Dodgers Make All Star Game

Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw will represent the Dodgers at this year's All-Star Game, to be played on July 10 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. It is the second All-Star selection for both.

The announcements were made Sunday on the MLB All-Star Selection Show presented by Taco Bell.

NATIONAL LEAGUE ROSTER

Starters
C	Buster Posey, SF
1B	Joey Votto, CIN
2B	Dan Uggla, ATL
SS	Rafael Furcal, STL
3B	Pablo Sandoval, SF
OF	Melky Cabrera, SF
OF	Carlos Beltran, STL
OF	Matt Kemp, LAD
Pitchers
RHP	Matt Cain, SF
LHP	Aroldis Chapman, CIN
RHP	R.A. Dickey, NYM
LHP	Gio Gonzalez, WAS
LHP	Cole Hamels, PHI
RHP	Joel Hanrahan, PIT
LHP	Clayton Kershaw, LAD
RHP	Craig Kimbrel, ATL
RHP	Lance Lynn, STL
LHP	Wade Miley, ARI
RHP	Jonathan Papelbon, PHI
RHP	Stephen Strasburg, WAS
RHP	Huston Street, SD
Reserves
C	Yadier Molina, STL
C	Carlos Ruiz, PHI
1B	Bryan LaHair, CHC
2B	Jose Altuve, HOU
SS	Starlin Castro, CHC
SS	Ian Desmond, WAS
3B	David Wright, NYM
OF	Ryan Braun, MIL
OF	Jay Bruce, CIN
OF	Carlos Gonzalez, COL
OF	Andrew McCutchen, PIT
OF	Giancarlo Stanton, MIA

The 83rd Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX Sports, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS, and worldwide by partners in more than 200 countries via MLB International's independent feed. Pregame ceremonies begin at 4:30 p.m. PT. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide exclusive national radio coverage. MLB Network, MLB.com and Sirius XM also will provide comprehensive All-Star Game coverage.

Fans will also have the opportunity to participate in the official voting for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player presented by Chevrolet via the 2012 MLB.com All-Star Game MVP Vote during the All-Star Game on MLB.com.

The 27-year-old Kemp, the leading vote-getter in the NL until last week, edged Milwaukee's Ryan Braun in fan balloting for the third starting outfielder spot, although Kemp is not expected to play in the game because he's on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring and not expected back until after the All-Star break.

Kemp is the first Dodgers position player to be voted onto the starting lineup in back-to-back seasons since Mike Piazza in 1996-97. The Dodgers have had outfielders voted into the All-Star Game starting lineup for three consecutive years.

He's also captain of the NL team for the State Farm Home Run Derby, and has said the leg injury will not stop him from participating in that contest on July 9.

Kemp was headed for a repeat of last year's record-breaking season until he was injured. He was named player of the month for April, when he batted .417 with a franchise-record 12 homers and 25 RBIs in 23 games. At the time of his injury, he led the league in just about every offensive category except stolen bases, and was hitting .486 against left-handed pitchers.

But he injured his left hamstring on May 4 in Chicago, missed his first start on May 6 and went on the disabled list on May 14 after trying to play through the injury for a week. He was activated on May 29, only to re-injure the hamstring in the first inning on May 30 while scoring from first base on a double by Andre Ethier and immediately returned to the disabled list.

Kershaw made the team as manager Tony La Russa's choice despite a 5-4 record, in part because he has pitched better than that record shows, and because he's coming off his spectacular Cy Young season of 2011 when he won the pitching Triple Crown. The Dodgers have scored five runs total in his four losses.

He's still among league leaders in ERA, strikeouts, innings pitched and opponents' batting average. Of his 16 starts, 11 have been quality starts, including a May 19 shutout of the Cardinals.

Kershaw, scheduled to start on Sunday, will also start Friday night, so he expects to pitch in the All-Star Game. Pitchers who start next Sunday can petition to pitch two days later in the All-Star Game under a fixed pitch count.

Last year, the Dodgers had three All-Stars -- Kemp, Ethier and Kershaw. Kemp was voted onto the starting lineup, Kershaw was named on the players' list and Ethier made the team as an injury replacement.

Ethier, Chris Capuano and A.J. Ellis, each having quality seasons, were not included among the five finalists for the Final Vote spot.

From CNET

The good: The Nokia Astound boasts a sleek, premium design and affordable price tag. Call quality is good, and the phone's 8-megapixel camera takes great photos and video.



