Archive for July, 2011

Thunderbolt — Great HTC Phone on Verizon

07 July 2011 Sandy Berger 2 Comments

The HTC Thunderbolt is, without a doubt, one of the best smartphones in the market today.  It is the first 4G phone that runs on the new Verizon LTE network. If you don’t know wat 4G LTE is, it can be summed up in one word — FAST. With download speeds of 5 Mbps to 12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 Mbps to 5 Mbps is the fastest smartphone that we’ve reviewed. No waiting for web pages or directions…everything appears quickly and easily.

At 4.75 x 2.44 x 0.56 inches, the Thunderbolt is on the large size for a cell phone. That size, however, gives you a large 4.3-inch TFT LCDscreen. The Thunderbolt also has an FM radio and a kickstand that holds it upright. It runs the 2.1 Android operating system, which is excellent and very customizable.

If you like a big phone with a large screen, the HTC Thunderbolt is the best device of this type in Verizon’s current lineup. The clear and responsive screen, good storage capabilities, useful email interface, excellent music player, and FM radio make it hard to beat. The kickstand adds even more functionality. It is blazingly fast on Verizon’s new 4G LTE network and has the ability to perform voice and data tasks simultaneously.

Although battery life could be better, most average users will find it adequate. Verizon will be releasing several new 4G phones in the near future, so you may want to see what these phones will offer, but my guess is that the HTC Thunderbolt will be able to hold its own against upcoming competition.  If the Verizon 4G service is available in your area, this is a great phone.

The Good

  • Fast 4G data speeds
  • Simultaneous voice and data
  • Large screen
  • Ample storage
  • Good camera
  • Good social media integration
  • Very customizable
  • Good email interface and search
  • Very good music player
  • FM radio

The Bad

  • Only fair battery life
  • Heavy
  • Can’t charge while using the kickstand
  • Ending letters of labels on the screen sometimes cut off
  • No HDMI port

Check out my full review with pictures at the Hardware Secrets website.


Windows 7– Where is mail & calendar?

07 July 2011 Sandy Berger 0 Comments

As more and more people migrate to Windows 7, they are finding that Windows 7 is a stripped-down version of Windows. That’s not necessarily bad. It means that you don’t have to have a lot programs you don’t want on your computer.

However, it also means that you must download and install the programs that you need or want. This added step is a no-brainer for the Internet savvy, but a challenge for a newbie. I wish that Microsoft would have shipped Windows 7 with a list of the available Microsoft programs along with some sort of a check box and an automatic download and installation. Well, I’m sure some ingenious third party will develop such a way to add the programs you need.

In the meantime, you can surf over to Microsoft Live Essentials to download the free programs that you want. Available programs include:

  • Mail, the Microsoft email program which is the successor to  Outlook Express and  Windows Vista’s mail program. This program lets you access mail from several email different programs like Yahoo!Mail and Gmail. It also includes an updated version of the Calendar program that was available in previous versions of Windows.
  • Messenger – an instant messenger program that let’s you chat with online friends. It also lets you share photos and send SMS messages.
  • Photo Gallery — Several essential applications that were always a part of Windows have been left out of Windows 7. The Photo Gallery is one of theses. It’s a free easy to use photo manager/editor.
  • Movie Maker — is another program that used to be a part of Windows. This new version lets you put together and edit movies and slideshows and will even help you post them to the web. Although not as good as some commercially available programs like Adobe Premier Essentials, it will do the trick for simple video tasks… and it’s free.
  • Live Writer has a name that’s a bit confusing. You may think that it is a word processing program, but in fact it is a blogging program. If you are a blogger or a wannabe blogger, take a look. It’s a cool program. If you are not into blogging, take a pass on this one.
  • Family Safety is the program that will help protect your kids online. Like several others in this list, this program was built into previous versions of Windows, but does not come with Windows 7. It will let you monitor and block websites, limit searches and decide who your kids can communicate with on the Web.
  • Microsoft Security Essentials. I don’t know why, but the free Microsoft Security Essentials is in a different place at http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/ This is Microsoft’s new free anti-virus and anti-spyware program. It is rated as highly as many of the anti-virus programs that you have to pay for, so it is a good deal.
  • Windows Live Toolbar is an extra toolbar that is added to your browser. This toolbar can only be used with Internet Explorer. It gives you quick links to Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine as well as links to other Microsoft Live services.

You don’t have to have Window 7 to use most of these new programs. You can try them on a computer running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (32-bit edition only), Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit editions). The Windows Live Movie Maker and the slide show feature of Windows Live Photo Gallery are not supported on Windows XP.