Today’s poll is going to require some deep thought (Jack Handy). I want to know which “situation” did more damage, the PlayStation Network outage or the Xbox 360 red ring of death? It’s easy to go with the PSN outage since it’s fresh, but I’d love for you to take a step back and give it some thought. Is a hardware issue for some worse than a service outage for all? Which situation did more damage to the reputation of the respective console manufacturer? Kindly vote and discuss!
[poll id=”115″]
After a few slow weeks, May brings several interesting games to the table. Brink has been getting a lot of buzz — some of my reviewer friends are high on this game and some are meh on it. Virtua Tennis 4 looks to bring the series back to glory. LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean serves up the cutest version of Captain Jack Sparrow ever. MX vs. ATV Live should keep motor sports fans happy. The First Templar is flying under the radar, but a few of my friends are digging this adventure game, saying that it nicely blends old and new.
Any of you guys and dolls picking up new games this week?
Normally I can’t be bothered to write about companies hiring new executives. For the most part, none of you care. Nintendo’s latest executive announcement was too good not to touch. The company has hired Scott Moffitt as the new executive vice president of sales & marketing for Nintendo of America. He’ll be reporting to NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime — you know, the guy that marketed Guiness beer, Pizza Hut, and Panda Express before taking Nintendo to new heights. How can Moffitt match up with Fils-Aime? Well, just look at this snippet from the press release:
Moffitt comes to Nintendo from Henkel Consumer Goods, where he oversaw North American operations for leading personal-care brands such as Dial, Right Guard, Tone and Pure & Natural. During his five years as senior vice president and general manager for the Personal Care division, he orchestrated an overhaul of the flagship Dial and Right Guard brands.
I love it! The dude sold soap and deodorant!!! That’s the perfect complement to the marketing strategies involved with selling stout beer, The Bigfoot Pizza (a Fils-Aime project), and mediocre Chinese food. Aren’t you glad you used Dial?!?
As I mentioned in March, AT&T has started bandwidth caps for its DSL and U-Verse Internet services. On the cable side, Comcast is still using the same cap it introduced in 2008…as if its network hasn’t improved.
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, “Sugar” Shane Mosley running away from the smaller Manny Pacquiao, Phil Jackson’s future, or the latest episode of Game of Thrones, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
As I mentioned in March, AT&T has started bandwidth caps for its DSL and U-Verse Internet services. DSL customers are now capped at 150GB per month, while U-Verse customers are now capped at 250GB per month. The typical (BS) reasons of “network management” and “avoiding congestion” were the reasons given for the caps. The reality is that AT&T will make money from overage fees. Conveniently, the caps also help protect the company’s U-Verse television service from Internet streaming services like Hulu and Netflix.
On the cable side, Comcast remains capped at 250GB per month — you know, the cap that it introduced in 2008. Internet use has only gotten heavier since then, with streaming video and downloadable games really taking off over the last few years. Meanwhile the cap remains the same. Certainly Comcast has improved its network capacity, throughput, and efficiency, but for some reason it hasn’t increased its cap.
If you’re an AT&T or Comcast customer then you should be pissed off by these bogus practices. If you’re not, you should be pissed off by the trend. Bandwidth caps stifle innovation in Internet services. If you like being able to download a full Xbox 360 game as an impulse purchase or want to maximize the value of your Netflix subscription then you should act. Write your Internet service provider and your congressman about AT&T’s caps (pure money grab) and Comcast’s laziness. Let’s start of Monday with some righteous anger and kick this week’s ass!!!
The tablet wars are going to get super interesting. Slick hardware is not enough to compete with Apple’s wildly successful iPad tablets. Competitors realize that they need to offer slick software and services too. Recently Sony announced that it will be entering the Android tablet space later this year. Will PlayStation Network be the key to Sony’s tablet success? That’s what PC Magazine’s Tim Bajarin believes. He recently wrote:
I understand that Sony’s tablet offerings will eventually be tied to the Sony PlayStation Network, in which there are about 77 million subscribers worldwide. If I read the tea leaves right, that should mean that Sony could use this network to deliver video, music, and games, as well as potentially host its own vetted app store and even create Sony dedicated apps. Its goal is to be number two in the tablet market (behind Apple) and number one in Android-based devices.
Leveraging the backbone of the PlayStation Network would give Sony quite an edge over its competitors, right out of the box. My only concern is that it has to rely on Google for its OS. Not controlling the OS could be an issue for delivering an enhanced user experience that’s optimized for Sony customers. But having a network backbone to deliver optimized content for various Sony devices is quite a plus.
