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With the ThunderBolt, HTC has delivered yet another “first 4G smartphone” following its EVO 4G for Sprint (and the often forgotten MAX 4G introduced in 2008). |
It’s the first handset to run on Verizon’s brand new 4G LTE network, and it’s an Android smartphone powerhouse that is easily the fastest smartphone on the planet in terms of data speeds. That’s not to say the device is perfect, however. |
The release of Verizon’s first 4G handset was pushed back several times, spanning almost two months, and I’m not so sure all of the wrinkles were ironed out even after all of the delays. But the ThunderBolt is finally here and I’ve spent some quality time with it over the past week or so. Read on to see if this is not ... |
The HTC ThunderBolt packs a punch in the specifications department. In addition to being the first Verizon handset to be released with 4G LTE compatibility, the ThunderBolt stays at the top of the smartphone pack with competitive specs like a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 4.3-inch Super LCD display, an 8-megapi... |
As far as the build quality of the HTC ThunderBolt is concerned, it’s a tank — but I’ll get to that part in a moment. The ThunderBolt seems to be very well manufactured in typical HTC style; it feels very sturdy, durable, and solid. There are no creaks, no parts wiggling, and nothing I could conceivably see being an is... |
The device is, however, extremely large and heavy. It’s one of the widest, thickest, and heaviest smartphones on the market. It absolutely dwarfs an iPhone 4, for instance, and it could pretty easily could swallow a T-Mobile myTouch 4G in a couple bites. It doesn’t necessarily feel as thick as it looks thanks to the he... |
The design identity of the ThunderBolt is typical HTC — literally, aside from little changes here and there, one HTC device could pass for another most of the time these days. The ThunderBolt specifically doesn’t seem to offer much in the way of differentiation beyond its bulk, at least, and its design seems dated. Com... |
The 4.3-inch display on the HTC ThunderBolt is beautiful. The viewing angles are here are straight up incredible — noticeably better than the HTC EVO’s screen. Colors are very rich, whites are bright, and text is pretty crisp. With such a big display, however, the 800 x 480-pixel WVGA resolution shows its shortcomings.... |
The ThunderBolt runs the latest version of HTC’s Sense UI and for all intents and purposes, this is about the same experience as any other HTC Android handset released in the past year or so. There’s really no need to get into this for the millionth time — it’s Froyo with HTC Sense. We should all know it very well by n... |
Noticeably absent from the ThunderBolt is the much-touted Skype app with support for video calling. We’re not sure why it wasn’t included on the ThunderBolt, though there are most certainly other video calling apps available for download in the Android Market. It would have been great to have some clarification on why ... |
In a word? Wow. As soon as I picked up my review unit from Verizon’s headquarters in Basking Ridge, NJ, I was in 4G LTE heaven. Heading back toward New York City, I was cruising along at download speeds of around 15Mbps. As I set the device up, all of my Android apps reappeared on the ThunderBolt almost immediately wit... |
Things look great over the ThunderBolt’s Wi-Fi hotspot feature as well, with no speed degradation that I could see. In fact, I was continually hitting speeds above 20Mbps with my MacBook Air connected to the ThunderBolt. It is pretty incredible to think that this is over a cellular connection, especially for any of us ... |
Voice quaily is decent on the ThunderBolt, but not great. As far as the ear speaker is concerned, I’m not a fan of what HTC delivered on its handsets in this regard recently, and that includes the EVO 4G. These phones are always uncomfortable to talk with, and some even sound like you’re talking on a tin can. Unfortuna... |
Another problem comes into play when speakerphone is enabled, and this is an area where HTC typically shines so I was disappointed. When the loudspeaker is used while the kickstand is closed, the audio becomes slightly muffled. It’s not severe, but it is something to take note of and something that definitely annoyed m... |
Uh oh. AT&T has really focused on the remarkable capability its phones possess that allows them to make voice calls and move data simultaneously. Verizon Wireless phones have historically not had this ability. I would argue that “talk and surf” capability is hardly as important as a vocal minority makes it seem to be, ... |
The HTC ThunderBolt is able to send and receive data and carry voice calls simultaneously. It the first of many Verizon Wireless smartphones that will be able to carry voice calls while moving data, and it can do so over Verizon’s new 4G LTE network as well as its older 3G EVDO network. I tested this capability a great... |
