The Verizon iPhone 4 is slower than its AT&T counterpart, according to Metrico, a company that tests mobile device performance. This bit of bad news for the long-awaited device follows reports that it additionally suffers from antenna signal loss when held in the “death grip” – a phrase coined after the release of the AT&T iPhone 4, which was found to drop reception bars when in held in a specific, but mostly natural, way.
According to the Metrico report released March 7, differences it discovered between the Verizon iPhone 4, which is based on CDMA technology, and the GSM-based AT&T iPhone 4 depend on how the smartphone is being used.
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The AT
&
T iPhone experienced double the mean data download speed of the Verizon iPhone,
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the firm said in a statement,
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but the mean load time for an average Web page was about the same on both devices.
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Metrico also found differences when the devices were being used in motion
–
in a car, say.
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The AT
&
T iPhone successfully completed around 20 percent more data download sessions than the Verizon iPhone,
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reported the firm.
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The results were opposite when the iPhones were stationary; the Verizon iPhone was more consistent uploading data when stationary in comparison to the AT
&
T iPhone, with a 10 percent success rate.
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The findings echo those of early reviewers. The Wall Street Journal
’
s Walter Mossberg, in a Feb. 3 review, reported that he performed
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scores of speed tests
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on the two iPhones, which he mostly used in Washington D.C., Virginia, Maryland and, for a day, Chicago.
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Despite a few Verizon victories here and there, AT
&
T
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s network averaged 46 percent faster at download speeds and 24 percent faster at upload speeds,
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wrote Mossberg. The differences were most notable, he found, when the phones were being asked to perform labor-intensive tasks, such as downloading large numbers of e-mails.
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AT
&
T
’
s speeds varied more while Verizon
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s were more consistent, but overall, AT
&
T was more satisfying at cellular data,
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Mossberg concluded.David Pogue
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s experience, reviewing the iPhones for The New York Times, was one that has made so many folks look forward to the iPhone on the Verizon network. He drove around San Francisco
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an Achilles
’
heel for AT
&
T iPhone coverage
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dialing a landline number. Over the course of 30 minutes, the AT
&
T iPHone dropped the call four times, while Verizon
’
s held it continuously. Metrico additionally compared the iPhones to other devices on their respective networks. It found the AT
&
T iPhone to rank near the top on download and upload speeds,
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with comparable performance to the Sony Ericsson Xperia, the LG Quantum and the HTC Surround.
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The Verizon iPhone, however, ranked
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below average in data download speed relative to other Verizon smartphones like the HTC Incredible.
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The Smartphone Mobile Experience evaluation testing that the phones underwent offer carriers and original equipment manufacturers information with which they can establish a scientifically derived user-experience baseline, Richard McNally, Metrico vice president, said in the statement. Metrico
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s performance evaluation included performing more than 10,000 Web page downloads, more than 2,000 upload tests and placing nearly 4,000 voice calls.
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The mobile industry is competing on performance, and anecdotal performance information isn
’
t good enough to drive management and marketing decisions,
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McNally added.The Verizon iPhone 4 has inspired a number of organizations and Web sites to run performance tests of their own. Consumer Reports found that having a finger on various parts of the phone can cause a
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meaningful decline in performance,
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and so was unable to recommend it. Tech site iLounge held the Verizon iPhone in various bear-hugging ways and noticed a
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dramatic, dramatic slowdown
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in upload speeds. Analysis group AnandTech, in its testing, found the death-grip issue to have been addressed.
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Getting a case still makes sense,
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the site reported,
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but using the phone without one is no longer something that will dramatically affect phone usability.
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