Bajarin is one of the sharpest tech analysts in the world. His opinions are almost always on the mark. I think he’s on the right track here. The infrastructure of PlayStation Network has already expanded to include Qriocity. I can see Sony going even larger to create a multimedia “walled garden” of its own, with curated movies, music, apps, and gaming.
What do you think? Will PlayStation Network be the key to Sony’s tablet success? Or will it be the key to One-Eyed Willie?
When Amazon first announced that it would start selling popular MP3 singles for 69 cents, I was mildly interested. A lot of the same songs cost $1.29 on iTunes and Amazon offers the benefit of streaming through its Cloud Player. I’ve returned to the 200+ list of 69-cent songs 
Selling cheap MP3 singles helps Amazon on multiple levels. Obviously it helps the company combat Apple’s dominance in the digital music space. It also encourages consumers to use Cloud Player, which will aid Amazon’s upcoming Android products. The move also gets people (like me) to check for new 69-cent songs on a regular basis and if someone is on Amazon’s site then there’s always a chance that they’ll buy something in addition to or other than a cheap MP3.
Have you checked out Amazon’s MP3 cheapies? If so, what do you think of the selection? What do you think of the move in general? Is it a stroke of genius? Or will it fail to take market share away from Apple and/or bolster the company’s Android plans?
It’s time for everyone to share their Netflix streaming movie recommendations! I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the Iron Man: Extremis motion comics. Based on the critically acclaimed run written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Adi Granov, Extremis tweaked Iron Man’s origin and gave him new abilities to play with. It’s great storytelling and art that’s brought to life by quality voice acting and slight animation.
My first taste of motion comics, Astonishing X-Men, was disappointing. Part of it was that the animation was poor; I kept thinking that a pair of eight-year olds were moving comic-book panels and filming it. The animation in Extremis is noticeably better. Part of it was that the first few issues of Astonishing X-Men are among my favorite X-Men comics and I didn’t like the way they translated to motion comics (the voice acting was uneven). While I was familiar with the events of Extremis going into my viewing, I never read the whole thing. Perhaps going into it without preconceived notions helped.
If you happen to stream my pick, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Now its your turn to suggest one movie we should all watch. Please make sure it’s available on Netflix streaming.
Thor: Bring the Thunder is a charming Flash game that has the Norse god of thunder parading around in a Super Mario Bros.-like platform game. The game is perfect if you need some motivation to see the movie or are coming off the film’s high. It’s cute and fun.
While the sound effects are old school and appropriate, I enjoyed playing the game while MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” was playing on my PC. It’s awesome when you time a Mjolnir attack with the lyrics of “Stop. Hammer time!!!”
The HTC Thunderbolt lacks the dual-core power found in recent phones, but makes up for it with blazing fast Internet speeds on Verizon’s LTE network, mostly great build quality, outstanding call clarity, and a smoother version of Google Android thanks to HTC Sense. As long as you’re not looking for cutting edge performance and you don’t mind carrying a spare battery, the Thunderbolt will serve you well. It’s a great phone with a few minor flaws and one major one. Cue the D-Generation X music as I “break it down!!!”
Build Quality — In many ways, the Thunderbolt looks like the HTC Evo 4G or any number of high-end phones HTC has released in the last year. The front of the phone is mostly glass, with a nice metal border and very little bezel. The back of the phone is around 80 percent plastic (with a nice rubberized coating) and 20 percent metal.
I loved the phone’s heft and found it to be comfortable. However, I can understand that some people will find the Thunderbolt too heavy and too large for one-hand operation. As I illustrated in this video, this is definitely not a small phone, but most people should find its size easily manageable.
The one issue I had with the build quality is the way the back cover comes off. Even after a month with the phone, it takes me several seconds to remove the cover and it always feels like it’s going to break. For users that keep a battery or two on deck — and I can’t recommend this phone without a spare battery — this is annoying.
Also, kickstands on phones completely rule.
Screen — The Thunderbolt sports a 4.3-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 400 x 800. Although it’s the same size and resolution as the Evo’s screen, I found it to be much brighter with better viewing angles. Having a large screen is great for usability and watching videos, but I wish the Thunderbolt packed a higher resolution for better readability. For general use, the Thunderbolt’s screen will be eclipsed by the HTC Sensation’s qHD display. For readability, the iPhone 4 is still the best phone for reading text.