The bad: The smartphone can be sluggish and the Symbian 3 operating system is still behind the curve in ease of use and functionality.



The bottom line: The Nokia Astound is a beautifully designed and affordable smartphone for T-Mobile, but there are other budget-friendly options available with better performance and that are easier to use.


Announced at CTIA 2011, the Nokia Astound is essentially a rebranded version of the Nokia C7, which was introduced back in October 2010. The sleek-looking smartphone offers an 8-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi calling, and a wallet-friendly price tag of $79.99 with a two-year contract. However, it also runs Symbian 3, which still lags behind the competition and faces an uncertain future. The price is attractive, but still, is the phone really worth it? We set out to find out.



Design

For all the criticism that Nokia gets, one thing it has always done well is make solid hardware, and the Nokia Astound is no exception. Made with high-quality materials, including a glass display and stainless-steel battery door, the Astound feels like a premium device. It's ultrasleek at just 4.62 inches tall by 2.24 inches wide by 0.41 inch thick and 4.58 ounces, which is a nice departure from some of the larger smartphones we've seen of late. The Astound is attractive to boot, with its frosty metal color and chrome accents.

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/nokia-astound-t-mobile/4505-6452_7-34550515.html#ixzz1IPmmXsh2

I Love My Wife's New Ford Edge

The 2011 Ford Edge receives exterior design updates, new powertrains and a revised interior. The exterior design is bolder and more flowing, with a large grille, lower front fascia and chin spoiler. For 2011, Edge is powered by a 285-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 or the first application of Ford’s new 2.0-liter EcoBoost 4-cylinder engine. Edge Sport is powered by a 305-horsepower 3.7-liter V6 and all engines are mated with 6-speed automatic transmissions. Edge Sport also includes 22-inch polished aluminum wheels with Tuxedo Black accents, Tuxedo Black grille, smoked headlight treatment, smoked taillights, body-color rocker moldings and oval chrome exhaust tips.

 

The Edge shares components with the Lincoln MKX. A 2011 update brings a new interior, upgraded V6 engines, and a turbocharged four-cylinder engine. AWD is available. The ride is good, and the powertrain is strong. After comparing it to the Toyota Venza, which is a strong competitor, the Edge is very agile, and handling is secure. Interior fit and finish is impressive.

Ya whatever....

I am not impressed with my President. An important speech live at 4:30 Pacific? Come on man! You think we don't work out here?


Well thank you Mr President! An important speech about Libya and you go live at 4:30 PM Pacific? Ya just blow off the whole Western US while we are all still at work. That'll get you relected for sure!

Gotta Love the new "True Grit"

Whatever you do, don't call it a remake.

The film makers insist it's not a remake, and in fact, they haven't seen The Duke's movie since they were kids. It is, rather, a more faithful adaptation of the classic American novel by Charles Portis, which provided a slightly looser basis for the 1969 film. Not everyone quite buys it, but if you see this new version, you'll be convinced that the Coens are as steadfastly true as ever to their own spirit—and the relationship of the original to this one is simply an interesting historical footnote.

The 2010 version really is a more faithful adaptation of the Portis novel—much of the dialogue is lifted straight from the book—and yet it still plays out like the quintessential Coen Brothers. There's a lot of deadpan humor, interspersed with outbursts of violence, and as the bodies stack higher the humor becomes blacker, and more ridiculous. The characters speak in a slightly exaggerated dialect that isn't based on any particular land or geographic locale, but rather takes joy in the sheer sound of the words and rhythmic poetry of the backwoods cadence. And though this is arguably the first true Western for the Coens, the formal similarities—to movies like No Country for Old Men and even The Big Lebowski—are difficult to miss.

So it's typical Coen—at once distinct from anything they've done before and yet thoroughly fitting their body of work—and a perfect marriage of directors and source material. It's nearly the opposite of their last movie, the jet-black existential comedy A Serious Man; it's a pure joy, an absolute hoot of a movie, hysterically funny and as comfortable and familiar as an old flannel shirt. The Coens are always pushing themselves—and I would call this one of their best—but here they're clearly having fun with the material. And by their standards, the movie is uncommonly warm.

