Verizon iPhone review roundup

The Verizon iPhone launches next week, after months and months of rumors and backbiting, which means it's about time for the tech blogosphere to start speculating about the iPhone 5, or whatever other quasi-mythical device Apple has in the pipeline. In the meantime, the first Verizon iPhone reviews have started to trickle in – and guess what? They're very, very positive. So let's go to the scorecards.

"Switching from an AT&T iPhone to a Verizon iPhone is like finally being able to breathe clearly after years of battling allergies," writes Brian X. Chen of Wired. "People can hear you better, and you can hear them better. It’s that simple. That’s the key reason so many people have clung to Verizon while resisting the shiny allure of the iPhone. As we all suspected would be the case, the iPhone is a better phone on Verizon than it is on AT&T."

But does the Verizon iPhone chew through data faster than the Apple iPhone? No.

"Verizon’s 3G-transfer rates are slower than AT&T’s," Chen adds. "For the few days I’ve had the Verizon iPhone, I’ve been riding my motorcycle all around San Francisco to test its performance against the AT&T iPhone. The AT&T handset on average scored significantly better in speed tests: 62 percent faster for downloads and 38 percent faster for uploads."

ALSO SEE: Verizon vs. AT&T vs. Sprint vs. T-Mobile: Who's best in your city?

So, to summarize: Voice better, data slower. How about the build?

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