluding to Apple’s 1984 Super Bowl ad, but the Xoom doesn’t come close to being a revolution in personal computing that the Macintosh was back in 1984. If anything the iPad was more revolutionary in 2010. The marketing might be a bit off, but the hardware is killer.
The Xoom is expected to hit stores on February 24th and will be ready to connect to Verizon’s 3G, and later 4G, network. Let’s check out what type of hardware the Xoom is packing:
The Xoom’s multitouch LCD sports a 16:10 aspect ratio, which is unique. Unique to tablets but not to Apple, which has its 13.3-inch MacBook, MacBook Pro, and the 15.4-inch MacBook Pro with the same LCD featuring a 16:10 aspect ratio and 1280×800 pixel format.
The Motorola Xoom supports Adobe’s Flash Player, which is probably one of the reasons the entire Motorola Xoom portal is heavily dependent on Flash. I had to open up Google Chrome to have a look.
I prefer a 4:3 aspect ratio for a tablet, but the iPad could be a little wider. I think the most popular thing to do on a tablet is browsing. Although the trend toward wide aspect ratios has been going on for quite some time I continue to see the majority of websites optimized for a width of 1024 pixels, which interestingly is exactly what the iPad has in landscape mode. A wide display would certainly be great for watching 16:9 HD content, but then the Xoom has a slightly taller 16:10. I’m scratching my head trying to figure out why Motorola decided to use this particular aspect ratio on the Xoom. If Motorola wanted to push HD then it should’ve used a 16:9 display.
Aside from the display, all the other hardware specifications spank the current iPad. I mean literally crushes it. But then there’s a big let down: the Xoom is priced at US$799.99 according to a Best Buy ad as reported by Engadget. That sounds expensive but when you consider the 32GB 3G-capable iPad comes in at a hefty $729, the additional hardware for just $70 doesn’t sound like too much of a premium. Of course, Motorola is Motorola and Apple is Apple. We’ll be able to compare apples to apples when the iPad 2 is announced, which should be pretty soon.
Here’s something from left field:
To activate WiFi functionality on this device, a minimum 1 month data contract is required.
This sounds unusual. You need to pay for 3G data to use WiFi?!? It must be a mistake. If not then that means you need to cough up $20/mo just to use WiFi. That’s just messed up.
When the Motorola Xoom ships on the 24th of February it will be the world’s first Android 3.0 tablet and the world’s most powerful. There is the chance that Apple might announce a dual-core iPad 2 before that date, but there’s no mistake the Xoom is one powerful tablet and a sign that Motorola and Android will be forces to be reckoned with in the upcoming tablet wars.
Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away.
The only connection I have to Saint-Exupéry is his novella The Little Prince, which I was introduced to by Filippa Edberg, who I bumped into on a return flight to San Jose from a consulting gig in New York. I must say I enjoyed the book quite a bit, the English translated version. If you haven’t read the book you should.
Now, where was I? Yes, perfection. Saint-Exupéry’s definition of perfection resonated with what I was thinking of in terms my goals for DisplayBlog. I’ve been wishy-washy regarding the overall look and feel of this blog, but I think I’m getting closer to what I really want. The overarching goal for DisplayBlog is for it to be readable.
I don’t want you to be distracted. And that’s why I opted for a single column design. I think stuff on the left and right just get in the way. There are many excellent writings about which font is most readable. Some say that Verdana is easiest, but some others say fonts that are easy to read don’t stick around in your head for that long. At times I’ve used Verdana for the body text but I’ve decided on Georgia. Why? I think Instapaper, Readability, and Apple have done a lot of research trying to answer the question of, “What is the most readable font?” already. I won’t pretend to know better. It is interesting that all three use a serif font, in particular Georgia. There are now more font options for Instapaper, but when it first got started the default and only font was Georgia. Same thing for Readability. Apple’s Reader option (shift-command-r) on Safari also uses Georgia. I might be wrong about the exact font, if I am please let me know. So standing on the shoulders of these three giants, I chose Georgia.
But the font itself doesn’t make it easy to read. It can’t be too small. There are many many sites where the font is simply too small to read. So I chose a rather large font size. The default font size of the three tools mentioned above tends to be large, too. The large size goes well with the 600 pixel width of the single column. I’ve read that the optimal number of words in a given row of sentence should be around 15 or so. The logic goes like this: if there are too many words it becomes visually difficult to stay on that row of words. I also wanted a visual cue as to the textual boundaries. I didn’t want vertical lines so I chose to justify the text. Of course, simply justifying the text can leave a whole bunch of unwanted space. So I use a hyphenation plugin called wp-Typography. It isn’t perfect but it works quite well.
