New AT&T 4s much snappier than previous unlocked Verizon 4s (?)

[Sunsean]

Just wondering if anyone can back this up or comment on why this is...but I just sold my gevey ultra s unlocked verizon 4s and bought a new at&t 4s to use with my straight talk sim card. Right off the bat, I am noticing that the new AT&T 4s is operating significantly smoother than the previous phone...same amount of data on it (did a restore). If anything this new phone is closer to capacity, as it's a 32gb and the previous phone was a 64gb. I'm thinking it's maybe because the previous Verizon phone was jailbroken/unlocked and the new one is stock?

Speet tests so far are about the same, maybe a hair faster on average, but nothing crazy. But I SWEAR that web pages are loading faster, and apps/settings menus are loading/coming up faster. Any salt to this, or is it just placebo/wishful thinking on my part?

I JUST used my previous phone a few hours ago, and I'd bet MONEY on this new phone being tangibly faster...

 

[Applejuiced]

Its in your head.

 

[ValerieDurden]

Speed tests are the only thing that should be faster on the AT&T 4s, CDMA is limited to around 3Mbps download whereas on GSM you can do well over that, typically on AT&T's network I see 6Mbps/2Mbps which is about double what a verizon 4s is capable on the CDMA network.

 

[smirking]

That's interesting that the AT&T phone appears faster. There was a link to an article somewhere in the blog where there was some independent testing of AT&T vs. Verizon vs. Sprint in several major cities and conditions for each carrier compared differently depending on what city you were in, but one common thing they found was that the Verizon 4s started delivering Web content faster even though it had a lower network speed. The operative word is "started".

The AT&T Phone could very well finish loading everything sooner, but the Verizon phone would respond and begin serving data before the AT&T phone did… and this is all exactly opposite what you're experiencing which goes back to the point that the carriers compare differently depending on where you're at.

 

[Sunsean]

Weird thing is so far data doesn't seem much faster (only did a couple speed tests) but general phone operation seems much smoother. I'm trying to think of what it might be, perhaps that there's no screen protector on the new phone so it feels slicker? I don't know, but I doubt it...I'm telling you guys, transitions and pages are zipping by faster than before...

 

[FrankHahn]

One of the explanations might be that your old phone had many apps open while your new phone had only a few apps open.

 

[robbie12345]

if your last phone was jailbroken then that is why. I don't know why some people are going off on tangents here because obviously there will be no answer to them. If you had a jailbroken phone then you had custom software on your phone which more than likely slowed it down. I noticed when i jail broke mine it got noticeably slower so i unjailbroke it and it is much snappier.

 

[Sunsean]

One of the explanations might be that your old phone had many apps open while your new phone had only a few apps open.

Possible, but I doubt it...like I said I did a restore from a backup I had just made earlier that day, so the same # of apps should have been loaded...but yeah, perhaps they weren't all running...definitely a possibility. Will continue to monitor.

Also - I got over 2mbps on a speedtest for the first time - on my previous verizon phone I never made it past the 1.5 range...not a huge difference, but like I said a small data bump maybe.

Again - this isn't comparing Verizon CDMA service to AT&T GSM service - I was/am using the same Straight Talk sim card on both phones (which piggybacks on AT&T's network). So this is just comparing how the unlocked Verizon 4s runs vs. AT&T 4s running a Straight Talk sim.

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if your last phone was jailbroken then that is why. I don't know why some people are going off on tangents here because obviously there will be no answer to them. If you had a jailbroken phone then you had custom software on your phone which more than likely slowed it down. I noticed when i jail broke mine it got noticeably slower so i unjailbroke it and it is much snappier.

Didn't realize I was on a tangent, pardone moi.

But yes I do realize the jb might have something to do with it. I didn't have ANY jb apps installed, though...if it was due to jb, it could only have been the gevey app used to unlock the phone. Only reason phone was jb, and only thing that was installed. No other jb tweaks/apps. I prefer the stock experience, actually, does everything I need.

 

[SurferMan]

That's interesting that the AT&T phone appears faster. There was a link to an article somewhere in the blog where there was some independent testing of AT&T vs. Verizon vs. Sprint in several major cities and conditions for each carrier compared differently depending on what city you were in, but one common thing they found was that the Verizon 4s started delivering Web content faster even though it had a lower network speed. The operative word is "started".

The AT&T Phone could very well finish loading everything sooner, but the Verizon phone would respond and begin serving data before the AT&T phone did… and this is all exactly opposite what you're experiencing which goes back to the point that the carriers compare differently depending on where you're at.

Probably to do with it's better ping times? But I can tell you Verizon browsing on 3G is not near as fast as browsing on hspa+.

 

[BrightCanon]

It's funny you say this. I just had a 4 replaced because of a faulty home button and for some reason(I was telling my wife) this 4 seems quicker than my older 4. Not on the net but just in general tasks like apps opening and such. The 4 is a 32gb and had 5.1.1 already installed.

 

[robbie12345]

Didn't realize I was on a tangent, pardone moi.


No that wasn't directed to you lol. it was directed to the people answering it saying all kinds of stuff to explain it like it was some weird phenomenon lol. I was just saying that jail breaking makes the phone run slower so thats it.

 

[Sunsean]

Didn't realize I was on a tangent, pardone moi.


No that wasn't directed to you lol. it was directed to the people answering it saying all kinds of stuff to explain it like it was some weird phenomenon lol. I was just saying that jail breaking makes the phone run slower so thats it.

Haha no worries, yeah I know from experience that a jb can lead to problems and poorer performance, along with all the awesome stuff it can do.

 

[Ajones330]

It's new so it will seem snappier, thats what the brain will assume but its probably just in your head like Applejuice said...

 

[Sunsean]

It's new so it will seem snappier, thats what the brain will assume but its probably just in your head like Applejuice said...

Yeah I don't know...I'm totally open and receptive to the possibility that it's just in my head...but I will say that it's been a couple days now, and the phone still seems snappier than I remember the last one being. Perfect example: on my previous Verizon 4s, when opening up settings, there would be about a 1-2 second delay before everything popped up and was ready to go, with this one it's like BOOM everything is there with only a fraction of a second pause (like a millisecond). I know it's hard to compare time so casually, but when you stop to pay attention to it, there is quite a tangible difference between how .5 seconds feels compared to 1.5 seconds. And I am fairly convinced that this is really what I'm experiencing...again yes, it could be due to a number of different things...jailbreaking, fresh install, placebo...