Consumer Reports announced that the Verizon iPhone 4 didn’t make their list of recommended phones. The reason is the same as before. It’s the antenna-gate issue once again. The Verizon iPhone 4 like it’s cousin, is also prone to drop calls in certain areas, according to Consumer Reports.

Consumer Reports says: “The Verizon iPhone 4 closely resembles the original AT&T iPhone 4 in many positive respects, including offering great multimedia functionality, a sharp screen, and the best MP3 player we’ve seen on a phone…Unfortunately, it also shares with its sibling the possibility of compromised performance in low-signal conditions when used without a bumper or case.”

4G is the big thing right now and everybody is hopping on the bandwagon. Everybody except Apple that is. An analyst from Telecom Pragmatics, Sam Greenholtz, says that the iPhone 5 will be launching later this year, and will not have any LTE radios and also that the iPhone 6 (to be released in 2012) will be the one supporting LTE.

Another analyst says that when Apple locked down the specs for the iPhone 5, they didn’t expect this level of hardware competition. That does sound believable. But if past iPhone launches are any indication, the exclusion of 4G this year might be on purpose. Well, we will see how it all plays out.

Remember the latest rumor about Apple working on a smaller iPhone? Well, according to the New York Times, that ain’t happening, though Apple has looked at the possibility of a cheaper model. Earlier rumors had Apple developing a prototype of a smaller and cheaper iPhone, 1/3 smaller, or 1/2 as small depending who you believe, but the Times is now claiming that “Apple is not currently developing a smaller iPhone, according to people briefed on Apple’s plans who requested anonymity because the plans are confidential.”

Anyway, a smaller device would not necessarily be much cheaper to make and it would be a pain to use besides. Developers might have to rewrite their apps too. So no smaller iPhone just yet.

We’ve heard many tales of exploding devices over the years. Some seem to be a clear hoax, while others are plausible. Now someone is claiming that an iPhone 4 blew up on them. The story goes like this. The user noticed that the phone became extremely hot while his wife was holding it, the battery of the phone had swollen, dislodging the back panel and catching on fire.

His wife then dropped the phone on a table where it left some burn marks. It also burned the user’s hand and set off the fire alarm. The owner says that he went to the Apple store to get a replacement, but it isn’t clear what happened next.

In an attempt to get new customers, Verizon is using the iPhone as an incentive for their FiOS fiber optic-based video and internet service. New customers will get discounted rates for the bundle they choose and a $200 gift card to offset the cost of the 16GB iPhone 4. The deal is only good for new FiOS customers.

Verizon is also offering an additional discount for customers who sign up for the FiOS video, internet, and VoIP bundle with Verizon wireless service at Verizon Wireless, Verizon Plus or Verizon Experience stores. A $10 per month discount good for a year.

With the release of a new version of the iPhone, we always hear rumors that Apple is working on a smaller version of the iPhone, and right on schedule we have more of these rumors. Bloomberg is reporting that Apple will be releasing an iPhone Mini this year.

Normally, we would laugh, but what Bloomberg is saying makes a lot of sense, since a smaller iPhone would open up a new market for Apple, which they will need with all of the tablet competition. The new iPhone Mini could retail for $200 without a contract, which would open up the iPhone to a budget market. It is supposedly one third smaller than the existing iPhone with no home button.

Password theft is a serious problem. And with the iPhone gaining more support in the enterprise scene, people have begun taking a more serious look at the security of the device. And so some reports have surfaced that thieves can extract and decrypt passwords stored in your iPhone. What’s more, they can do it in less than 6 minutes.

That means they can get things like your Gmail login, corporate VPN, home Wi-Fi, MS Exchange details and more, using a method that involves jailbreaking the phone and accessing the data. You should install the Find My iPhone app to remotely wipe your phone in case it gets stolen.

We recently heard through an official statement from Verizon that the launch of the iPhone 4 broke all of the companies previous first day sales records, although we don’t have any specific numbers. Now according to analyst Phil Cusick from JPMorgan, it looks like Verizon may have sold as many as 500,000 iPhone 4′s on the first day when it was made available to pre-order to existing customers.

The previous record holder for first day sales at Verizon was the Motorola Droid, which sold 100,000 units on the first day. For now we should take this with a grain of salt since these 500,000 iPhone 4 sales are based on analysis rather than facts from Verizon, but it sounds reasonable to us.

As usual, the folks at iFixit have torn apart a new gadget. This time it is the Verizon iPhone 4. Of course they found the expected differences, but they also found that the phone has a slightly lighter battery than its counterpart, that the mechanical vibrator has been redesigned and moved from the top right corner to the bottom right of the phone and that the phone has a Qualcomm baseband chip.

The chip is a Qualcomm MDM660 chip that supports HSPA+ data rates up to 14.4 Mbps, and is the same chip used in the Droid Pro. So the chip technically supports both GSM and CDMA, although Apple has decided not to take advantage of that capability for whatever their reasons are.

If you have been drooling over the new Verizon iPhone 4, Verizon will start taking orders on the 3rd of February, according to an email that was sent to the folks over at Mac Rumors. Apparently existing Verizon customers will be able to order the iPhone 4 from the 3rd of February, while new customers will have to wait another week.

Looks like Verizon will also be offering existing iPhone owners a deal to trade in their iPhone with the purchase a Verizon iPhone, offering from $60 for an iPhone 2G up to $360 for an 32GB iPhone 4.

AppToyz has unveiled another toy for your iPhone. This one will allows you shoot virtual monsters. Much like various Wii peripherals,this acts as a controller for your Augmented Reality games on your iPhone. Just attach your phone to the gun, run the app and pew pew pew.

The trigger presses a rubber stamp that touches the screen in place of your finger. And since it is all made of cheap plastic, this AR blaster will cost just $31 (£20).

Last week there was word that the elusive White iPhone 4 had appeared on the inventory system of Vodafone Germany, and now it looks like the white iPhone 4 has also turned up in AT&T’s inventory. When last we heard from Apple on the subject of the white iPhone 4, they said it would be available in Spring 2011, so I guess we can expect the white iPhone 4 to go on sale very soon.

Seems like Apple wants to sell the white iPhone 4 to customers before they announce the new iPhone 5, and that announcement is expected in May, so we think the white iPhone 4 will finally be available soon and we can put this whole issue to rest.

This may look like an average retro calculator, but it is actually an iPhone 4 case with a super realistic looking decal. This retro calculator case consists of a clear hard plastic case plus the decal and retails for $19.50 on etsy.

Great for an April Fool’s day prank or an anytime prank. I bet it would even fool the nerdiest of math nerds. It looks very convincing. Except for the camera hole.

The new verizon iPhone 4 has a slightly different design than the original iPhone 4, which seems to have fixed the iPhone death grip issue, but now the original iPhone 4 bumper case will not fit the Verizon iPhone. And so Apple has released a new universal bumper case to fit both phones.

The main difference on the Verizon iPhone 4 is that the mute switch sits slightly lower than on the original iPhone 4, so the new bumper design makes sure that it will work with both versions of the iPhone 4.

As expected, the Verizon iPhone has arrived. Now millions of people can head over to Verizon from AT&T, for the CDMA (non-LTE) version of the iPhone 4 starting next month. The phone is said to have been in testing for over a year, and it will be available on February 10th for $200 (16GB).

Qualified Verizon Wireless customers will be given the opportunity to pre-order the iPhone 4 online on February 3rd. If you want a 32GB model, the price is $300. Verizon iPhone owners will also enjoy personal hotspot capability (up to 5 users connected simultaneously).