User Interface — Some people love Android skins and some people hate them. I generally dislike them…except for HTC Sense. I believe it’s the only Android skin that adds usability and smoothness to the Android experience.
The Thunderbolt offers the same usability enhancements found in other Sense 2.0 phones, with a few Sense 3.0 features thrown in. The interface is smoother and snappier than vanilla Android. The web browser is smoother than the stock browser. Sense features that were new to me include pocket mode (the phone rings louder when in a pocket or purse), flip for speaker phone, and quiet ring on pickup (ring tone gets softer as you bring your phone to your head). They’re just clever features that are examples of why HTC is ahead of everyone else when it comes to Android customizations.
While I’ve been hearing nice things about TouchWhiz 4.0 on the Samsung Galaxy S II, that phone is not yet available on an American carrier. For now I believe that HTC Sense is the only Android skin worth having.
Call Quality — Call quality was outstanding on the Thunderbolt. For phone calls, it was easily the best phone I’ve used since the Droid X. The ear piece produces clear sound and the speaker is very loud. Voice transmission is aided by a second microphone for noise cancellation. The people I called said that I sounded much more natural on the Thunderbolt than on the iPhone 4. Making a few test calls from a farmer’s market, the Thunderbolt blocked out more noise than the iPhone 4.
LTE Speeds — The big hook on the Thunderbolt is its LTE speeds. As I pointed out in this 4G shootout article, Verizon LTE slaughters the competition in 4G. The data rates are wonderful for web browsing, tethering, streaming, etc. After getting used to Verizon LTE, it was tough using a phone on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network, which is fast but not nearly as zippy as LTE.
Camera — While I was satisfied with the cameras on HTC’s Evo 4G and T-Mobile G2, neither were as good as the eight-megapixel camera on the Thunderbolt. The camera on this phone is fast, focuses quickly, and takes great stills. The dual-LED flash can be too strong for indoor close-ups, but with proper distance can light up a space nicely. Video quality was also very good, producing nice 720p video (for a phone). The phone’s camera can produce great images, but falls short of the outstanding shooters on the iPhone 4 and Nokia N8.
The 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera can be used to snap vanity shots and for video chat. Unfortunately, all the video chat software on Android produced poor quality or wasn’t (yet) compatible with the Thunderbolt. A video-enabled version of Skype will be released for the Thunderbolt soon.
Battery Life — I knew this phone would be a battery hog. It has a large screen, a fast processor, a CDMA radio, a WiFi radio, and an LTE radio. The good news is that the phone’s power management is aggressive and the battery can last a long time as long as you’re not using LTE much. The bad news is that this phone is all about LTE and using the super-fast network requires a lot of battery.
Following my normal usage patterns, I averaged 8.5 hours on a charge. That’s the worst battery life of any Android phone I’ve ever used. There were a few times where I was using the phone constantly and downloading a lot of programs; in those cases, the battery lasted a little over four hours.
As wonderful as the Thunderbolt is, I can’t recommend it unless you’re always by an outlet or willing to invest in extra batteries. For road warriors or situations like trade shows, extra batteries are necessary.
Conclusion — Aside from the battery life, I was super impressed by the Thunderbolt. It offers a smooth Android experience and the best wireless speeds in America. While the $249 price seems high, keep in mind that the Thunderbolt comes with a 32MB MicroSD card on top of the 8GB of internal storage. If you’re down with picking up an extra battery or two and don’t need dual-core performance, the HTC Thunderbolt will take care of you nicely. It’s not perfect, but the ungodly LTE speeds will help you forget about the phone’s shortcomings.
The HTC Thunderbolt lacks the dual-core power found in recent phones, but makes up for it with blazing fast Internet speeds on Verizon’s LTE network, mostly great build quality, outstanding call clarity, and a smoother version of Google Android thanks to HTC Sense. As long as you’re not looking for cutting edge performance and you don’t mind carrying a spare battery, the Thunderbolt will serve you well. It’s a great phone with a few minor flaws and one major one. Cue the D-Generation X music as I “break it down!!!”
Build Quality — In many ways, the Thunderbolt looks like the HTC Evo 4G or any number of high-end phones HTC has released in the last year. The front of the phone is mostly glass, with a nice metal border and very little bezel. The back of the phone is around 80 percent plastic (with a nice rubberized coating) and 20 percent metal.
