The Verizon iPhone

We waited and waited and waited. And waited some more. And all that patience paid off. The iPhone 4 is finally coming to Verizon! TV News Mom is thrilled because now she doesn't have to go with AT&T (rated by Consumer Reports as the worst cell phone service provider) in order to get her hands on that piece of eye candy Apple known as the iPhone4. The Verizon version is ever so slightly different from the AT&T version. They moved the antenna to work with CDMA (Verizon's cellular network) and the volume and mute buttons are in a different spot, so the old cases may not fit. The phone will operate on Verizon's 3G network, not 4G data.

Current Verizon customers will be able to pre-order on Feburary 3rd for the standard $200 price for the 16GB model on a two year agreement, $300 for the 32GB version -- everyone else can order on February 10th.

As soon as the announcement came out of New York, I checked my phone upgrade plan, which says I am eligible for a phone upgrade August 31, 2011. Argh! I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN STAND TO WAIT THAT MUCH LONGER!!!

In the meantime, I will continue to use my Droid. See, the thing is, I'm not UNhappy. And I do love having a full qwerty keyboard. But when it comes to ease of use, available apps (click here for the best apps for moms), and my phone not crashing, the iPhone4 is where it's at.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: iPhone 4 Fix

DUCT TAPE

And to think you once laughed at your man's claim that duct tape fixes everything!
Apple's new iPhone 4 has been criticized for its reception problems, and if you have one of these glossy new gadgets, you may have experienced the problem yourself.
Well, the solution may be as simple as a strip of duct tape. No joke.
The new iPhone's design moved the antenna to the outside of the device, wrapping it around the borrom corner. Consumer Reports found in tests, putting the phone into a case fixes the reception problem. Or a small strip of duct tape on the exposed antenna does the job too... but it's not pretty! I doubt any self-respecting technophile will resort to this desperate measure, defacing the sleek and smooth surface.
SO... Apple is planning a news conference tomorrow morning to address the reception issues. While some critics are calling for a recall of the phone, an easier (and cheaper) fix would be to provide free cases to all its customers.