No more to take away. I started with the byline. I asked myself, “What information is absolutely necessary in the byline?” A while back I had Name, Categories, and Date. Before I had a couple of posts by other friends but decided that I’d like DisplayBlog to be my voice and my voice only. So there was no reason why my name should appear on every post. It’s obvious: all posts would be, “by Jin,” so I took my name off. Then there was Categories. It is convenient to click on say tablet and get all related posts, but was it really necessary? I don’t read other blogs based on categories nor do I google based on categories. I read based on the exact gadget name or the exact technology and google them that way, too. So Categories was gone. Left is just Date, and I think this is necessary. Although I would love to be able to write posts that are timeless, for now I think the date gives the reader, you, a context of time that is important. The byline I think is close to Saint-Exupéry’s definition of perfection: there is no more to take away.
Next was the menu. The menu was beneath the logo and there were three items: Home, About, and Resource. Resource was also known for quite some time as Database. I wondered if it was possible to get rid of the entire menu. The Home menu item was there because I couldn’t for the life of me get the header image to be clickable. This is still a big mystery using the Thesis theme that DisplayBlog is based on. I solved this problem by getting rid of the header image and instead using text, which is the Silkscreen font from TypeKit. The About item is now linked to my name in the footer. I shrunk down the footer from “Copyright 2010-2011 Jin Kim” to just “© Jin Kim”. I’m quite proud of being so textually frugal. Then I decided Resource wasn’t what I want DisplayBlog to be about. The Resource menu item had only one thing: IPS LCD Monitors. I’m sure it was useful to some but I realized I didn’t want to spend time updating the list anymore. If anyone wants to be in charge of updating the list get in touch with me. Now there is no more menu and no more to take away.
On the very bottom are three elements: search, a list of links, and a Google AdSense ad. I think everyone would agree that search is absolutely necessary. Then there are the list of links that are important to me. The first one is to my Amazon affiliate link . I don’t make a whole lot of money but I am deeply thankful to the few of you who have used the link to purchase items that you would ordinarily buy on Amazon. Thank you so much! The next three are links to excellent display resources. First is DisplayMate by Dr. Raymond Soneira. DisplayMate is an excellent source of detailed display test results and the company’s award-winning set of software tools. Second is Jutta Rasp’s FPExperts, a global display consultancy. If, for instance, you are setting up a LCD fabrication plant in India, Jutta can help. Third, Veritas et Visus by Mark Fihn. The newsletters thoroughly cover the flat panel display industry. Actually, thoroughly isn’t a thorough enough word. Finally, there is a 300×250 Google AdSense ad. The good folks at Google contacted me and informed me that this particularly sized ad is the most popular and lucky for me the size fits, not perfectly, but quite well. My hope is to one day be recommended to The DECK, which would replace the ad from Google. I could take away all of these at the end to get closer to perfection, but I hope you’ll understand that I do need to make a bit of money. And since these are located after you’re done reading the post, I hope they aren’t a distraction.
Update: In the quest toward a more content-focused DISPLAYBLOG, I’ve decided to remove all links. And Amazon Associates was terminated by Amazon. End of update.
Do these changes on DisplayBlog help you to focus on reading? I hope so. In the future, I am contemplating using less images and videos. The act of framing an object, taking a picture, and sharing it with you brings a lot of joy. I really enjoy the process, but I also know that some photographs are unnecessary. They also take up bandwidth, which is limited for some of you, and lengthen the time it takes to load this blog. But there are also times when no amount of words, not even a thousand, can explain what a single photo can. Same goes for videos. On the other hand as we move toward displays with higher densities, like the Retina Display used in the iPhone 4, only text and vector graphics will be able to take full advantage of them, another reason to focus more on text. So we’ll see. One thing’s for sure: I’ll be thinking of ways to get closer to having no more to take away. Feel free to send me your feedback.
PS: DisplayBlog looks best when viewed with WebKit-based browsers like Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari.
Most of you are already familiar with the Verizon iPhone 4. For a refresher read Verizon iPhone 4. The external differences are not much, but the changes inside the iPhone 4 make a huge difference. Control is now put back into your hands.
Initial reports are promising. The CDMA iPhone 4 that works on Verizon Wireless in the US works quite well. Gone are barely connected 3G sessions and the constant uneasiness that your phone conversations might drop at any moment. Apple sent its CDMA iPhone 4 to a bunch of high-flyers to real-life test it on Verizon’s network. Bottom line: you can now put complete faith in the iPhone 4′s ability to work as a top-notch phone with excellent voice quality and connectivity.
Overall, our level of confidence in the phone’s ability to handle one of its main tasks went way, way up during our testing. If you’ve been looking for relief from your woes of dropped or failed calls — right now the Verizon iPhone is making a very serious case for itself.
MG Siegler agrees:
For me, as someone who has spent three and a half years fed up with AT&T, the Verizon iPhone is absolutely, 100 percent worth it. I’ve already cancelled my AT&T contract (by way of Google Voice, actually) and I cannot forsee a future where I ever go back.
There’s long been a slogan that goes along with many Apple products — “it just works”. It’s also the best way to sum up this review. The iPhone 4 on Verizon: it just works.
A second C.D.M.A. difference: When you exchange long text messages with non-Verizon phones, they get split up into 160-character chunks. G.S.M. phones are smart enough to reconstitute those chunks into one more readable, consolidated message.