I loved the phone’s heft and found it to be comfortable. However, I can understand that some people will find the Thunderbolt too heavy and too large for one-hand operation. As I illustrated in this video, this is definitely not a small phone, but most people should find its size easily manageable.
The one issue I had with the build quality is the way the back cover comes off. Even after a month with the phone, it takes me several seconds to remove the cover and it always feels like it’s going to break. For users that keep a battery or two on deck — and I can’t recommend this phone without a spare battery — this is annoying.
Also, kickstands on phones completely rule.
Screen — The Thunderbolt sports a 4.3-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 400 x 800. Although it’s the same size and resolution as the Evo’s screen, I found it to be much brighter with better viewing angles. Having a large screen is great for usability and watching videos, but I wish the Thunderbolt packed a higher resolution for better readability. For general use, the Thunderbolt’s screen will be eclipsed by the HTC Sensation’s qHD display. For readability, the iPhone 4 is still the best phone for reading text.
User Interface — Some people love Android skins and some people hate them. I generally dislike them…except for HTC Sense. I believe it’s the only Android skin that adds usability and smoothness to the Android experience.
The Thunderbolt offers the same usability enhancements found in other Sense 2.0 phones, with a few Sense 3.0 features thrown in. The interface is smoother and snappier than vanilla Android. The web browser is smoother than the stock browser. Sense features that were new to me include pocket mode (the phone rings louder when in a pocket or purse), flip for speaker phone, and quiet ring on pickup (ring tone gets softer as you bring your phone to your head). They’re just clever features that are examples of why HTC is ahead of everyone else when it comes to Android customizations.
While I’ve been hearing nice things about TouchWhiz 4.0 on the Samsung Galaxy S II, that phone is not yet available on an American carrier. For now I believe that HTC Sense is the only Android skin worth having.
Call Quality — Call quality was outstanding on the Thunderbolt. For phone calls, it was easily the best phone I’ve used since the Droid X. The ear piece produces clear sound and the speaker is very loud. Voice transmission is aided by a second microphone for noise cancellation. The people I called said that I sounded much more natural on the Thunderbolt than on the iPhone 4. Making a few test calls from a farmer’s market, the Thunderbolt blocked out more noise than the iPhone 4.
LTE Speeds — The big hook on the Thunderbolt is its LTE speeds. As I pointed out in this 4G shootout article, Verizon LTE slaughters the competition in 4G. The data rates are wonderful for web browsing, tethering, streaming, etc. After getting used to Verizon LTE, it was tough using a phone on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network, which is fast but not nearly as zippy as LTE.
Camera — While I was satisfied with the cameras on HTC’s Evo 4G and T-Mobile G2, neither were as good as the eight-megapixel camera on the Thunderbolt. The camera on this phone is fast, focuses quickly, and takes great stills. The dual-LED flash can be too strong for indoor close-ups, but with proper distance can light up a space nicely. Video quality was also very good, producing nice 720p video (for a phone). The phone’s camera can produce great images, but falls short of the outstanding shooters on the iPhone 4 and Nokia N8.
The 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera can be used to snap vanity shots and for video chat. Unfortunately, all the video chat software on Android produced poor quality or wasn’t (yet) compatible with the Thunderbolt. A video-enabled version of Skype will be released for the Thunderbolt soon.
Battery Life — I knew this phone would be a battery hog. It has a large screen, a fast processor, a CDMA radio, a WiFi radio, and an LTE radio. The good news is that the phone’s power management is aggressive and the battery can last a long time as long as you’re not using LTE much. The bad news is that this phone is all about LTE and using the super-fast network requires a lot of battery.
Following my normal usage patterns, I averaged 8.5 hours on a charge. That’s the worst battery life of any Android phone I’ve ever used. There were a few times where I was using the phone constantly and downloading a lot of programs; in those cases, the battery lasted a little over four hours.
As wonderful as the Thunderbolt is, I can’t recommend it unless you’re always by an outlet or willing to invest in extra batteries. For road warriors or situations like trade shows, extra batteries are necessary.
Conclusion — Aside from the battery life, I was super impressed by the Thunderbolt. It offers a smooth Android experience and the best wireless speeds in America. While the $249 price seems high, keep in mind that the Thunderbolt comes with a 32MB MicroSD card on top of the 8GB of internal storage. If you’re down with picking up an extra battery or two and don’t need dual-core performance, the HTC Thunderbolt will take care of you nicely. It’s not perfect, but the ungodly LTE speeds will help you forget about the phone’s shortcomings.