Which is not to say that it isn't a little dark, as well. The movie opens with the welcoming glow of a well-lit front porch, but as the camera pulls back, we realize that things aren't as serene as they might appear: There's a dead body on the ground, and with it the impetus for whole story. The man who was killed left a family behind, and though his wife is too grief-ridden to care about anything as coldly calculating as vengeance, his fourteen-year-old daughter Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is out to see justice served, spilt blood repaid with more spilt blood.

Here is a girl who has been forced to grow up too fast. More than once we see her literally sleeping with death surrounding her—she spends a night in a funeral home, sleeping in a coffin with corpses all around, and later she spends the night in a house where there's just been a gunfight, and the bodies are still warm as they lay out on the front porch—but her attitude toward it is dispassionate. It's just part of her life and her world.

For Mattie, vengeance outweighs justice...So she heads into town, her father's death still fresh on her mind, and seeks to put his affairs in order. When some townspeople try to take advantage of her youth, she informs them in no uncertain terms of her legal rights and the lengths she will go to to see justice served, and she comes out the victor in every one of her run-ins. She wields the law like a sword, unhesitant to sick her attorney on people or turn to the courts for aid when it suits her needs. But we know that, for Mattie, the law is just a means to an end; she is not out for justice, but vengeance, and though she learns that the man who killed her father is wanted in another state for another crime, seeing him brought to justice under those circumstances isn't enough. He must pay for the crimes he committed against the Ross family particularly, or else she simply doesn't care.

LaBoeuf (Matt Damon)—a Texas ranger who gets wind of Mattie's quest for blood and seeks a meeting with her—has greater emotional distance from the killer; he has been on his trail for months and simply wishes to see him brought to justice. If the man is hanged for his crimes, LaBoeuf reasons, then why does it truly matter whether the charge is for the murder of Mattie's father, or for a senator in Texas? Here is a man who is bound by a code, zealous for seeing the law carried out; yet to Mattie, who seeks not the fulfillment of the law but personal revenge, this man might as well be the enemy.


So she turns to a gruff, unkempt drunkard of a man named Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). We first see him in a court room and later learn that when he was a younger man he studied law, ultimately deciding it just wasn't for him; like Mattie, he sees the wheels of justice as useful means to an end, but he is unable to actually keep the law in his own life, and so he operates outside it. She deems his unorthodox methods to be a better match for her purposes, and so the two of them set out to find the man who shot her papa.

Lest this all sound rather heavy, I'll reiterate: This movie is absolutely delightful, the dialogue so rich in humor and fine characterizations, the actors moving through this thing so effortlessly. Bridges is a riot, and impressively unlike the character he played in The Big Lebowski, while Damon proves himself once again to be both a stalwart character actor and an impeccable comedic one. But it's Steinfeld who most amazes; she is not a child actor who's simply given room to be a child, but an actual performer, playing a character. That the movie is filmed beautifully, or that the score—based on old-timey hymns, actually—is perfectly evocative … well, it's a Coen Brothers movie. These things don't really need to be said.

What might need to be said is this: For all its pleasures, there is a sort of lingering melancholy that makes the movie stay with you. In the theater, I thought it was a zany Coen comedy along the lines of Raising Arizona or Lebowski, but as I reflected on it later I realized it to be a much sadder and wiser film than it initially seems. It's a movie about death, and about justice and revenge. It's also a movie about manhood, as seen through the eyes of a young girl whose only examples of manhood are limited and flawed. (Aren't we all?) We see these men through her eyes, and we see how it shapes her into the woman she becomes. In some ways, the way all this plays out is a little bit subversive for a Western; of course, it's also about as pure and unironic a genre picture as these filmmakers have yet made. In other words, typical Coen Brothers.

My Royal Star

We’re not talking about my living room furniture when we call my Royal Star Venture a living room couch. Although you could argue that the seat is as comfortable as a couch and that the hard luggage, all 33.6 gallons of it, could carry every nice piece of clothing you own. As ever, the Venture is Yamaha’s full-dress touring rig, fitted with every amenity, driven around by a durable 79-inch V-Four whose sound makes the codgers who remember the original Venture a bit misty eyed. And at just over $20K fully equipped, which I liked compared to THE Company....my Venture might make my accountant wipe a tear of appreciation in love of my foregoing the HD!

Twitter

Follow me on Twitter @sanapier.....

From PC Mag - New Moto Zoom Tablet

All eyes are on the Motorola Xoom tablet, and for good reason: It's the first device in an expected multitude to ship with Google's tablet-optimized Android 3.0 (Honeycomb). The Xoom has a lot of features to like, and a lot to set it apart from the ever-growing crowd of tablets; but it also has some drawbacks that temper my enthusiasm about it.


