Get ready for Thursday's launch of Verizon iPhone 4

Behold the Verizon iPhone 4: subject of the biggest, most wildly hyped technology launch since, um, AT&T's iPhone 4. Maybe even since the iPad.

Last year's twin Apple blastoffs - really, launch is just too lame a word for these shows Apple puts on - demonstrated the unparalleled ability of the Company That Steve Jobs Built to wow a crowd.

After months of will-they-or-won't-they teasing, Thursday's unveiling of Verizon's version of Apple's iPhone proves that the Silicon Valley icon (street address: 1 Infinite Loop) still has it, even with Jobs on medical leave.

The extended countdown began months ago, with a series of rumors and leaks. Then came Jan. 11's announcement of a deal finally linking Apple to America's largest wireless carrier.

Even the preordering was elaborately choreographed. Last Thursday - the same day the news curtain was lifted for a handful of tech critics' advance reviews - Verizon offered the new smartphone to current customers. Thanks to the buzz, all the slots were gone within 18 hours. They've apparently never heard of a waiting list.

Then came the final round of preorders, starting Wednesday at 3 a.m., this time open to non-Verizon customers, too. (Why 3 a.m.? Because that's midnight back on Infinite Loop, center stage for all Apple dramatics.)

Now it's here. Apple and Verizon stores were due to open at 7 a.m. nationwide to accommodate the eager, who can also snag the new phones at Best Buy and "select Wal-Mart locations."

New phones? Well, that's stretching it a bit, which is really the point. Not much is new about this iPhone - except for the small fact that the iPhone is available today to 94 million Verizon subscribers who couldn't get it yesterday.

So, for roughly a third of the country, the iPhone 4 really is new. And as a happy user of a last-gen iPhone on the AT&T Wireless network, I'm here to share a few reasons you should be excited, plus a few reasons you might want to cool your jets. Now that Apple and Verizon have blasted off together, you still may not want to leap aboard - at least not yet.

First, five reasons to get excited.

Apple's iPhone is more than hype. Apple isn't just the coolest tech company, or the maker of the sleekest stuff. Its iPhone was the first truly successful "smartphone" - a phone with genuine, computerlike usability. It's a benchmark for quality.

Verizon's iPhone offers Mobile Hotspot. The only time I've ever suffered Android envy was when a guy on an airport rental-car bus showed me how he could use his phone to create a mini-WiFi hot spot. Verizon's iPhone 4 comes with it - though you pay $20 extra for two gigabytes per month. AT&T still doesn't offer it.

This iPhone comes with Verizon's network. Verizon is widely considered to have the nation's best wireless network - as it constantly reminds us in its ads. Never mind that Sprint is catching up in overall quality, according to Consumer Reports' latest rankings, or that U.S. Cellular, a Midwestern upstart, zoomed past Verizon in the 26 states it serves. On a nationwide basis, Verizon is still tops.

Verizon still offers unlimited data for $30 a month. Some critics say you'll never need this, that AT&T's 2 gigabytes for $25 is plenty, and also fairer. I say who knows, with all these amazing apps coming out? And I like predictability.

Apple's app store rocks. Yes, Google has Android Market for phones that run on its operating system, and Android Market also has a gazillion apps - you can check it out at https://market.android.com/. Both systems offer an amazing variety: song identifiers, bar-code scanners, direction finders, and countless more.

The Apple advantage is a seamless, integrated system for finding, buying, and downloading. "Apple's is more polished," is how wireless analyst Roger Entner sums it up.

Ready to sign up? Here are five reasons you might want to wait:

Verizon's iPhone can't handle voice and data simultaneously. Should it matter to you that, unlike AT&T's version, Verizon's iPhone can't handle phone calls while you're using an app or Internet site? Maybe not, though I use that ability frequently.

The biggest problem, Entner says, is when you're using your phone as a GPS. "When a call came in, I got lost."

Apple's iPhone 5 may be better. This is why Greg Caputo of Queen Village is waiting, even though his AT&T iPhone still maddeningly drops calls every time he crosses the Ben Franklin Bridge, or when he travels as a talent scout for Megaforce Records. "Anywhere from Bucks County to Syracuse is completely a dead zone - lots of dropped calls," he says.

But Caputo has watched Apple upgrade its iPhone annually, and iPhone 4 is already half a year old. "My gut tells me I want to switch. But I kind of want to see what they come out with," he says.

Verizon's iPhone won't travel so well. AT&T uses a GSM network, the European standard. Verizon's primary CDMA network isn't available there, though Verizon says voice service is available in about 40 countries, and data in more than 20.

Verizon isn't as fast with data. This is location-specific, of course. But where each company's 3G network is running optimally, Entner says, "AT&T is about twice as fast."

Other smartphones are catching up. Droids, Blackberrys, even the occasional Windows phone all rank nearly as high as iPhones in Consumer Reports' latest ratings. Two T-Mobile Android phones are tied with AT&T's iPhone. Apple has set a standard, and periodically surpasses itself. But others aren't far behind.