The ThunderBolt’s battery is obviously a major point of discussion. How does the Verizon Wireless’ first 4G LTE smartphone do in the real world? Well, not that great to be honest — especially with a 1400 mAh battery. Over 3G, the ThunderBolt can easily power through a normal workday. On 4G, however, I couldn’t get more... |
What makes matters worse is the fact that 4G can’t be switched on and off by the user. There is no widget to disable LTE and there’s not even a menu setting you can check on and off to enable or disable 4G. While there is a method floating around to do this by entering into the phone’s field test mode, this doesn’t eve... |
Verizon has an extended 2750mAh battery that will effectively double the battery life of the ThunderBolt. To be honest, the extended battery adds so much extra thickness and weight to a phone that’s already way too thick and too heavy, there’s no way I would even consider using it regularly. Most people will likely fee... |
The HTC ThunderBolt is a phone from the future in many ways. It delivers the fastest internet speeds of any device I have ever tested (at least 2-3 times faster than anything else, in fact), and it runs on a very fast (and customized) version of Android to deliver great performance. In many ways, however, the ThunderBo... |
I’m not a fan of any smartphone that features a display beyond 4-inches, and the sheer thickness and weight of the ThunderBolt makes it a non-starter for a role as my daily driver. In addition, the poor battery performance makes it a tough sell. It’s awesome that I can use the ThunderBolt to email presentations, downlo... |
My advice is to definitely play with one in person at a Verizon Wireless store to see if the device is your perfect Android match. If you can look past the poor battery life — or if you don’t mind reinforcing your pants pockets so that the added weight and size of the extended battery doesn’t rip right through them — t... |
Bexley is embarking on an ambitious Growth agenda to deliver new homes, secure a state of the art sustainable infrastructure and amenities for its residents and businesses. This will also include establishing architecturally and globally a significant new shared living neighbourhood, create the largest co-working campu... |
We have an exciting opportunity for an ambitious, motivated project manager to join our team to work on transport related projects. |
Our work is challenging and fast paced, so you must be able to organise your own workload, taking ownership of projects and establishing good working relationships with colleagues, consultants and partners, and have the knowledge and expertise to contribute to our on-going work on development projects, public realm del... |
You will join a team with a focus on delivering projects with TfL as part of their Growth Programme for the Borough. You will manage the procurement, planning and delivery of regeneration programmes and will contribute towards the development of new projects. Key experience is required in the formulation of project bri... |
For further information about these opportunities please contact Suzanne Jackson, Head of Regeneration & Assets on 0203 045 4830. |
Please visit our website via the button below to find out more and apply. CVs will be accepted as part of your completed on-line application form. |
This post is considered by the authority to be customer-facing positions; as such they fall within scope of the Code of Practice on English language requirement for public sector workers. The council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 to ensure that post holders have a command of sp... |
As far as city projects go, the proposed Scarborough subway extension is a hugely expensive item, one you would think politicians would study in detail before it could possibly be approved. |
After all, the latest estimates of the cost for the one-stop extension range from $3.35 billion to $5.02 billion — and projections keep rising. |
Now documents unearthed by the Star’s Jennifer Pagliaro show that Toronto councillors, led by Mayor John Tory, supported the extension in July 2016 based on a design process that shouldn’t have been adequate to approve the erection of a stop sign. |
It’s not too late for council to stop this trainwreck of a project and revert back to the proposed seven-stop LRT alternative that was years ahead in the planning process and light-years smarter. |
It should do so because the LRT would better serve the needs of Scarborough residents and other taxpayers alike. |
First, the LRT would reach low-income neighbourhoods as well as the campuses of Centennial College and University of Toronto Scarborough. The one-stop subway extension will not. |
Second, the LRT was fully funded by the province, while taxpayers are on the hook for the next 30 years with a special tax to pay for the Scarborough extension. |
Third, a Metrolinx business case analysis found it was “not a worthwhile use of money,” while other studies have shown it won’t attract enough new riders to justify the investment. |
