14 DAY TRIAL // On Tuesday, mobile phone carrier Verizon Wireless and Cupertino-based Apple announced officially the launch of the iPhone 4 on Verizon's network. The launch marks a first in the history, as this is the first time a CDMA iPhone
becomes available for purchase in the United States, or elsewhere.
The new mobile phone has already passed through FCC, and received the necessary approvals for being used on Big Red's airwaves.
The iPhone version that passed through FCC was model A1349 (the GSM version was model A1332), and showed CDMA / EV-DO Rev. A on the 850 and 1900MHz bands connectivity options, along with Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities.
The handset does not come with GSM support, which means that global roaming is not an option, though Verizon's customers would still be able to use it in CDMA countries.
Following the official announcement, which took place at an event held in New York, the new Verizon iPhone was analyzed in detail, and some people discovered that it actually came with more changes when compared to the GSM flavor than originally believed.
Beside the different radios packed in it, the Verizon iPhone also sports slightly relocated buttons, which, Engadget suggests, won't make it fit for existing cases for the GSM version.
In all fairness, this does not mean that the handset won't become available with cases when put on sale on February 10th, as Apple and third-party manufacturers will certainly do their best to have them ready in due time.
One other new feature the Verizon iPhone 4 comes to the market with is 3G mobile hotspot, which, apparently, is not enabled courtesy of a specific application, but which was actually packed inside the platform the iPhone is running under (iOS 4.2.5).
The wireless carrier announced that an iOS-specific version of the Verizon 3G Mobile Hotspot would be included with the iPhone 4 when made available for purchase, so that users could create a personal WiFi access point to connect up to five compatible devices to Big Red's network.