One drawback is its price: $800 with no contract on Verizon, and $600 with a two-year contract (prices as of February 23, 2011). More critically, I experienced some issues with the display and image rendering during my hands-on evaluation of the Xoom.
Using the Xoom confirmed my earlier impressions of Android 3.0: The OS is vastly superior to its predecessor and is so different to use that it's practically unrecognizable as a close relative of the Android widely deployed today. The software's tablet optimization was evident in the home screens, the widgets, the music player, the browser, the e-mail, and even the YouTube player. Missing, however, was the Adobe Flash 10.2 player, which is coming soon but wasn't available in time for this story.

The Hardware: Style and Class

The Xoom zooms to the top of the tablet class in overall style and design. The build quality is solid, with volume and power buttons that are easy to press and a sturdily constructed SIM tray that doubles as the MicroSD Card slot cover. It has a soft, rubberized feel along the top, and black metal on the bottom when held in horizontal mode. It also has its buttons and other elements configured for that orientation.

Clearly, the device was designed with landscape orientation in mind: In that position, you hold it with two hands, and the front-facing 2-megapixel camera sits at the top middle of the display, just as the Webcam on a laptop typically is. The stereo speakers, at back, appear to the right and left, with plenty of clearance for your fingers (this positioning is unfortunate, however, if you plan to listen to music while the pad is lying flat, with its screen face-up). The micro-USB and HDMI-mini ports are at bottom, perfect for mounting the Xoom in its optional dock (standard dock, $60, Speaker HD dock, $150). The power button is located on the back, to the left of the rear-facing, flash-equipped, 5-megapixel. The button lies where your forefinger naturally lands when you hold the Xoom in both hands.


The Xoom runs Nvidia's Tegra 2 platform, with a dual-core 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and 32GB of on-board user memory. The MicroSD Card slot permits users to double their storage space as they use the device--a boon for anyone who tends to pack gadgets with media. Unfortunately, the MicroSD Card slot is not enabled at launch-so early shoppers will have to wait until a software update comes along (eventually, Xoom will ship with the slot enabled).

The display measures 10.1 inches diagonally, with 1280-by-800-pixel resolution. The widescreen's 16:10 aspect ratio makes it perfect for viewing video; but for folks accustomed to the 4:3 aspect ratio of the 9.7-inch Apple iPad screen, it may take some getting used to. The unit also stands an inch taller than the first-generation iPad, but it feels comfortable when you hold it landscape-style in two hands.

You'll definitely want to use two hands: Like the first-generation iPad with 3G and Wi-Fi, the Xoom weighs 1.6 pounds. The weight is manageable for periods of two-handed operation, but intolerable for extended one-handed operation. A third-generation Amazon Kindle weighs one-third as much as the Xoom.

The Display: The Draw and the Drawback

I wasn't terribly impressed with the Xoom's display's quality: In spite of its high resolution, I detected graininess; colors seemed somewhat inaccurate and didn't pop as they do on the iPad and on Samsung's bright, occasionally oversaturated Galaxy Tab.

Initially, the device's display looked lovely. The home screens were readable, and colors looked fine. But as I used the device, the pattern of the screen became more obvious. The display on the iPad felt downright sparkly, as if sand were buried in the liquid crystals themselves. In contrast, the Xoom seemed to present me with a grid whose lines were more obvious in some situations than in others. I noticed them especially in photos and on the gray of the keyboard, but less so on the default blue Honeycomb wallpaper. The lines were most obvious in screens with white backgrounds, such as in the Web browser or in the preinstalled Google Books app. I also detected a lot of pixelation in the letters, but that effect varied depending on the font I used (for example, the sans serif font in Google Books looked relatively smooth)--which leads me to wonder whether this is primarily a screen issue (Motorola says that the display is 150 dots per inch) or a rendering issue.

When I looked at a series of pictures (10-megapixel or greater images shot on advanced cameras) sideloaded to the Xoom via the USB connection on my PC, it became clear that the images' contrast was off. Under identical lighting conditions, I compared the images as they appeared on the Xoom to the original images on my PC monitor and to the way they looked on the Samsung Galaxy Tab and on the first-generation Apple iPad. Colors seemed dull and uninspired on the Xoom, and the images lacked the detail and depth I expected to see.