Consider also that the project, which will cost at least $2 billion more than the proposed LRT, will sap money from other transit priorities such as the proposed 18-stop light rail line along Eglinton Ave. East and the much needed “relief line” designed to ease pressure on the massively overcrowded Yonge corridor. |
Still, councillors and the mayor, in particular, seem determined to approve the line despite all the reports that cast doubt on the extension’s merits. |
As recently as December, Toronto city council would not even agree to a sensible motion put forth by Matlow calling for a value-for-money study of the project by the city’s auditor general. |
That suggests councillors fear that the results of any report would confirm what everyone knows by now: This project is a boondoggle designed to pander to Scarborough voters without politicians being held to account by the city at large. |
It must stop. Council must do the right thing and reverse a foolhardy, outrageously expensive decision that was based on minimal information. |
Flood waters rose quickly on California Crossing Road on the Irving-Dallas border early Sunday, stranding two men who tried to cross the road in their SUV. |
"All of a sudden we went from four inches of water to four and a half feet of water," said flood victim Wade Carson. |
Carson said after their SUV stalled his first thought was to call his mother. |
"Wade tried to tell me where he was, but I was like, 'I think you need to call 911 because I can’t get you out of the water'," said Carson’s mother, Judy Jones. |
When the water started pushing the truck off the road both men got out to try to find higher ground. |
"We went totally under water," said Carson. "It was very traumatic. We were fighting the current. We thought we were tough. We were no match for that." |
Carson said they were in the water for 42 minutes until help arrived. He said the current was so strong it pulled his shoes off. |
Both men thought they were going to die. |
"We actually held on to five roots of trees that were under water," said Carson. "Some of them pulled out. He actually grabbed my arms and I grabbed his feet. We were a team. We stuck together like you have never seen people stuck together. It was two people at survival mode at its best." |
Rescue crews said a motorist saw the men go under and called 911. They used two boats to go save the men. |
"I am so grateful to the team that pulled us out of the water," said Carson. "They saved our lives today and it’s a very wonderful thing." |
California Crossing Road is now closed to all traffic. |
Pyongyang calls US president's decision to cancel the talks 'unexpected' and says open to dialogue 'at any time'. |
US President Donald Trump has announced he will not attend a planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, raising concerns tensions between the two nations will escalate again with the threat of war. |
In a letter sent to Kim on Thursday, Trump said the summit - which had been scheduled for June 12 in Singapore - would no longer be possible "based on the tremendous anger and open hostility" shown by Pyongyang in its most recent statements. |
"The world and North Korea has lost a tremendous opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth," Trump wrote. "This missed opportunity is truly a sad moment in history." |
The meeting would have been the first time a sitting US president met a North Korean leader. |
The announcement comes two days after Trump hosted his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in in Washington, DC, for talks widely seen as a salvage effort to ensure his summit with Kim went ahead. |
"You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used," said Trump. |
North Korea called Trump's decision "unexpected" and "regrettable" and expressing willingness to talk to the United States "at any time, [in] any format". |
A statement by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan Kim said Pyongyang's "objective and resolve to do our best for the sake of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and all humankind remain unchanged". |
"As far as the historic [North Korea]-US summit is concerned, we have inwardly highly appreciated President Trump for having made the bold decision, which any other US presidents dared not, and made efforts for such a crucial event as the summit," Kim said. |
A statement earlier on Thursday from Pyongyang referred to Vice President Mike Pence as a "political dummy", and said it is just as ready to meet in a nuclear confrontation as at the negotiating table with the United States. |
In a later statement at the White House, Trump said the US military is "ready if necessary" to respond to a "foolish or reckless act" by North Korea. |
"Our military is the most powerful in the world. We are more ready than we have ever been before," Trump said. |
The Pentagon said it was prepared for any "provocative actions" from North Korea. |
