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Getting Girlfriend a Verizon iPhone 4

TehFalcon

TehFalcon

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 6, 2011
1,148
1,117
United States
So my girlfriends birthday is here soon and shes stuck with a slider phone, and has been wanting a new phone, mp3 player, and something to play around with, so I thought I would just get her an iPhone. Now I'm alittle short on money to get a 4S so I'm just going to go with a 4 as its what I have and she likes my Phone. I Have around a $300 budget but I'm on AT&T so I Was looking to get one on eBay for her since shes on verizon, but Ive never had to deal with this "ESN" and "MEID" crap.. and i'm not sure if she has a data plan, so If i got one for her thats a "clean ESN" and she doesnt have a data plan verizon wont force her to add a data plan, and she can just switch the Cellular data plan off right? And how easy is it to replace the phone on her line with the iPhone?

Sorry for being a Noob, This is just why I Hate CDMA carriers and crap. Plus I Prefer faster Data speeds but, she cant change carriers so.
 
You have to have a data plan on Verizon if you're using any kind of smartphone. No way around that.
 
PDFierro said:
You have to have a data plan on Verizon if you're using any kind of smartphone. No way around that.
Click to expand...

Seriously? If the cellular data option in the settings is off, verizon should have no issue letting her just use it as a phone and for when she wants to download something just connect to WiFi. Its like this on AT&T :confused:

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jav6454 said:
Go to Verizon, the iPhone 4 is $100 under contract...

However, I must ask, is she upgrade eligible?
Click to expand...

Not sure. I Could check though.
 
WAM2 said:
Seriously? If the cellular data option in the settings is off, verizon should have no issue letting her just use it as a phone and for when she wants to download something just connect to WiFi. Its like this on AT&T :confused:
Click to expand...

Nope, on Verizon you are required to have a data plan no matter what.
 
jav6454 said:
Do check, if she is, that's only $100 for you to spend. I don't know or I am not sure if doing this will make you loose your unlimited plan.
Click to expand...

For sure. I'm not sure though, if you have to get a new contract if you do the upgrade though? I'm not sure her parents (the account holders) would even want to do that..
 
WAM2 said:
For sure. I'm not sure though, if you have to get a new contract if you do the upgrade though? I'm not sure her parents (the account holders) would even want to do that..
Click to expand...

How old are you? How old is she? If you aren't 18, I wouldn't advice you to consider such a gift, it is lavish at this stage.
 
i would strongly advise against buying an iphone 4 on contract at this time. even though it's only $99, you'd be locking your girlfriend into a two-year contract on a phone that is two years old. and because verizon requires a data plan, your gift, well-intentioned and all, would be one that would cost her $$$ in the end. i'm sure she'd be better off with an ipod touch (no monthly data fees).
 
WAM2 said:
Seriously? If the cellular data option in the settings is off, verizon should have no issue letting her just use it as a phone and for when she wants to download something just connect to WiFi. Its like this on AT&T :confused:
----------
Click to expand...

AT&T Requires a data plan on all smartphones as well. Even if you start with a feature phone and swap SIM cards they just add a data plan to your account w/o notice. All carriers charge for data plans on smartphones and AT&T is one of the most aggressive in doing so.

Cheers,
 
panzer06 said:
AT&T Requires a data plan on all smartphones as well. Even if you start with a feature phone and swap SIM cards they just add a data plan to your account w/o notice. All carriers charge for data plans on smartphones and AT&T is one of the most aggressive in doing so.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

Yeah, thats incorrect.. I Used a sim card from a slider phone in my Inspire 4G for months on end non stop, and not once did they add any data plan, or tell me to add one.
 
WAM2 said:
Yeah, thats incorrect.. I Used a sim card from a slider phone in my Inspire 4G for months on end non stop, and not once did they add any data plan, or tell me to add one.
Click to expand...

But I'm pretty sure they changed their policy. I would be very surprised if a new customer came to AT&T and tried to do that. Regardless, Verizon has always made it mandatory.
 
WAM2 said:
Yeah, thats incorrect.. I Used a sim card from a slider phone in my Inspire 4G for months on end non stop, and not once did they add any data plan, or tell me to add one.
Click to expand...

Maybe you got lucky and didnt catch it yet or they pay more attention to iphones than other smartphones.
Once their systems detects you're using an iphone without an iphone data plan they send you a text telling you the required iphone data plan has been added to your account.
Same as Verizon.
 