Even worse, the included Gallery app didn't render the images properly. Images lacked sharpness and suffered from artifacting, dithering, and macroblocking. It was almost as though I were looking at images that had undergone a preview render but never fully rendered. A Google spokesperson did not know what was going on, nor did Motorola. Nvidia, which makes the Tegra 2 processor, did not respond to my inquiry before I posted this review.

Blockiness and artifacting were issues in video playback, too--for instance, in YouTube videos played in both standard and HQ modes, and in Google Talk video chat over Wi-Fi (as well as 3G). The images I captured on the device were disappointingly middle-of-the-road, as well. Overall, the camera was a bit awkward to operate, as was the video camera, though you do get more controls than before.

Interestingly, though the Gallery player supports H.263, H.264, and .mp4 video files, it failed to play .wmv files that Android 2.2 and 2.1 devices had managed to play just fine.

The big piece of glass on the display is readable indoors, but it's very glarey. I've described the Apple iPad as a mirror--but compared to the mirror effect of the Xoom, the iPad is as nonreflective as paper. The Xoom's glare was noticeable both indoors and out; and closer inspection revealed an air gap between the glass and the display beneath. I expected better: If the Barnes & Noble NookColor could nail the screen and glare issue on its $250 e-reader tablet, why couldn't Motorola overcome glare on its $800 flagship device?

Performance Zips Along

I was quite impressed with the Xoom's overall ability to zip through content. I easily and speedily moved through menus, through large collections of digital images, and through the redesigned Android Market. Even the file transfer speeds via USB were impressive. Anyone who has synced content to an Apple iPad knows how torturously slowly content moves from PC to device. On the Xoom, waiting wasn't a huge issue: I transferred 700MB of digital pictures to the Xoom in just 3 minutes. Not too shabby.
Speed buffs will also appreciate that this 3G+ Wi-FI device will be able to migrate to Verizon's 4G LTE network in the second quarter at no extra charge. The free upgrade rewards early adopters eager to own the first Honeycomb tablet.

Ultimately, the price feels too high, given that the nearly one-year-old, no-contract, 3G- and Wi-Fi-enabled first-generation Apple iPad came in at $730. But by obtaining a 4G SIM card (when the update comes out) and performing a software update, you'll be able to surf the Web with the Xoom at lightning speeds. That future-proofing is a very appealing touch.

Other Usage Minutiae

Android 3.0 is easily the most polished Google software effort to date, but the random apps I downloaded from the Android Market didn't work on Honeycomb at all, let alone scale to the Xoom's large screen. Moreover, there's no obvious way of knowing whether an app has been optimized for Honeycomb.

I endured some software crashes, and Google Talk behaved somewhat inconsistently (where's the button to answer that call?). Also, some folders that I transferred to the Gallery didn't show up, so I couldn't test whether Honeycomb does indeed support .bmp files as Google says. (For a full list of supported files, see Google's Android Developer site.)
Motorola rates the Xoom's battery life at about 10 hours of high-definition video playback. And the device's recharge time is fast, at just 3.5 hours for a full recharge (in my testing, it recharged from a 13 percent charge in less than 3 hours).

One of the Xoom's main assets--aside from being the first Honeycomb tablet to market--should be its deep integration with the Honeycomb platform: Motorola worked hand-in-hand with Google to make Honeycomb run well on the Xoom, Google's reference Honeycomb device. As such, the Xoom is likely to be as pure a Google Honeycomb device as possible.
All in all, the device is a solid but imperfect first effort. Platform stability and 4G can come with future software upgrades, and the bugs in the graphics and video rendering will (I hope) be fixable through software, too. But the screen's annoying grid effect can't be fixed by a simple update.
The Xoom is the first large-screen tablet to provide stiff competition for Apple's iPad. But as smooth as many of its elements are, and as groundbreaking as this first-of-its-kind tablet is, its weaknesses prevent me from giving it a rousing endorsement. Software rough patches can be patched; but hardware frustrations may run deeper than any firmware update can fix.

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Verizon iPhone4 From CNET

The good: The Verizon iPhone 4 offers a hot-spot feature not available on AT&T's device. Performance was better in most regards.
The bad: The Verizon iPhone 4 lacks world roaming and the ability to access voice and data simultaneously. The hot-spot feature didn't work with all devices.

