Tomtom One Review

Review: iPhone 4 vs. Thunderbolt

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (LIN) - The iPhone 4 and the HTC Thunderbolt are two amazing smartphones – and if you’re anything like me, both will get you in trouble with your wife.

Let me briefly explain: Both phones have tons of features that will keep you busy for hours – playing Angry Birds for hours makes my wife mad. But only one phone has enough battery to keep the phone alive – she also hates it when I’m out of touch. Either way – for now let’s stick with the basics and get acquainted.

In general, both phones are solid performers: Lightning quick, versatile, and adaptable. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses, but both are great devices to have at your disposal when you need a powerful device on the go. But as the saying goes, the devil is in the details. One phone gets them right; the other gets them horribly wrong.

First Impressions: As a long-time iPod touch owner, I immediately found the iPhone 4 familiar, intuitive, and easy to use. It’s bigger and heavier than the iPod, but for good reason. Many more features, more hardware, and two cameras. The extra bulk wasn’t noticeable, and the user interface was nearly identical.

I’m new to the Android game, so the HTC interface took some getting used to. My first impression is that the Thunderbolt is huge. The screen is nice, and the resolution easily competes with the iPhone Retina display, plus it’s much bigger. On paper, a few fractions of an inch doesn’t sound significant – but in hand, the screen on the Thunderbolt is massive.

But as a trade, the phone itself is just plain big. It’s bulky, and can be awkward to handle. I’ve got pretty big hands and sometimes holding with one hand and typing on the touchscreen was cumbersome.

Phone Usage: I’m not a big fan of talking on the phone, but when I had to I found that the iPhone 4 was comfortable in my hand, easy to hold, and functional. I liked that the screen shut off and didn’t reactivate until I moved the phone away from my head. It’s like it knew when I needed to access something on the keypad. Great design feature.

The bulky HTC Thunderbolt was annoying to use for phone conversations. The phone is huge, but a really nice feature is the auto-speakerphone when you flip the phone face down. Both worked well on my Verizon service at my house in a Grand Rapids suburb – we get 3G without any problem and calls never drop.

Tomtom XL 340TM GPS: Review + Information- Izzile.com

Tomtom XL 340TM GPS

This TomTom addition is a really good one. This time, the GPS is small, but packed to the brim with cool features. It is extremely lightweight, and portable, easy for all sorts of carrying. The small screen size makes it ideal for small cars, and the sharp screen color makes it easy to see, even for its small size. The cheap price makes this one TomTom that a lot of people are going to be considering as well- and certainly it really gives you “bang for buck”

For full pricing/ features/ information, check out the site: TomTom XL 340TM 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Lifetime Traffic & Maps Edition)

As with all TomToms, the TomTom XL 340TM comes with:

The IQ routes technology is unique to TomTom only, so everyone should consider the strong benefit it provides. Now, when comparing to other GPS that TomTom provides ( for example, the TomTom XLL 540 TM ), this one is slightly better for a number of reasons. The first one has already been mentioned: it is slightly more lightweight, and portable. Secondly, the lag time for loading maps is practically non existant: this GPS is probably one of the fastest we have reviewed so far.

Also, the GPS updates are much quicker to download and process, and there seems to be a slightly larger amount of  free space left when compared to other TomTom’s. Also, the touch screen we noticed is just a tad more responsive the most Magellan, and other TomTom products as well.

HOWEVER, the downside of course is that the TomTom XL 340TM has a smaller screen. For elderly people, this might be a problem as pressing the buttons are slightly harder. Also, the customization as given with other TomToms is not as present, but still available. On the road however, it is a great GPS like all other TomTom GPS systems.

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