I would not buy an iPhone 4 on contract right now. If your gonna sign a contract with Verizon get the 4s. If your short on money your much better off with something more modern like the galaxy nexus or RAZR maxx. The gpu/cpu is already showing its age and In 2 years will be ancient.
 
jav6454 said:
Do check, if she is, that's only $100 for you to spend. I don't know or I am not sure if doing this will make you loose your unlimited plan.
Click to expand...

Verizon has recently changed their policy (6/28/12) to keep unlimited you have to either
1. Provide your own device (customer supplied equipment)
2. Buy the phone at full retail price.
 
fleavers said:
Verizon has recently changed their policy (6/28/12) to keep unlimited you have to either
1. Provide your own device (customer supplied equipment)
2. Buy the phone at full retail price.
Click to expand...

Which is why I stated, that buying it at $100 may carry the possibility of loosing unlimited and to check for verification with Vericrap.

At least AT&T doesn't pull this funny....
 
jav6454 said:
Which is why I stated, that buying it at $100 may carry the possibility of loosing unlimited and to check for verification with Vericrap.

At least AT&T doesn't pull this funny....
Click to expand...

Nope I understand I was just confirming that for sure upgrading will cause you to loose unlimited data.
 
blackhand1001 said:
I would not buy an iPhone 4 on contract right now. If your gonna sign a contract with Verizon get the 4s. If your short on money your much better off with something more modern like the galaxy nexus or RAZR maxx. The gpu/cpu is already showing its age and In 2 years will be ancient.
Click to expand...

Honest question, how is the iPhone 4 GPU showing its age? I'm still amazed at how good the more advanced games look on that phone.
 
DodgeV83 said:
Honest question, how is the iPhone 4 GPU showing its age? I'm still amazed at how good the more advanced games look on that phone.
Click to expand...

The sgx 535 is very slow compared to pretty much any other mobile GPU in other phones currently out. The powervr sgx 540 in the original galaxy s was vastly faster than it and it was only clocked at 200 MHz. The razr is clocked at 300 MHz and the nexus is clocked at 384 MHz. They also have faster ram than the galaxy s and a much faster dual core cortex a9 vs a single core a8. The sgx 535 in the iPhone 4 is around 4 times slower than the 200mhz 540 in the galaxy s. The galaxy s was released a few months before the iPhone 4.

When both the sgx 535 and 540 are clocked at 200 MHz the 535 can do 1.6 gflops while the 540 is capable of 7.2 GFLOPS at the same clock speed.
 
Last edited:
WAM2 said:
Yeah, thats incorrect.. I Used a sim card from a slider phone in my Inspire 4G for months on end non stop, and not once did they add any data plan, or tell me to add one.
Click to expand...

Well perhaps they just track iphones because I attempted to use an iPhone on a line w/o a data plan and within a week I noticed the 2GB data plan had been added. AT&T definitely has that policy and you just got away with it because they didn't detect in your case. For Verizon and Sprint CDMA requires carrier activation (no SIMs) and they know you have a Smartphone when they activate it.

Cheers,
 
blackhand1001 said:
The sgx 535 is very slow compared to pretty much any other mobile GPU in other phones currently out. The powervr sgx 540 in the original galaxy s was vastly faster than it and it was only clocked at 200 MHz. The razr is clocked at 300 MHz and the nexus is clocked at 384 MHz. They also have faster ram than the galaxy s and a much faster dual core cortex a9 vs a single core a8. The sgx 535 in the iPhone 4 is around 4 times slower than the 200mhz 540 in the galaxy s. The galaxy s was released a few months before the iPhone 4.

When both the sgx 535 and 540 are clocked at 200 MHz the 535 can do 1.6 gflops while the 540 is capable of 7.2 GFLOPS at the same clock speed.
Click to expand...

Yea, I'm aware of the technicals and the benchmarks, but when you used the word "showing" I was expecting something noticeable to the user. The GPU is important to the user for two reasons:

1. Video game graphics
2. UI smoothness

From what I've seen, the iPhone 4 beats the two phones you mentioned in these categories.

I do agree though, I wouldn't buy the iPhone 4 right now under any circumstances. If you can't afford better, save up for an additional month and get the iPhone 4S. Or better yet, save up an additional 1.5 months and get the new iPhone in September.
 
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