Third: You can’t talk on an C.D.M.A. phone while you’re online. That is, if you’re on a call, you can’t simultaneously check a Web site or send e-mail over the cellular network — and, annoyingly, the Personal Hotspot feature cuts off. (It reconnects when you hang up.)
If the top of your screen says “3G,” an indication that you’re in a high-speed Internet area of Verizon’s network, incoming calls take priority and interrupt your online connection. If you’re online in an older, 2G area, you stay online and the call goes directly to voice mail.
The bit about GSM phones’ ability to pull together text messages that are longer than 160 characters might be a really big deal for hardcore texters. Actually I think this will be a big deal for most people that send text messages since once in a blue moon all of us need to send text messages that are longer than 160 characters.
The third difference is problematic. The inconsistent way that incoming calls behave based on whether you’re connected to a 3G or 2G network can be confusing. You have no control over it either since there is no option to manually switch off 3G, like you do on the AT&T iPhone 4. You might never encounter a location with only 2G connectivity, but I would expect Apple and Verizon to work together on this and make the iPhone 4 behave consistently.
One of the pleasant surprises of testing the Personal Hotspot was its range. I was able to connect to the device even from a decent distance away. This isn’t short-range networking; you should be able to set the phone down and roam around a room (or even an adjacent room) without losing your Wi-Fi connection. This should be great for hotel rooms without free Wi-Fi, for example.
I find this scene unusual: I turn on the mobile hotspot feature on my iPhone 4. I connect my MacBook Pro to that WiFi network and then leave my iPhone on the desk carrying my MacBook Pro to a different location. You can replace MacBook Pro with iPad or any other WiFi-capable device, but I keep my iPhone next to me at all times if possible. My guess is that you do, too. Yes, it’s good that the Verizon iPhone 4 has a personal hotspot that has a wide range, but I don’t think this long-range feature will see much use. There is one situation where it would come in real handy: when you’re with friends with AT&T iPhones and they need to connect to your Verizon iPhone 4 from different parts of the room.
Verizon is delighted because the iPhone 4 is effectively a controlled experiment. There’s one difference, the network, and their network looks better. Verizon isn’t competing with Apple. They’re competing against AT&T. Assuming the iPhone 4 continues to perform on Verizon going forward as it has for me this past week, Verizon is going to bash AT&T over the head with the iPhone 4. Same phone, better on Verizon.
The assumption that the iPhone 4 on Verizon will continue to work without a lot of hiccups is a big one. I’m not sure what to expect. eWeek reported that Android smartphone users are more data hungry than iPhone users. Whether or not that is true, Verizon has been under tremendous pressure from a rapidly growing number of Android smartphone customers, all with ferocious appetites for data. So far I haven’t seen a single complaint about Verizon’s network being unreliable. I’ll bet that Gruber is right: even when millions hit Verizon’s network the iPhone 4 will work much better on Verizon than it does on AT&T.
I know Gruber has an iPhone with a grandfathered in unlimited data plan. The other high-flyers probably do, too. And maybe that’s why they didn’t think this was such a big deal. For me there is a major difference between the two iPhones: the data plan. On AT&T you have three options. DataPlus costs $15/mo and gives you 200MB. DataPro costs $25/mo and comes with 2GB. Then there’s the option of adding tethering to DataPro for an additional $20/mo. Just before Verizon opened the doors for current Verizon customers to pre-order iPhone 4s, AT&T announced that its tethering plan would included an extra 2GB of data; before you got 0GB extra data. The DataPro plus tethering now total 4GB for $45/mo. AT&T cites that 65% of its smartphone users consume less than 200MB per month, but that means that 45% use more. I have to be extremely careful not to hit that 200MB limit. Maybe I should just spend the extra $10 and free myself from worrying.
Verizon’s data plan is simple: $30/mo for unlimited data. This deal is rumored to last for only a limited time. If you want the personal hotspot feature that’s an additional $20/mo. This is quite compelling. For just $50/mo you can get five WiFi-equipped devices on Verizon’s rock-solid 3G network without having to worry about bumping up against any data limitations. It isn’t clear whether unlimited is truly unlimited or of the fine print variety that caps data at 5GB/mo. If Verizon’s unlimited plan is truly unlimited then its data plan is almost too good to pass up. Not only would you get a solid 3G connection almost anywhere you go in the US you never have to worry about bumping into any limit.
The iPhone 4 on Verizon is compelling for a variety of reasons, but there is one very important thing to consider: you’re now in control. You no longer need to worry about whether or not you’re in a good-enough location for that important phone call. You don’t have to worry about when your phone conversation might abruptly terminate. You don’t need to worry about these things. With the Verizon iPhone 4, you make, keep, and end phone calls. You’re in control.
PS: Brian Chen noticed that the AT&T iPhone 4 has a bluer display than the Verizon iPhone 4, which was whiter. I suspect there is a different LED backlight in the Verizon iPhone 4 that is pumping out light that is closer to true white.
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