The bottom line: The Verizon iPhone 4 has much in common with its AT&T counterpart, but varying features and different performance give it enough room to stand apart. It won't vastly change your iPhone experience, but we welcome the consumer choice that it brings.
Review:

Yes, it's finally here. After almost four years of endless gossip, analyst forecasts, and so-called leaks, the Verizon iPhone is a reality. We're thrilled, to be honest, mostly because we never have to write another rumor story again. And, of course, we're also happy to see U.S. iPhone owners get a real choice in carriers.

If you've been pining for this moment for ages, we feel your elation. But before you rush to the store, there are some important points to keep in mind. First off, the Verizon ... Expand full review

Yes, it's finally here. After almost four years of endless gossip, analyst forecasts, and so-called leaks, the Verizon iPhone is a reality. We're thrilled, to be honest, mostly because we never have to write another rumor story again. And, of course, we're also happy to see U.S. iPhone owners get a real choice in carriers.

If you've been pining for this moment for ages, we feel your elation. But before you rush to the store, there are some important points to keep in mind. First off, the Verizon iPhone 4 is nearly identical to its AT&T counterpart. It stands apart in a couple of ways, but it's largely the same device with many of the same benefits and drawbacks. And like its predecessor, the Verizon iPhone 4 entails some serious give-and-take on the part of the user. You get that nifty hot spot, for example, but Big Red's CDMA technology takes away functionality as well.

Performance may also defy some of your expectations, which we know are huge. After a few days of testing, we can report that Verizon's network offers discernable improvements over AT&T's. The data speeds were faster most of the time, we had more success with placing calls in problem areas, and the calls connected faster. The changes, however, weren't life-changing and they weren't completely consistent. So while it is better in some regards, it can't beat AT&T on all fronts.
Verizon will match AT&T's pricing, which is $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB version. You can get it only in black for now, though the elusive white model is due later this spring. Verizon will offer a $30 unlimited data plan to start, but it likely to switch to tiered data plans in the near future.

Design

Honestly, we can't say much in this section since the Verizon and AT&T handsets are so much alike. There are a couple cosmetic differences, which we'll discuss, but Verizon's iPhone bears all the familiar Apple-style trademarks. It's the same size and weight (4.5 inches tall by 2.3 inches wide by 0.37 inch deep; 4.8 ounces), it has nearly identical external features, and you'll find that gorgeous Retina Display. We're still not fans of the sharp edges and glass back, but there's no denying that the iPhone 4 remains an eye-catching device.
From the front, the two handsets look exactly alike.

Turn the handset on its sides and you'll notice some minor alterations. To accommodate the CDMA antenna, the ringer mute switch on the left side has been moved slightly closer to the volume controls. It makes no difference in usability, but the change means that most current iPhone 4 cases, including the bumpers that Apple gave out for free last summer, won't fit properly. Over on the right side, the SIM card slot has vanished because the handset runs on CDMA.

just above the ringer switch. Apple wouldn't discuss the specifics with CNET, nor would it confirm which portions of the antenna serve which features (on the AT&T phone, one portion of the antenna was for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and the remaining portion of the antenna powered cellular calls). We're not prone to conspiracy theories, but it wouldn't surprise us if Apple tweaked the antenna design following last summer's "antennagate" drama. But more on that later.
A feature you gain

Inside, the Verizon handset offers a few more differences, both good and bad. On the upside, Big Red beats AT&T by offering a personal hot-spot feature that can support up to five devices. You can establish the connection through and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or a USB cable and use all three methods at the same time
Before you can use the hot spot, though, you'll need to activate the option with Verizon. The feature will cost an additional $20 per month, which is cheaper than Sprint's $29 monthly charge, but more expensive than T-Mobile's $14.99 fee. For that price you're limited to 2GB per month, after which you'll pay $20 for each additional gigabyte. On the whole, those charges aren't outrageous for what you get.