"We are in a boxer stance, we are ready to respond," Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, director of the US military's Joint Staff, told reporters. |
"We'll see what develops over the next few days. If any provocative actions occur from [North Korea], we will certainly - in concert with our allies and partners in the region - be ready for it." |
Trump did say, however, he would be open to a possible meeting in the future. |
"If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do hot hesitate to call me or write," he said. |
Trump had called on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programme and arsenal ahead of the summit. |
North Korea, which reportedly demolished its Punggye-ri nuclear test site earlier on Thursday, had threatened to pull out of the Singapore summit if the US continued to demand it gives up its nuclear arsenal unilaterally. |
Mark Fitzpatrick from the International Institute for Strategic Studies told Al Jazeera the tone of Trump's letter bodes ill for peace on the Korean Peninsula. |
"The way that Trump did this in a letter that threatens North Korea with nuclear annihilation is probably not the right signal to send," said Fitzpatrick. |
"I don't think North Korea is going to respond so well to that kind of a threat. North Korea is going to feel betrayed by this, North Korea will react negatively." |
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a Senate committee on Thursday the White House had "tried repeatedly" to connect with North Korea in recent days over plans for the Singapore summit, but received no response. |
Earlier this month, Pyongyang said ongoing US-South Korea war games off the peninsula were not conducive to peace talks and demanded the manoeuvres be cancelled. The US balked at that demand. |
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said on Thursday her country "will neither beg the US for dialogue, nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us". |
"Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room, or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States," said Choe. |
A spokesperson for Moon's office said on Thursday that South Korea was trying to understand the reason for Trump's abrupt cancellation. |
"[We] are trying to figure out what President Trump's intention is and the exact meaning of it," Cheong Wa-dae told South Korea's Yonhap news agency. |
Moon convened an emergency meeting with top security officials after Trump's cancellation. |
Andrei Lankov, an expert at South Korea's Kookmin University, told Al Jazeera from Seoul that Trump's announcement was "shocking and highly dangerous". |
"There is now again a looming and reasonably high threat of a major military confrontation in Korea," Lankov said. "The entire Korean Peninsula is probably sliding back to a war, and if it happens not only Koreans or Americans but all people of the world will pay a price." |
Hazel Smith, a professor at the University of London, said comments by Trump administration officials such as National Security Adviser John Bolton and Pence in recent days about a "Libya model" for North Korea likely made Pyongyang nervous. |
Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi gave up his nuclear arsenal in negotiations with the West, but he was later overthrown and killed after a NATO air intervention that supported rebels on the ground. |
"For North Korea, this [Libya model] simply means the overthrow of the government as Gaddafi was overthrown," said Smith. |
MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee police are investigating a triple shooting that left one man dead and two children injured, including a 4-year-old, according to WITI. |
According to police, officers responded to the area just before 8:30 p.m. |
Investigators said an ongoing dispute led to the shooting. The suspect fired multiple gunshots at a group of people that included children. A 4-year-old and a 14-year-old were struck. The 4-year-old was seriously hurt, and sadly, the child's father, 28, identified by loved ones as Eric Williams, didn't make it, despite... |
Andre Lee Ellis said Williams was shot while trying to protect his kids, including an infant who was in his arms. |
"For a father that would hover over his own baby -- take six shots in the back to make sure his baby lived even if he didn't. Doobie is in intensive care. He was shot four times -- twice in the chest and once in each hand and he is on a breathing tube," said Ellis of the 4-year-old victim. |
Jesse Jefferson, the victims' cousin, said Monday he's having a hard time coping with this loss. |
"I wouldn't wish this on nobody. Just missing him right now -- heart kind of heavy," said Jefferson. |
He said he's hurt and angered that children were caught in the crossfire. |
"Stuff gotta stop man. Hopefully everybody say prayers for our family," said Jefferson. |
Police said the 14-year-old boy suffered injuries not believed to be life-threatening. |
After 12 homicides in 12 days, Ellis and others are begging for change. |
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