Verizon's CDMA iPhone 4 Announced with No 4G Support

Yesterday's CDMA iPhone 4 announcement by Verizon claims users will pre-order the iPhone 4 starting February 3rd and will be available from February 10 for everyone. Since this is a CDMA iPhone 4, there are many questions that have been unanswered. Apart from the obvious CDMA network support, the Verizon iPhone 4 does not bring any noticeable difference from the GSM iPhone 4 which has been sold exclusively by AT&T in the US and different carriers across the world.

With this announcement, the Verizon iPhone 4 is also the first Apple smartphone made for a CDMA network. The Verizon iPhone 4 won't run on Verizon's 4G network but on its much slower 3G network which is kind of disappointing news for current Verizon users who have been enjoying the superfast 4G LTE. More information on its price and plan can be found here.

There are many things still unclear about what Verizon has in store for its iPhone 4 users and the upgrade plan for the rumored iPhone 5. But we do know that the CDMA iPhone 4 is has the same standard spec as the GSM iPhone 4 - a 3.5-inch Retina display, A4 porcessor, 512MB of RAM, 5 mega pixel camera with 720p HD video recording and an internal storage of 16/32GB. The connectivity options do not include the recently launched 4G LTE by Verizon though, but Verizon also announced that it will allow for global romaing with voice and text in more than 40 countries and data in more than 20 coutries.

The CDMA iPhone 4 also has its antenna redesign for CDMA network but keep in mind, CDMA iPhone 4 users won't be able to do voice and data communication simultaneously as CDMA network does not support this feature. One good news though, the new antenna design is expected to fix the infamous GSM iPhone 4's antenna reception problem. The new antenna design has four band slits on the left and right sides which is different from the GSM iPhone 4 (one slit on top and three on either side). And the Verizon CDMA iPhone 4 will come with a new feature called Personal Hotspot feature which enables using the phone as a Wi-Fi Hotspot for up to fice connections. This feature scores over AT&T's iPhone 4 which can tether only to computer through USB.

With the CDMA iPhone 4 announcement that is not exclusive to Verizon, it may not take too long for Indian CDMA operators like Reliance and Tata Indicom to bring the iPhone 4 to Indian market.