Once you're set with the carrier, the hot-spot option will appear in your Settings menu. Then, after you set a password and choose which connectivity options you'd like to use, you can get started. We tried connecting a number of devices including a laptop computer, an iPad, an AT&T iPhone 4, a LG Optimus S, a RIM BlackBerry Torch, a Huawei Ideos X5, and a T-Mobile MyTouch 3G.
For most devices, the connection process over Wi-Fi was quick and painless. The MyTouch 3G was able to find the hot spot, but for some reason it could hold the connection for only 5 seconds before dropping it. The Ideos, meanwhile, was not able to locate the iPhone, even when they were next to each other.
Though those hiccups weren't encouraging, they could be the fault of the other phones. What's more, once we tossed them aside, the hot spot performed well even at full capacity. Web browsing on the laptop, for example, was only a few seconds slower than what we normally experience on CNET's wired network. Uploading a Facebook photo took about 10 seconds (versus the usual 5 seconds), and we were able to load a number of graphics-heavy Web sites without any problems. We had a similar experience when using a USB cable for the PC; it was a bit slower than normal but nothing drastic.
The Verizon iPhone tracks how many devices are connected through the hot spot.

Even with those few issues, the hot spot is user-friendly and it makes the Verizon iPhone an even better mobile-computing device. You don't get individual notifications when you connect a new device, and you can't see what is connected at a given time, but a status bar at the top of the display conveniently tracks how many gadgets are linked up. Yet, as with so many other things on the iPhone, the hot spot isn't the first or the best we've seen of its kind. It may do things differently, but it's not better. We're still testing the hot-spot battery life and will report the results here.

Features you keep

Outside of the hot spot, you can expect the usual iPhone goodies. You'll get the 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, front-facing VGA camera, Bluetooth, digital compass, e-mail and messaging, iPod player, voice control, voice memo recorder, assisted GPS and Google Maps, Safari browser, access to apps and media through iTunes, and FaceTime over Wi-Fi.
The Verizon iPhone has the same camera features as the AT&T version.

The polished interface also remains the same, though the Verizon iPhone currently runs iOS 4.2.6; the AT&T iPhone runs iOS 4.2.1. Apple said 4.2.6 is a version unique to the Verizon handset and that its only changes are support for CDMA and the hot-spot feature.

The Verizon iPhone's photo quality also is no different form the AT&T handset.

Though the phone is impressive, the smartphone market is a thousand times more mature than it was in 2007 when the original iPhone hit, and even in 2010 when the iPhone 4 first went on sale. We don't doubt that the Verizon iPhone will be successful, but it faces heavy competition from rival carriers and even from within Verizon's own lineup. Some offer features that the iPhone can't touch, and there are plenty of people who have interest in buying Apples device. The iPhone is on a new carrier, but it remains just one player in a very competitive field.

Features you don't get

Unfortunately, Verizon's iPhone lacks two very important features present on AT&T's device. Because CDMA essentially separates voice and data into two "pipes" (GSM uses only one), you won't be able to stay on a call and use the Web browser, Google Maps, or any app that requires a data connection (you'll receive a notification if you try and do so). If you're using the navigation feature or hot spot, they will pause when you get a call and resume after you hang up. On the other hand, you will be able to send and receive texts and browse existing content on your device when on a call.

Verizon iPhone Sales Underwhelm - From PC Mag.com

Consumer demand for a Verizon iPhone 4 may be less enthusiastic than first expected. Tech blog Boy Genius Report is reporting that first-week iPhone 4 sales didn't meet the expectations of Apple and Verizon Wireless.Citing unnamed Apple sources, BGR posted unit sales totals purported from five Apple stores, including two "very, very prominent" locations. The numbers show Verizon Wireless and AT&T iPhone 4 sales during the Verizon iPhone's first five days of availability (starting Thursday, February 10):
The figures suggest an early rush of Verizon iPhone 4 sales that quickly dissipated. By Sunday, February 13, Verizon's iPhone sales were only slightly higher than AT&T's. Online pre-orders for the Verizon iPhone 4 totaled about 550,000 units, BGR reports.

If consumer response to the Verizon iPhone is somewhat disappointing, what's the most likely reason? You can take your pick of possible explanations, including a cold spell across the eastern half of the U.S. that reduced foot traffic at Apple's brick-and-mortar locations, or the healthy number of Verizon iPhone preorders online.

Or perhaps iPhone fans are more savvy than slavish. Many have probably heard that the iPhone 5 will arrive this summer. Revelation! It's smarter to wait a few months and get the latest iPhone on Verizon (assuming it's available), rather than commit to a two-year contract with last year's model.
Oh, one other interesting tidbit from BGR on who has bought Verizon iPhones thus far: 30 percent were Android users; 25 percent migrated from BlackBerry; and just 14 percent were AT&T iPhone owners. The rest either didn't have a smartphone or other mobile handset, or simply didn't say.

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